Government will formally hand over 4G licence to mobile network operators (MNOs) on February 20 – paving the way for launching 4th generation broadband cellular technology in country by February 21.
The telecom regulator revealed this on Tuesday during the auctioning of 2100, 1800 and 900 megahertz spectrum in the capital.
Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Dr. Shahjahan Mahmood said, “We will officially handover the 4G licences on February 20 so that the operators can go for 4G service by the next day.”
During the auction, Banglalink bought five megahertz spectrum in 2100 megahertz band and another five megahertz spectrum in the 1800 megahertz band.
Meanwhile, the country’s biggest MNO Grameenphone bought 5.6 megahertz spectrum band in 1800 megahertz band.
The BTRC Chairman said, “The total market price of the sold spectrum is about Tk 38.43 billion.”
Earlier, Mr Mahmood noted, “we also got Tk 14.25 billion through tech neutrality fee.”
According to him, “This means that the government has earned around Tk 52.68 billion through this spectrum auction and tech neutrality fee.”
The allocation of new spectrum as well as the forthcoming introduction of 4G wireless cellular service is expected to increase the quality of cellular service and especially the speed of mobile internet substantially in the country.