The license for much awaited mobile number portability (MNP) service would be handover to the winning company on November 7 with a view to introduce the service in January.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has asked the winning firm “Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited” to deposit the licensing fees within a month, said officials.
Talking to BSS on Wednesday, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said: “We would hand over the license to the winning firm at a ceremony on November 7.”
Mentioning that Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited has been ranked as number one for the bid, he said: “The joint-venture firm has been given one month time to deposit the required licensing fees.”
The license acquisition fees have been set at Taka 10 crore, and the winning company will have to share 15 percent of its revenues with the government from the second year onwards. The company must provide the service within 180 days of getting the license.
Earlier, State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim told BSS that they are determined to introduce the service in January for the mobile phone users.
Officials said BTRC has recommended joint venture firm Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium for the license, as it has been on top obtaining the highest marks from the technical evaluation committee among five firms.
Later, the Posts and Telecommunications Division (PTD) forwarded the recommendation of BTRC to the Prime Minister’s Office for the final approval.
BTRC recommendation showed that Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium has scored 92 followed by Greentech Mediation Limited 87, Brazil-Bangladesh Consortium 84, REVE Number Limited 82 and Royal Green Limited 53.
Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium is a joint venture of Infozillion BD Limited and Teletech D.O.O, Slovenia where the foreign partner has 55.9 percent share. But, it has given undertaking that once the license is granted, Infozillion and Teletech will set up new special purpose venture (local company) and foreign shareholding will be cut down below 51 percent. Besides, the Teletech has claimed it has a total of 14.7 million subscribers and running operation in Armenia, Montenegro and Slovenia since 2006.
Mobile number portability is a technology that allows customers to change their operators after a specific timeframe retaining their existing eleven digit number. The government has fixed Taka 30 as charge for the service.
BTRC has been trying to introduce the MNP service, which would help bring more competition to the market and improve the service quality, for the last few years.
Currently, some 72 countries including neighboring India and Pakistan have introduced the service, with Singapore being the pioneer in this field.
