The government has granted four licences to provide fixed phones services (PSTN) for Dhaka zone, a spokesman for Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said Sunday, reports bdnews24.com.
RanksTel, Square Informatics and Dhaka Telecom-each has paid Tk 40 million (4.0 crore) to provide the basic telephony services in the capital, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Savar, BTRC spokesman Abbas Faruque said.
"The fourth operator, Telebarta, will get the licence once it makes the payment," he added.
Each licence is valid for 20 years.
The operators will also run internet services.
"But no operator will be allowed to bundle the internet services and consumers will have the liberty to pick their provider to surf the Web," Faruque said.
BTRC will allocate the operators radio frequencies at 450 megahertz, 800 megahertz and 1900 megahertz to provide fixed phone services using CDMA technology.
But the regulator has not clarified if the fixed phone operators will be allowed to offer 'limited mobility' for Dhaka Zone.
The mobile phone providers have been vehemently opposing it, terming it as PSTN providers' 'backdoor entry' to the mobile market.
However, once activated, it will be the second spell of private sector entities offering fixed phone services in Dhaka city and its adjacent areas.
The past Awami League government had controversially awarded the first private PSTN licence to WorldTel in August 2001. Its network was supposed to cover the city areas of Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj-all in Dhaka zone.
But WorldTel has failed to get going as its shareholders got embroiled in ownership disputes
Govt issues four PSTN licences for Dhaka zone
FE Team | Published: September 10, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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