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Telcos seek to buy spectrum set aside for WiMax firms

Abdullah Mamun
Mobile operators have sought to buy some unused spectrum of 2,600 Megahertz band set aside for WiMax firms.
The mobile operators said the 2,600MHz band will benefit them much as it is ideal for launching advanced technologies such as 4G or LongTerm Evolution.
They came up with the demand as the government has taken an initiative to allocate the band to a prospective WiMax licensee: OLLO.
The telecom ministry recently asked for opinions from stakeholders whether the government should allocate the spectrum to the new WiMax operator as the existing two companies - Banglalion and Qubee - have failed to go for countrywide expansion.
However, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), said, "The 2,600 band is considered to be a natural extension band of 3G and widely auctioned for LTE/4G all over the world."
Though the 2,100 spectrum band for 3G services will cost at least Tk 155 crore per MHz in an auction this month, the price for the 2,600MHz band has been set atTk 17.5 crore for the WiMax operators.
"Since these bands are comparable, the prices can't be so wide apart and hence should be fixed in a rational manner. Proper valuation exercise of the spectrum needs to be carried out for fixing the price," AMTOB Secretary General TIM Nurul Kabir said in a letter sent to Telecom Secretary Abubakar Siddique.
The AMTOB also urged the government to ensure a level-playing field for the mobile and WiMax operators. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN body on telecom, identifies the 2,600MHz band as a global band for international mobile telecommunications.
The 2,600 band was first auctioned in 2008 when Banglalion and Qubee took their licences atTk 215 crore for 35MHz.
After five years, the government now wants to allocate 40 (20+20) MHz spectrum to the new company, Bangladesh Internet Exchange Ltd (BIEL) that operates under the brand name OLLO, without holding any auction.
Yulia Akstyutina, managing director of BIEL, said, "We cannot comment on the way BTRG or the ministry performs their responsibilities but we would like to remind that IIG licences were also initially issued through bidding."
However, the demand of the market made the BTRG issue additional licences, Akstyutina said.
"More than 25 IIG licences were additionally issued in 2011 without any auction and nobody objected to it. The same situation is here."
Firoz Ahmed, chief commercial officer of Qubee, said as the network transmission cost is high, the existing WiMax operators could not expand their network in the district areas.
The telecom secretary said the price of the 2,600 band should not be compared with that of the 2,100 band as mobile operators will get the opportunity to offer both voice and data services but the WiMax operators will only go for data services.
"The data market is very limited but the voice market is huge," he said, adding that the government may offer more WiMax licences in future.