The government has formally responded to concerns raised by major foreign telecom investors regarding the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction, proposing conditional pricing concessions to ease industry apprehensions.
Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, special assistant to the chief adviser with executive authority over the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and ICT, suggested a potential 5-10 percent reduction in spectrum prices.
However, this discount would be contingent upon mobile network operators committing to infrastructure upgrades, lowering consumer prices and enhancing service quality.
The move comes after foreign investors expressed reservations about the auction, citing high costs and uncertain returns.
In a letter dated March 25, Taiyeb acknowledged investor apprehensions about spectrum costs, limited bandwidth availability and device compatibility, but underscored the state's focus on aligning pricing with global standards and addressing systemic sectoral inefficiencies.
Earlier on March 17, major international telecom investors expressed concerns about the proposed parameters for the upcoming auction, citing technical, commercial and economic challenges.
In a joint letter addressed to Taiyeb, the parent companies of Bangladesh's leading mobile network operators urged the government to reconsider the auction's timing and pricing structure.
Signed by senior executives of Axiata, Telenor, and Veon, the letter highlighted three key issues with the current plan: the limited amount of spectrum being released, the disproportionately high pricing and limited device compatibility with the 700MHz band.
Citing a 40 percent devaluation of the Bangladeshi Taka against the US dollar since 2022, Taiyeb defended its dollar-denominated spectrum valuation as a safeguard against currency risks for foreign-dominated telecom operators, which repatriate profits in USD.
Responding to concerns over partial release of spectrum in the 700 MHz band -- 2x25MHz out of a total 2x45MHz -- Taiyeb said efforts were underway to resolve technical and commercial barriers for releasing the remainder, emphasising the band's role in expanding 4G/5G coverage and IoT services.
While noting 50 percent of existing 4G devices already support 700MHz, the government revealed plans to mandate local manufacturers and importers to halt non-compliant device sales -- a policy expected to boost penetration "significantly" within months.
The letter sharply criticised mobile network operators for underutilising higher-frequency spectrum bands (7–18 percent usage) intended for urban capacity, blaming inadequate deployment of critical infrastructure like Baseband Units (BBU) and Radio Resource Units (RRU) for fragmented networks, slow speeds and frequent call drops.
It accused operators of maintaining "artificially" high internet prices and restrictive data validity periods, perpetuating a "vicious cycle" that limits digital adoption despite low utilisation rates.
"Mobile network operators have not shown proper willingness to adjust consumer pricing accordingly. Moreover, the very short data validity period of national internet packages is being criticised in society," Taiyeb said.
"This seems to be a coordinated vicious cycle that mobile network operators have artificially engineered, holding back the growth of internet services," he added.
The telecom regulator aims to auction spectrum in the 700 MHz band this year to support the expansion of 4G and rollout 5G networks in the country.
It set the price at Tk 263 crore per MHz, but mobile operators are unhappy with that decision so further negotiations are anticipated in this regard.
The latest spectrum auction took place in March 2022, when the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission fetched around $1.23 billion as operators acquired a total of 190MHz spectrum.