Anisul Islam Noor :
The government has planned to establish mobile tower companies for rendering better service, saving land space and electricity and reducing the existing number of towers from 35000 to 25000, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) sources said.
At present, there are 35,000 telecom towers in Bangladesh and all of them are run by mobile phone operators.
Mobile phone operators and other telecom operators are setting up their own towers to expand network. Under the current system, all the operators are building infrastructure at a single place, leading to huge investment on their part as well as squeeze of valuable land. Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy recently shared his suggestions with the telecom regulator on the guideline.
The BTRC has prepared a guideline to award three licences only to manage mobile towers in Bangladesh and separate telecom business from operators’ network infrastructure.
After full-fledged journey of tower management companies, the number of mobile towers will go down to 25,000, which, will save land and energy, and cut operational expenses, the regulator experts said.
As per the guideline, a foreign company can hold 60 percent share in a tower management company.Mobile phone operators are not eligible to apply for the licence.
If a company has shares in a mobile phone operator, it has to dispose of the share before obtaining the licence, according to new guideline.
The regulator has finalised the guideline in a commission meeting on June 29. The guideline will be sent to the government by this week for approval, an official told the reporter yesterday.
The tenure of the licence will be 15 years and licence fees will be Tk 50 crore. The BTRC has also proposed Tk 5 crore as annual fees, according to the guideline.
Initially, the BTRC had planned to recommend 49 percent shares for foreign companies and 51 percent for local entities in a single licence.
Edotco, a Malaysian tower management company, is already running tower business in Bangladesh with a no-objection certificate. It manages about 9,000 towers.
Edotco is a sister concern of Malaysian telecom giant Axiata Group. Robi, the second-largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh, owns about 20 percent shares in Edotco.
According to the proposed guideline, Robi will have to shed its shares in Edotco if the latter wins a licence.
Mobile phone operators Banglalink and Grameenphone have showed interest to separate their network infrastructure from core telecom business. They have applied to the regulator seeking permission to set up subsidiaries to manage towers.
