Telecom vendors are gearing up to address 3G network demands in Bangladesh. Bangladesh will auction 3G spectrum in September. Banglalink, Airtel Bangladesh, Grameenphone, etc. are likely to participate in the 3G auction.
Bangladesh’s telecom operator Banglalink will invest more than $300 million by 2015 to modernize telecom network and 3G.
The second largest mobile operator said Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei will provide backbone facility to Banglalink for rolling out 3G service in Bangladesh.
“We will invest $300 million to increase our network capacity and Huawei will be our partner in this regard,” said Banglalink CEO Ziad Shatara.
Banglalink will be participating in the forthcoming 3G auction which will take place on September 2. A final decision will depend on resolving some of the present 3G guidelines.
Meanwhile, Airtel Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, is likely to participate in the 3G spectrum auction to increase its market share from 8 percent.
Bharti Airtel, which could bag telecom license in Myanmar, will launch an international fiber-optic cable link to boost internet speeds in Bangladesh.
The telecoms has invested in terrestrial fiber-optic cable link between India and Bangladesh to have the bandwidth in place to handle the expected surge in data traffic in Bangladesh.
3G in Bangladesh
3G spectrum auction in Bangladesh was put off several times due to protest from telecom operators. Telecom operators including Telenor-owned Grameenphone wants more clarity on the auction guidelines.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BRTC) will allow telecoms to bid for 5 MHz or units of airwaves in the 2100 MHz band for offering 3G services.
Teletalk, the government-run telecom operator, has already started testing 3G services. It will set up 2,500 BTS, in addition to its existing 1,730 BTS, for 3G. Of these, 700 base transceiver stations, or cell sites, are especially designed for 3G, Teletalk MD Mujibur Rahman said recently.
The state-run telecoms will not participate in the 3G auction as it needs to match the highest bidders’ price during the auction in September.
Teletalk at present has about 1.25 million mobile users in Bangladesh. But only 1.7 million subscribers can use the latest mobile Internet technology due to limited spectrum.
As at 31 March 2012, Grameenphone had a mobile market share of 42.2 percent, its rival Banglalink with 27.5 percent, Robi with 19.8 percent, Airtel Bangladesh with 7.1 percent, Citycell with 2 percent and Teletalk with 1.4 percent.
Grameenphone has already invested in GPRS network to offer mobile internet on the phone. Its EDGE/GPRS network covers over 99 percent of the population and 90 percent of the geographic location. In 2011, Grameenphone completed swapping of its entire network with Huawei equipment that entailed the network to be future-ready and significantly cost efficient.
