BTRC to auction unused spectrum on March 8

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will auction unused spectrum of two bands on March 8.

Four mobile telecom operators will take part in the auction at Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka, said AKM Shahiduzzaman, commissioner of BTRC’s spectrum division, reports bdnews24.com.

The regulator will auction 7.4 megahertz spectrum of 1800 MHz band in five blocks – two of 44 MHz, two of 2.2 MHz and one of 2.4MHz.

The base price is $31 million.

Of the 2100 MHz band, the BTRC will auction 5 MHz in four blocks with a base price of $27 million.

An operator will be allowed to take part in the 2100 MHz band auction even if it skips the 1800MHz band auction.

BTRC held spectrum auction in 2018 before the launch of the 4G services. It auctioned 46.4 MHz spectrum in 11 blocks at that time.

The operators bought 15.6 MHz in three blocks while the rest of the spectrum, or 67 percent of the total, remained unsold for what the companies said was high price.

According to the BTRC, it has 8.4 MHz spectrum of 900 MHz 2G band, 12.4 MHz of 1800 MHz band and 20 MHz of 2100 MHz 3G band unused.

No comment on the auction was immediately available from the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB).