Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission may consider awarding more licences for 3G mobile services if all the 40MHz spectrums over 2,100 band are not sold in the upcoming auction on September 8.
“Spectrums are very costly resources and there is no way to leave them unused,” BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose told the Dhaka Tribune on Monday.
“The International Telecommunication Union also recommends not keeping this type of resource unutilised,” he said after five mobile phone operators had submitted applications for 3G licences.
The BTRC will auction 40MHz of spectrum over 2110-2150 bands for downlink. Another 40MHz will be allocated over 1920-1960 bands for uplink. The regulator already allocated 10MHz in 2150-2160 bands to the state-owned Teletalk for downlink and another 10MHz in 1960-1970 bands for uplink.
Apart from that of the Teletalk, the BTRC will award four more 3G licences for 15 years.
The BTRC chairman said they were trying to make the auction competitive and they were optimistic all spectrums put up for auction would be sold.
“If we cannot sell all the spectrums, only then we will think about the next steps,” he said.
The government recently changed the International Long Distance Telecommunication Services Policy and awarded dozens of licences to a few politically backed companies. At the same time, the BTRC recommended changing the Wi-Max guideline to award two more licences.
Sunil Kanti Bose said the government could change any guideline anytime and allocate any spectrum to anyone. “The government can either call a fresh auction or assign spectrums to any operator.”
The watchdog boss informed the Dhaka Tribune that they were also scrutinising legal options to see if spectrums of closed PSTN operators could be allocated to other operators.
“I am for maximum utilisation of spectrums.”
In reply to a question, Sunil said: “After the auction we will allow the winning operators to take advantage of technological neutrality immediately so they can offer better services for minimum expenses.”
The BTRC first attempted to make a guideline for 3G in 2008 and initially wanted to hold an auction on January 19, 2009.
Sunil acknowledged that they were late in introducing 3G services in the country because of some taxation issues, but not much. “I am not sure if the market was prepared back in 2008. Affordability might also be a concern then.
“We improved a lot in the past two years and connectivity is also available now…Maybe it is the perfect time to deploy 3G services in the country,” he added.
The BTRC is offering a 5MHz slot in 2100 band for 3G services. The floor price of 1MHz spectrum has been fixed at $20m. An operator can take up to three slots.
According to the guideline, 60% of the total price of allocated spectrum has to be paid in the first instalment within 60 days of the auction and the remaining 40% by the next 180 days.
