The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued a new licensing regulation, categorising services for getting licences through tender and open allocations.
The regulation -- Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation (Licensing) 2022 -- scrapped the previous one, issued in 2004, to implement the BTRC Law 2001.
The Ministry of Post, Telecommunication and ICT issued the regulation recently with effect from March 16, 2022.
Some eight telecommunication services, including internet services, V-SAT service, radio communication, amateur radio, internet protocol telephony service, telecommunication transmission service, national internet exchange service, and vehicle tracking service, have been fixed to get licence from the BTRC through open application.
The BTRC categorised 12 types of services to get licence through tender procedure. The services are: public-switched telephone network service, cellular mobile telecommunication service, mobile number portability service, tower sharing licence service, submarine cable, international terrestrial cable service, satellite service, international gateway service, international internet gateway service, interconnection exchange service, broadband wireless access service, and voice over internet protocol service.
The BTRC also issued separate prescribed forms with the regulation for licence application for services, tender process, and registration certificate.
The licence holder will have to preserve the register for up to 15 years for documentation transparency.
The BTRC will be able to issue registration certificate in favour of call centre, telecommunication value added service, radio equipment importer, vendor enlistment, and application to person (A2P).
As peer regulations, the BTRC will have to maintain a specific timeframe for disposal of applications.
Officials said the new regulation has been issued following footsteps of advanced technology in telecommunication services. The previous regulation lacked many of the areas, where licencing was obligatory.
Besides, there is a guideline of the BTRC for telecommunication service providers. Under the guideline, local and foreign companies are allowed to get licence from the regulator.
