Four mobile phone operators — Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel — are going to participate in the 3G auction scheduled for September 8.
The four operators Thursday submitted their bid earnest money to participate in the 3G auction.
The oldest operator Citycell did not deposit the earnest money and missed the deadline.
This means each of the four applicants will get a licence each as the government has reserved four licences for the private mobile operators.
Last year the state-run Teletalk launched the 3G service on test basis.
Each of the operators deposited Tk 155.5 crore to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to take part in the Third Generation (3G) cellular mobile phone services licences.
BTRC Vice-chairman Giasuddin Ahmed told at a press briefing that as the operators deposited their amount the 3G auction process has been rolled on.
The 3G service provides high speed wireless internet and allows mobile users to use their smart phones for TV viewing and holding video conferences and other online services.
The auction will start with the base price of $20 million for per megahertz spectrum.
The operators would get the opportunity to buy minimum 5 MHz to maximum 15 MHz spectrum to launch the service.
The operators will also get opportunity to provide 4G (fourth generation) that is Long Term Evolution (LTE), latest mobile technology that provides more data speed than 3G.
Source: The Daily Star
