Teletalk launches pilot project in Sept
For the first time in the country, state owned mobile phone operator Teletalk Bangladesh Limited is going to introduce third generation (3G) mobile technology from September this year, according sources in the Prime Minister’s office.
From January 2012, the government will issue licences to all the private mobile phone operators of the country for introducing 3G technology to their clients, sources added.
Posts and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju told The Independent Tuesday that they would have Teletalk introduce 3G mobile technology as a pilot project for three months as per the directive of the prime minister. “We will issue licences of 3G mobile technology to the private mobile operators through inviting tender to join the revolutionary information and communication technology across the country,” he said.
“The 3G mobile technologies are capable of transferring voice, data and video to subscribers’ mobile sets at a lower cost than existing mobile technologies,” the minister added.
He also said that the introduction of the 3G, besides reducing the cost of doing business, could help develop the entire scenario of the economy for more growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Rajiuddin said that they would also invite tender to issue International Gateway (IGW) and Voice Service Provider (VSP) licences soon.
The minister further said that the VoIP licences would be issued after finalisation of a policy for it soon.
The 3G technology is a gateway which can transmit packet switch data efficiently at better and increased bandwidth.
The 3G mobile technology, also known as IMT-2000, offers more advanced services to cell phone users that can help many multimedia services to function. Spectral efficiency is the measurement of rate of information transfer over any communication system.
At an exclusive meeting, held at the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday,
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities concerned to introduce the third generation (3G) mobile technology in the country within this year with a view to helping efforts to make a digital Bangladesh swiftly.
Ministers of finance, local government and telecommunications, adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs and state minister for science and information and communication technology attended at the meeting.
Meeting sources said, licence fees and renewals of the licenses of private mobile operators were discussed at the meeting.
The meeting also decided to issue voice over internet protocol (VoIP) licences and set social obligation fees of one percent for mobile operators on their annual revenue.
-With The Independent input
