Staff Reporter :
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has raised nearly $1.24 billion, or Tk 10,641 crore in a spectrum auction for local mobile phone operators.
The auction also included the first sales for the 5G range on the spectrum.
The auction was held at the InterContinental Hotel in Dhaka at 11:15 am on Thursday and sold 190 MHz of spectrum
Four telecom companies in the country – Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink and, Teletalk – took part in the auction.
The auction featured 10 blocks of 100MHz waves in the 2.3 GHz band and 12 blocks of 120 MHz waves in the 2.6 GHz band.
The base price for each MHz on the spectrum was set at $6.5 million for a unit on a 15-year contract.
Of the buyers, Grameenphone and Robi have acquired the highest quantum of spectrum, 60MHz, each from 2.6GHz bands for about Tk 3,360 crore each.
Banglalink bought 40 MHz of spectrum from 2.3 GHz range with Tk 2,241 crore, while state-owned telecom operator Teletalk bought 30 MHz from 2.3GHz range with about Tk1,680 crore.Minister of Post and Mobile telecom operators have to pay 10 per cent of the total purchase price within 60 days of the announcement of the final auction results, while the remaining 90 per cent will be paid off in equal installments over 9 years.
BTRC Engineering and Operations Commissioner Engineer Md Mohiuddin Ahmed presided over the auction which was conducted by Director of Systems and Services Brig Gen Nasim Parvez, Director General of the Spectrum Division Brig Gen Md Moniruzzaman Jewel, Director Md Sohail Rana and Lt Colonel Md Awal Uddin.
Minister of Post and Telecommunications Mustafa Jabbar and other senior officials were also present.
Meanwhile, Grameenphone, in a statement, said that it was committed to giving its users the ‘best possible experience’ through the acquisition and thanked the government for running the auction.
“As we roll out the new spectrum, customers will enjoy improved 4G experience. 4G technology will continue to be the primary technology enabling Bangladesh to reach its full digital potential. Looking to the future, through this spectrum acquisition, Grameenphone has demonstrated its commitment to building on its technology leadership by testing 5G,” Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman said.
“In collaboration with the government, we will identify relevant 5G use cases for Bangladesh for trials/tests in the coming months. We look forward to a dialogue with BTRC on critical regulatory enablers and the overall 5G licensing framework, which will be finalised after industry consultation.”
Grameenphone previously owned 46.40 MHz of the spectrum, Robi had the right to use 44 MHz, Banglalink 40 MHz and Teletalk 25.20 MHz.
A total of 220 MHz was up for grabs in Thursday’s auction, the largest in Bangladesh’s history. Thirty MHz airwaves remained unsold.
Currently, 4G services are operational in Bangladesh. Once 5G service is introduced, mobile internet speed is expected to increase several fold.
In a notice published by BTRC on 3 March, the regulatory body had instructed all telecom operators to begin test runs for the 5G spectrum within six months of the auction.
Last year, the government earned the highest Tk7,634 crore by assigning a total of 27.4MHz spectrum from 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands.
