Revised guideline to allow all telcos to take part

The telecom regulator is revising the existing guidelines on the proposed spectrum auction allowing any interested company to take part in the bidding slated for May 27 this year, officials said.
"We've already drafted a revised guideline for inviting the bid for spectrum auction and it has been sent to the ministry concerned for its consent," spectrum commissioner of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ATM Monirul Alam told the FE.
The senior official of the telecom watchdog said they have taken the initiative to ensure fair competition in the bidding process and avoid monopoly business by the operators in the country.
He said the commission in its latest meeting took the decision to revise the existing guidelines for the upcoming auction. It put an embargo on participation of aspirant companies other than the existing operators in the bidding.
Earlier on February 19 this year, BTRC published a detailed guideline for the international auction which barred those operators which are currently holding 20MHz and more spectrums in 1800 band.
At present, six operators including state-run Teletalk are carrying out their telephony business in the country, having around 123.69 million subscribers.   
Mr Alam said because of reluctance from the operators' end, the regulator has already rescheduled the bidding process three times.
"We hope the operators will now be sincere in taking part in the auction," he said, adding that some companies other than the existing operators have already expressed their interest in taking part in the biding process.
Asked whether the auction would be held as per the schedule, the official of spectrum division said he doesn't know anything more about this. "The commission's chairman knows better in this regard," he added.
When contacted, TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMOTB), told the FE that they are still in their earlier position of not taking part in the bidding process unless the commission meets their demands, including settlement of SIM replacement tax issue.
"There is no visible development in settlement of the SIM replacement tax issue involving Tk 30.12 billion," Mr Kabir said, adding that they are very interested to participate in the bidding process.
Earlier, parent bodies of the country's leading telecom companies including Grameenphone and Robi and Banglalink expressed their inability to recommend their local operators' participation in the bidding process until the government settles few regulatory issues, including SIM replacement tax.
The BTRC has already completed the groundwork for holding the mega auction for 15MHz and 10.6MHz in the respective slot of 2100MHz and 1800 MHz.
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