The telecom regulator has decided to award three licences to manage mobile towers in Bangladesh and separate telecom business from operators' network infrastructure.
A foreign company can hold 60 percent share in a tower management company, according to a guideline of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
Mobile phone operators are not eligible to apply for the licence, said a top official.
Also, if a company holds shares in a mobile phone operator it has to dispose of the stocks before obtaining the licence, according to the guideline.
Currently, there are 35,000 telecom towers in Bangladesh and all of them are run by mobile phone operators. Once the full-fledged tower management companies come into being, the number of mobile towers will go down to 25,000, which, experts say, will save land and energy, and cut operational expenses.
The regulator has finalised the guideline in a commission meeting on June 29. The guideline will be sent to the government by this week for approval, said Md Sarwar Alam, spokesperson of the BTRC.
The tenure of the licence will be 15 years whereas licence fees will be Tk 50 crore. The BTRC also proposed Tk 5 crore as annual fees, according to the guideline.
Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy recently shared his suggestions with the telecom regulator on the guideline.
Initially, the BTRC had planned to recommend 49 percent shares for foreign companies and 51 percent for local entities in a single licence.
Mobile phone operators and other telecom operators are setting up their own towers to expand network. Under the current system, all the operators are building infrastructure in a single place, leading to huge investment on their part as well as squeeze of valuable land.
Edotco, a Malaysian tower management company, is already running tower business in Bangladesh with a no-objection certificate. It manages about 9,000 towers.
Edotco is a sister concern of Malaysian telecom giant Axiata Group. Robi, the second-largest mobile phone operator of Bangladesh, owns about 20 percent shares in Edotco.
According to the proposed guideline, Robi will have to shed its shares in Edotco if the latter wins a licence.
Mobile phone operators Banglalink and Grameenphone have showed interest to separate their network infrastructure from core telecom business. They have applied to the regulator seeking permission to set up subsidiaries to manage towers.
A senior official of Banglalink said they are planning to sell all their towers and invest the proceeds to upgrade the network. Banglalink has 8,000 base transceiver stations.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/regulator-offer-3-licences-run-mobile-towers-1428361