Economic Reporter :
The much-awaited auction for the mobile number portability (MNP) in Bangladesh has been rescheduled again to ensure transparency and accountability.
Now, the auction would be held on September 28 instead of September 21, said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on Monday.
Talking to the New Nation, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said they’ve rescheduled the roadmap only for “the different engagement of BTRC officials, not any other way”.
About the shifting of auction date, he said: “we want to hold the auction when the Prime Minister will remain in the country.”
Prime Minister is likely to visit USA during September 14 to 26 to attend United Nations General Assembly.
In the new schedule, date for submission of bid earnest money on September 18, letter of acceptance or rejection on September 20 and consultation of auction procedure on September 25.
Officials said a total of six joint venture (JV) firms have submitted bidding proposals to be the MNP operator till the final day on August 22 although 18 bidding documents were sold.
The JV firms are Agile Technology Limited, Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited, REVE Number Limited, Greentech International Limited, Invariant Telecom Bangladesh Limited and Roots Infotech Limited.
Officials said Agile Technology Solution Limited has partnered with Clear Tech of Brazil while Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited has teamed up with Teletech d.o.o of Slovenia, REVE Number Limited with T4B Sp Z.o.o of Poland and Greentech International Limited with MEDIAFON of Lithunia, Invariant Telecom Bangladesh Limited with MNP Interconnection Telecom Solution of India and Roots Infotech Limited with Systor International of Norway.
On August 10, the telecom regulator rescheduled the timetable of other procedures keeping the date (September 21) for auction unchanged.
Earlier on June 14, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood had announced the MNP auction roadmap. “The base price for the auction would be Taka 1 crore and bid earnest money has been fixed at Taka 10 lakh while application fee at Taka 1 lakh and annual license fee at Taka 20 lakh,” said the BTRC Chairman.
The license would be issued primarily to an operator for 15 years which would be renewed for another 5 year upon the approval of government and the operator has to deposit Taka 1 crore as bank guarantee.
The applicant must have at least three years experience in this field along with providing service to minimum 1 crore subscribers.
The operator has to share 5.5 percent revenue with the government from the second year of the license.
Any Bangladeshi or expatriate Bangladeshi owned company registered in the country will be eligible to bid in the auction but foreign companies having partnership with Bangladeshi one could also take part in the auction.
The much-awaited auction for the mobile number portability (MNP) in Bangladesh has been rescheduled again to ensure transparency and accountability.
Now, the auction would be held on September 28 instead of September 21, said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on Monday.
Talking to the New Nation, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said they’ve rescheduled the roadmap only for “the different engagement of BTRC officials, not any other way”.
About the shifting of auction date, he said: “we want to hold the auction when the Prime Minister will remain in the country.”
Prime Minister is likely to visit USA during September 14 to 26 to attend United Nations General Assembly.
In the new schedule, date for submission of bid earnest money on September 18, letter of acceptance or rejection on September 20 and consultation of auction procedure on September 25.
Officials said a total of six joint venture (JV) firms have submitted bidding proposals to be the MNP operator till the final day on August 22 although 18 bidding documents were sold.
The JV firms are Agile Technology Limited, Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited, REVE Number Limited, Greentech International Limited, Invariant Telecom Bangladesh Limited and Roots Infotech Limited.
Officials said Agile Technology Solution Limited has partnered with Clear Tech of Brazil while Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited has teamed up with Teletech d.o.o of Slovenia, REVE Number Limited with T4B Sp Z.o.o of Poland and Greentech International Limited with MEDIAFON of Lithunia, Invariant Telecom Bangladesh Limited with MNP Interconnection Telecom Solution of India and Roots Infotech Limited with Systor International of Norway.
On August 10, the telecom regulator rescheduled the timetable of other procedures keeping the date (September 21) for auction unchanged.
Earlier on June 14, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood had announced the MNP auction roadmap. “The base price for the auction would be Taka 1 crore and bid earnest money has been fixed at Taka 10 lakh while application fee at Taka 1 lakh and annual license fee at Taka 20 lakh,” said the BTRC Chairman.
The license would be issued primarily to an operator for 15 years which would be renewed for another 5 year upon the approval of government and the operator has to deposit Taka 1 crore as bank guarantee.
The applicant must have at least three years experience in this field along with providing service to minimum 1 crore subscribers.
The operator has to share 5.5 percent revenue with the government from the second year of the license.
Any Bangladeshi or expatriate Bangladeshi owned company registered in the country will be eligible to bid in the auction but foreign companies having partnership with Bangladeshi one could also take part in the auction.
