Forms 16-member committee for the job
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on Monday formed a 16-member committee to manage auction of the 3G licence as its move to appoint
consultant for the job failed to bring any positive result.
The BTRC in two phases called expression of interest from parties willing to manage the 3G licence auction scheduled for July 31, but the firms or individuals applied for the job failed to fulfil required qualifications.
The BTRC on Monday also formed a nine-member committee to analyse proposals of the mobile phone companies which will be participating the auction.
‘We did not find any suitable firm or individual consultant for managing the 3G auction and decided to do it on our own,’ BTRC chairman Sunil Kanti Bose told New Age.
He said that the complexity over the appointment of consultant already delayed the auction by one month
and the commission decided not to delay the process any further.
‘We may seek expert opinion about some issues but there will be no such consultant as we have planned to appoint earlier,’ he said.
The BTRC in April rejected five firms — PricewaterhouseCoopers, e-Procurement Technologies Ltd, Webb Henderson, Telecell Communication and Detacom Asia-Pacific — who applied for the consultancy job of the 3G auction but failed to meet the criteria set by the commission.
After the five companies were rejected the BTRC called interested individuals to appoint one local and one international consultant for the job but failed to find any suitable person.
The BTRC will award three licences to three out of five mobile companies operating in the country and one to any foreign firm. Another local operator the state-run Teletalk has already got 3G licence by default.
A total 40 MHz of spectrum will be auctioned for eight blocks where a single bidder can bid for maximum two blocks.
The minimum allocation for a spectrum block is 5 MHz with base price of $20 million for each MHz.
The validity period for a 3G licence will be 15 years.
-With New Age input