Bangladesh earns Tk 10,646 crore by selling 5G spectrum

GBNews24 Desk//

The government has earned around $1.24 billion or Tk 10,646 crore from the auction by selling 190 MHz spectrum which support 4G and 5G networks.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the regulatory body, held an auction for four mobile phone operators at Hotel InterContinental Dhaka on Thursday (March 31) morning.

The leading telecom companies in the country — Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink and Teletalk – took part in the auction.

Taking part in the auction, Grameenphone and Robi have acquired the maximum with 60MHz spectrum each from 2.6GHz bands for about Tk 3,360 crore each followed by Banglalink and Teletalk who bought 40MHz and 30MHz respectively.

Banglalink acquired 40MHz from 2.3GMHz bands, while state-owned telecom operator Teletalk acquired 30MHz from 2.3GHz bands with about Tk 1,680 crore.

The base price per MHz was set at $6.5 million for both bands for a 15-year contract. The auction included 10 blocks of 100MHz waves in the 2.3 GHz band and 12 blocks of 120 MHz waves in the 2.6 GHz band.

It was the largest spectrum auction in Bangladesh’s history.

Post and Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar and Post and Telecommunication Division Secretary Khalilur Rahman and other high officials were present.

Currently, consumers are able to use 4G services and the launching of 5G will significantly increase internet speed.

Previously on December 12, Teletalk carried out test operations for 5G. BTRC allotted 60MHz of the spectrum from 3.5GH on a refundable condition for the trial.

With this acquisition, Grameenphone now holds the top position in all bands with 107.4MHz spectrum.