The telecom sector is likely to experience the largest ever investment, made by the country’s
cellphone operators, by the end of this year, say industry insiders. In 2007 and 2008, the operators had invested Tk 7,484 crore and Tk 10,009 crore, respectively, in the sector. Experts predict that, this year, the amount would be no less than Tk 16,000 crore. They say that with the renewal of the second generation (2G) licenses, all cellphone operators will go for bidding in the third generation (3G) cellphone license auction, scheduled to be held at the end of September this year.
Even Citycell, the lone code division multiple access (CDMA) operator in Bangladesh, will switch to the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) technology, by
paying the second installment of their 2G license renewal charges, and take part in the auction, said the company’s CEO, Mehbub Chowdhury.
As many as five 3G licenses will be issued to five different operators. Each operator will be given 10 MHz bandwidth at the 2100 band.
With per MHz costing Tk. 240 crore, the government expects to earn at least
Tk. 12,000 crore from the
3G auction.
Experts observed that the said investment would fall in the category of foreign direct investment (FDI), as the draft guidelines on 3G mobile networks, formulated by the Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), spell out that foreign companies acquiring licenses for 3G network will have to invest in US dollars.
It is to be noted that, apart from the state-owned Teletalk, all other cellphone operators of the country have full, or partial, foreign stakes.
Banglalink is fully owned by Orascom, an Egyptian company.
Malaysia’s Aaxiata has a 70 per cent stake in Robi, while the rest is owned by the Japanese NTT Docomo. Bharati Airtel of India has a 70 per cent share in Airtel, while Dubai-based Warid telecom owns the rest.
Norway’s Telenor has a 55.8 per cent share in Grameenphone, while 34.2 per cent of the company is owned by Grameen telecom, and the rest is owned by the public.
Singapur-based Singtel has a 45 per cent stake in Citycell, while Bangladeshi Pacific Group and Far East Telecom owns the rest 55 per cent between themselves.
Experts told The Independent that cellphone operators will have to invest another Tk. 4,895 crore, as part of their 2G license renewal charges, by this year.
In 1997, Grameenphone and Robi (then known as AKtel) had invested Tk. 300 crore in the country’s telecom sector. In 2004, with the entrance of Banglalink, the sector saw an investment of Tk 1,610 crore.
In 2007, the sector observed an investment of Tk .7,484 crore with the entrance of Warid (now Airtel).
In 2011, the telecom sector observed an investment of Tk 10,009 crore, as the four operators paid the first instalment of their 15-year 2G license renewal charges.
The operators also spent part of that amount to upgrade their network.
In the last 15 years, the cellphone operators have invested more than Tk. 50,000 crore, and contributed Tk. 40,000 crore to the government exchequer.
Last year, they paid
Tk 8,300 crore as taxes.
According to BTRC statistics, the operators’ current investment constitutes
about one-fourth of their revenue earning.
The telecom regulator’s last annual report said Grameenphone (GP), the largest telecom operator with 3.5 crore subscribers, had earned Tk 6,906 crore and invested Tk. 869.57 crore, in 2009-10. The figures were Tk. 6,380 crore and Tk. 2,966 crore, respectively, in 2008 and 2009.
Banglalink, which has 2.3 crore subscribers, invested more than it had earned in the mentioned fiscal years.
It earned Tk. 843 crore and Tk. 1,758 crore in FY 2009-10 and FY 2008-09, respectively.
During the two fiscal years, it invested Tk. 1,228 crore and Tk. 1,970 crore, respectively.
Robi, the third largest telecom operator, with 1.4 crore subscribers, invested Tk. 703.23 crore in 2009-10, against its earning of Tk. 2,314 crore. In 2008-09, the figures were Tk. 1,134 crore and Tk. 1,654 crore, respectively.
The three remaining operators — Airtel, Teletalk and Citycell — had earned Tk 661.91 crore, Tk. 226.59 crore, and Tk. 377.66 crore, respectively, in 2009-10.
Their investments in this period were Tk. 34.77 crore, Tk. 104.32 crore, and Tk. 38.47 crore, respectively.
-With The Independent input
