Bangladesh set to publish 3G licence details

Bangladesh’s telecom regulator has finalised the details for the country’s 3G licence auction, and will send the proposals to the government for approval later this week.

The proposals call for a total of four 3G licences to be awarded, which would leave three of the incumbent mobile networks without a concession.

The state-owned Teletalk will be granted an automatic licence, and three other licences will be granted – one to a new entrant, and two to the incumbent operators.

Last year, the telecom minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu also said that the state-owned telco would receive a six month exclusivity period before the other networks would be permitted to launch their services.

There are five GSM operators in Bangladesh and two CDMA players.