Some BTRC officials fear syndication in bidding<\/strong>
\nMobile phone operators have mounted pressure on the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to change further 3G auction procedures. But BTRC officials attributed the pressure to an apparent bid to manipulate the bidding.
\nOfficials of four operators \u2014 Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel \u2014 in a pre-auction meeting on Monday opposed BTRC\u2019s auction process that sets bidding criteria for unsold spectrum block.
\nAccording to BTRC draft auction process, participants who bids for 10 MHz spectrum will be allowed for bidding for the unsold spectrum.
\nThe participant who bids for 5MHz will not be eligible for bidding the unsold block, it said.
\nMeeting sources said the operators opposed the rule saying that it would increase the competition. But a BTRC official said the operators stood against the rule as it would put an end to any possible syndication.
\n\u2018It appears that the operators are in a syndication to manipulate the 3G auction which will not be possible if this auction method prevails,\u2019 a highly placed official of the commission told New Age after the meeting.
\nIf only 10-MHz bidders are allowed to bid for the unsold block, there will be an uneven distribution of the spectrum which will foil any possible syndication by the operators, he said.
\n\u2018From the beginning the operators are trying to eliminate the competition factor. The BTRC tried to bring an international operator to keep the competition on but the operators managed to bar the move by lobbying with some senior government officials,\u2019 he said.
\nHe said a Japanese company was the last foreign operator who was in the race but dropped out recently following pressure from the local operators.
\n\u2018At first the 3G guideline offered 2G licence to the foreign or new entrant as the interested firms said that in order to compete with other operators they will need the 2G licence. But the operators oppose the move and forced to cancel it,\u2019 he said.
\nHe said following operator\u2019s pressure the BTRC imposed 70 per cent fees on the 2G licence for the new entrants.
\n\u2018Japanese NTT was ready to invest both for 3G and 70 fees for 2G which was still risky for the local operators. So they managed to change the rule again which leads new entrant of 3G auction to pay full amount for 2G. Finally, the NTT dropped and the government lost huge amount of investment,\u2019 he said.
\n\u2018Now they will start lobbying again for changing the auction process and make the unsold block free for all,\u2019 he said.
\nHe also said the government was very keen to conduct the 3G auction as it would bring huge amount of money ahead of the national elections.
\nSenior officials of a mobile company said that in the meeting the allocation of the total 40 MHz \u2018was distributed verbally following the BTRC auction method.\u2019
\n\u2018One company will get 15 MHz, two will get 10 MHz each and one will get 5 MHz of the total spectrum if the auction process remains like this,\u2019 he said.
\nHe said the operators took three days time to give their opinion on the draft auction process.
\n\u2018We will discuss the issue in our forum and inform the BTRC about it,\u2019 he said.
\nThe BTRC called for application for the 3G auction on Monday, sticking with the previous deadline of August 1.
\nThe 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.
\nA total of 40 MHz of spectrum will be auctioned for eight blocks where a single bidder can bid for maximum two blocks.
\nThe minimum allocation for a spectrum block is 5 MHz with base price of $20 million for each MHz.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some BTRC officials fear syndication in bidding Mobile phone operators have mounted pressure on the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to change further 3G auction procedures. But BTRC officials attributed the pressure to an apparent bid to manipulate the bidding. Officials of four operators \u2014 Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n