The telecoms ministry has proposed a revision in the spectrum charges for four mobile operators, by slashing the fees by more than Tk 4,000 crore from what the regulator had proposed earlier for their licence renewal.
According to the new proposal by the telecoms ministry, the four operators — Grameenphone (GP), Banglalink, Robi and Citycell — who have to renew their licences will pay a total of Tk 7,824 crore, while the regulator had proposed Tk 12,118 crore.
Last week, the telecoms ministry sent its proposed radio spectrum price policy to the finance ministry, said telecoms ministry officials.
They said the 900 and 1800 megahertz band’s pricing would be the same at Tk 150 crore for the 3 GSM (global system for mobile communications) operators — GP, Banglalink and Robi.
On the other hand, the CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile operator that is running on a band of 800 MHz will have to pay Tk 100 crore per MHz. Citycell is the country’s only CDMA mobile operator.
But the utilisation factor (UF) is still the main aspect in the renewal process, for which the operators will have to pay different amounts on the basis of their subscriber base and revenue — the more the subscribers, the more the operators will have to pay. However, the way the regulator calculated the UF is yet to be revealed.
However, leading operators have appreciated the latest move.
Kazi Monirul Kabir, chief communications officer of GP, said he is optimistic about the revision.
Zakiul islam, director (corporate and legal affairs) of Banglalink, also took the government move positively. He said: “We appreciate that the government has taken our recommendations positively.”
According to the telecoms ministry proposal, GP will pay Tk 240 crore per MHz and its UF will stand at 1.60.
Banglalink’s UF will be 1.10 and it will have to pay for 12.4 MHz of bandwidth, while Robi will pay Tk 1,824 crore for its renewable spectrum of 12.8 MHz with a UF of 0.95, according to the proposal.
Citycell is using 10 MHz of bandwidth and it will have to pay Tk 45 crore per MHz. Its UF is 0.45.
According to the regulator’s draft guidelines, the four operators were supposed to pay a total of Tk 12,118 crore — GP Tk 5,504 crore, Banglalink Tk 2,994 crore, Robi Tk 3,000 crore, and Citycell Tk 620 crore.
The telecoms ministry will take the final decision on the licence procedures, and will soon sit with the finance and planning ministries, where the pricing will be finalised, said officials.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
