The government has earned Tk 10,645.70 crore from a spectrum sale auction.
The leading telecom companies in the country - Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink and Teletalk – took part in the auction.
The auction for spectrum bands conducted by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) was held at Hotel InterContinental on Thursday.
Grameenphone and Robi acquired the highest amount of spectrum at the auction.
Each of the telecom companies acquired 60 MHz from 2600MHz bands for about Tk 3,361 crore.
State-owned telecom operator Teletalk acquired 30 MHz from 2300 MHz bands with about Tk 1,681 crore and Banglalink acquired 40 MHz from 2300 MHz bands.
With this additional spectrum, the mobile operators will be able to ensure the quality of service to the customers.
Post and Telecommunication, Minister Mostafa Jabbar, Post and Telecommunication Division Secretary Khalilur Rahman and BTRC Chairman Shyam Sundar Sikder were present during this time.
The base price of each MHz spectrum was valued at 6 million dollars for 15 years. The 2.3 and 2.6 GHz bands were set for this year's auction. The auction was held in 18 blocks. Each block had spectrums of 10 MHz. A total of 220 MHz spectrum was auctioned and of these, 190 MHz were sold to four bidders.
Speaking as the chief guest, Mustafa Jabbar termed the auction day as historic.
“Although I was asked to postpone the auction, I was determined that it would be held on the last day of Mujib Barsha, if necessary. Today is that day. The spectrum of mobile operators has doubled from today. As a result, it is expected that the customer will get quality service from now on,” he said.
BTRC Chairman Shyam Sundar Sikder called upon the operators to provide quality services to the customers.
He said that now there will be no shortage of spectrums for the operators.
It may be mentioned that 5G was launched on December 12 last year for the first time in the country. State-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk launched the network on a trial basis.
