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Olio to get LTE licence

Abdullah Mamun
The government is set to hand over an LTE (long term evolution) licence with 40 megahertz spectrum to Bangladesh Internet Exchange Ltd at a price of Tk 245.71 crore although the mobile operators raised questions over the licensing process.
The telecom ministry yesterday sent a letter to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, confirming the spectrum price in the 2600 MHz band. The licence was approved a month ago.
Currently, BIEL is providing fixed WiMax service as an internet service provider (ISP) along with another ISP, Next Generation Graphics Ltd, under the name Olio.
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Once it receives the new frequency and licence, it will be able to provide LTE services, the latest technology for high-speed wireless data transfer that is faster than 3G.
Last month, the two current Wimax operators -Qubee and Banglalion - also got approval to offload LTE services with their existing frequency of 35 MHz each in the same band.
The companies had received the frequency in 2008 after an open auction at an amount ofTk 215 crore.
BIEL was also a participant at the 2008 Wimax auction, but refused to purchase the frequency at the time.
Later, it applied in April this year for the licence, when both the government and regulator agreed to give the licence.
TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), said the government did not go for a formal auction to allocate the spectrum, which will create an uneven playing field for the operators.
AMTOB also wrote a letter to the ministry expressing interest of the mobile operators to purchase a 2600 MHz band for LTE. Kabir said, in September the government provided 3G spectrum in the 2100 band with Tk 165 crore for per MHz spectrum in the 2100 band.
However, BIEL got a 40 MHz (20 upload and 20 download) spectrum at only Tk 245 crore in the 2600 MHz band, he added. The 2,600 band is internationally recognised for mobile telecommunications, which is a similarto the 2100 MHz.
"We wrote to the government raising the concern."
Yulia Akstyutina, managing director of BIEL, said earlier, "We cannot comment on the way BTRC or the ministry performs their responsibilities, but we would like to remind that IIG (International Internet Gateway) licences were also initially issued through bidding."
However, seeing demand in the market, BTRC issued additional licences, Akstyutina said.
"More than 25 IIG licences were additionally