Anisul Islam Noor :
Bangladesh will step in rolling out the fastest data service 4G (Fourth Generation)
by February 2018, as the telecom regulator has fixed February 13 for spectrum auction, BTRC sources said.
Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Shahjahan Mahmood said, the decision to invite applications from mobile phone operators was taken at a special meeting on Monday.
Interested operators will have to submit application by January 14 both for spectrum and licence, he said. The telecom regulator will arrange a mock auction on February 12 before moving to the final public sale.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the
amended guidelines of the 4G licence and service last week.
All the private mobile phone operators have already taken preparations to launch 4G service. They are now working on converting SIM cards and developing ecosystem.
However, three mobile phone operators – Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink- raised objection to BTRC in a letter about 4G conditions. The letter, signed by the chief executive of the three operators, has given the objection on several issues including spectrum prices, foresight speed, fiber optic network and value added tax.
Grameenphone Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Folly, CEO of Robi and Managing Director (MD) Mahtab Uddin Ahmed and MD and CEO of Banglalink Erik Aas signed the letter.
In the letter said that there are some conditions in the policy, if they do not change, it will create a situation of embarrassment for everyone. The fundamental value of the spectrum has been found to be very high. Similarly, the cost of technology neutrality is also higher in wave use. It is not realistic that the minimum speed of the 4G is determined.
Fourth Generation or 4G is the fastest-ever mobile telecommunications technology used in communication. This technology is now the next step in the 3G or the third phase of telecommunication technology in Bangladesh.
In 2009, the first 4G technology was introduced commercially in Norway and Sweden. At present, more than 170 countries have access to this technology. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) criteria, this speed of service will be 100 Mbps per second (Mega Bits per second) in buses or trains. Apart from this, the speed of the 4G network for residential use or stability will be one gigabyte (giga bit per second) per second.
However, the speed of all countries is not the same. For example, the minimum speed of mobile phone has been fixed at 20 Mbps of Bangladesh. This speed is four times higher than the current 5-Mbps speed of 3G.
According to BTRC’s policy, the base price of 900 and 1,800 MHz band has been valued at US $ 30 million or Tk 240 crore (about Tk 80 per dollar). And the foundation value of 2,100 MHz wave has been estimated to be Tk 216 crore.
Technological neutrality or technology neutrality has also been priced in any policy for any technology. It will cost Tk 32 crore per megahertz, it was Tk 60 crore. However, to get the price, all the waves of a mobile phone operator have to be neutral. If all the wave technology is not neutral, then the cost of per MHz will be Tk 60 crore.
Mobile phone operators in Bangladesh currently use three different band waves for 2G and 3G services. These three bands are 900, 1,000 and 2,100 megahats. With the help of technology neutrality, mobile operators will be able to offer 2G, 3G and 4G services through these three band waves.
Bangladesh will step in rolling out the fastest data service 4G (Fourth Generation)
by February 2018, as the telecom regulator has fixed February 13 for spectrum auction, BTRC sources said.
Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Shahjahan Mahmood said, the decision to invite applications from mobile phone operators was taken at a special meeting on Monday.
Interested operators will have to submit application by January 14 both for spectrum and licence, he said. The telecom regulator will arrange a mock auction on February 12 before moving to the final public sale.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the
amended guidelines of the 4G licence and service last week.
All the private mobile phone operators have already taken preparations to launch 4G service. They are now working on converting SIM cards and developing ecosystem.
However, three mobile phone operators – Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink- raised objection to BTRC in a letter about 4G conditions. The letter, signed by the chief executive of the three operators, has given the objection on several issues including spectrum prices, foresight speed, fiber optic network and value added tax.
Grameenphone Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Folly, CEO of Robi and Managing Director (MD) Mahtab Uddin Ahmed and MD and CEO of Banglalink Erik Aas signed the letter.
In the letter said that there are some conditions in the policy, if they do not change, it will create a situation of embarrassment for everyone. The fundamental value of the spectrum has been found to be very high. Similarly, the cost of technology neutrality is also higher in wave use. It is not realistic that the minimum speed of the 4G is determined.
Fourth Generation or 4G is the fastest-ever mobile telecommunications technology used in communication. This technology is now the next step in the 3G or the third phase of telecommunication technology in Bangladesh.
In 2009, the first 4G technology was introduced commercially in Norway and Sweden. At present, more than 170 countries have access to this technology. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) criteria, this speed of service will be 100 Mbps per second (Mega Bits per second) in buses or trains. Apart from this, the speed of the 4G network for residential use or stability will be one gigabyte (giga bit per second) per second.
However, the speed of all countries is not the same. For example, the minimum speed of mobile phone has been fixed at 20 Mbps of Bangladesh. This speed is four times higher than the current 5-Mbps speed of 3G.
According to BTRC’s policy, the base price of 900 and 1,800 MHz band has been valued at US $ 30 million or Tk 240 crore (about Tk 80 per dollar). And the foundation value of 2,100 MHz wave has been estimated to be Tk 216 crore.
Technological neutrality or technology neutrality has also been priced in any policy for any technology. It will cost Tk 32 crore per megahertz, it was Tk 60 crore. However, to get the price, all the waves of a mobile phone operator have to be neutral. If all the wave technology is not neutral, then the cost of per MHz will be Tk 60 crore.
Mobile phone operators in Bangladesh currently use three different band waves for 2G and 3G services. These three bands are 900, 1,000 and 2,100 megahats. With the help of technology neutrality, mobile operators will be able to offer 2G, 3G and 4G services through these three band waves.
