BTRC won’t allow WiMax firms to give voice services

WiMax operators that have received the long-term evolution (LTE) licences will not be able to provide exclusive voice services like mobile operators, the telecom regulator said yesterday.
The WiMax operators working with broadband wireless access (BWA) are responsible for data services, not voice, said Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
“The BWA and cellular licences are meant for different services and have different courses of action,” he said.
The WiMax operators are allowed to offer their services through laptops or personal computers, not through mobiles, he said.
But if they set up LTE equipment, they will be able to offer internet protocol calls such as Skype or Viber with the mobility facility, he added.
Recently, the government amended the BWA licensing guideline offering LTE services for the WiMax operators.
The government also gave a new licence to Bangladesh Internet Exchange Ltd (BIEL) that operates as an internet service provider under the brand name of OLLO.
However, the mobile operators raised concerns about the amendment, as WiMax operators would get the opportunity to provide voice services as well.
The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh also wrote to the government and the regulator on the matter.
“It will be noted that OLLO won’t be able to provide cellular voice services,” Bose said.
BTRC has already asked OLLO to deposit its license and spectrum fee.
After paying 50 percent of the total spectrum charge of Tk 245 crore, OLLO will get its licence, Bose said.
Last month, BTRC permitted two existing BWA licensees—Banglalion and Qubee—to roll out their network with LTE technology.
BTRC allowed the BWA licensees to upgrade their network with LTE technology as the WiMax technology is going to become extinct in the next few years.

source: http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/btrc-wont-allow-wimax-firms-to-give-voice-services/

WiMax licence for Ollo

The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (Amtob) on Sunday protested the spectrum allocation process and pricing for WiMax licensee Ollo, and demanded an immediate review of recent changes in the BWA (broadband wireless access) guideline. At a press conference in Dhaka on Sunday, the association also called for a thorough consultation with industry stakeholders on spectrum allocation policies and procedure. On November 4, the government decided to award a WiMax licence with LTE (long-term evolution) to the Ollo brand for only Tk2.45bn and allocate it the most valuable 20MHz spectrum on 2600 bands. LTE, a fourth generation telephone and mobile broadband communication standard, will enable Ollo to handle both voice and data services, making it the most influential operator in the country despite spending much less than other operators. Industry experts claimed that the deal with Ollo would cost the country nearly Tk32bn, as the present market price of 20MHz spectrum was more than Tk34bn. TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Amtob, said the controversial government decision might disrupt the level-playing field in the telecommunications sector and create discrimination among operators. “In the 3G spectrum auction, we acquired per megahertz spectrum for Tk1.55bn. But now we find that the government is allocating spectrum for a certain operator for only Tk60m per MHz _ which will incur a huge loss for the country,” Nurul Kabir told journalists. He said the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had arranged an auction in 2008 for awarding WiMax licences, but it did not do so this time. “As a regulator, BTRC has a duty to protect our interests,” a senior official from a mobile operator said. “BTRC should arrange an open auction as we also want to participate.” Amtob also noted that 2600 bands were specifically allocated for mobile spectrum from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). However, the association was yet to decide about challenging the government decision in court, Nurul Kabir said in reply to a question from the Dhaka Tribune. Another source said, “As the guideline is not finalised yet, we cannot challenge it. As the big player in the industry, we are seeking a spectrum road map from the regulator.” Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, Ashraf H Chowdhury, head of corporate affairs of Airtel, Mahmudur Rahman, executive vice president of Robi, and Zakiul Islam, senior director of regulatory and legal affairs of Banglalink, also answered questions from journalists. Earlier, BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose said the telecom regulator was planning to formulate a spectrum road map. Ollo, a co-brand of Bangladesh Internet Exchange Ltd (BIEL) and New Generation Graphics Ltd (NGGL) applied for a WiMax licence in April this year. Both companies are now owned by the Russian company, Multinet. NGGL already got 20MHz spectrum worth more than Tk30bn free of cost on 800 bands in 2011. In 2008, BIEL had participated in an auction for WiMax licencing, but it came in fifth position and withdrew its earnest money. Legal experts said BIEL was not eligible for a WiMax licence, unless a new auction takes place. - See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/regulation/2013/nov/11/wimax-licence-ollo#sthash.uWUY6G4L.dpuf

source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/regulation/2013/nov/11/wimax-licence-ollo

Ollo buys LTE/mobile WiMAX licence for USD31m

The Bangladeshi government has decided to award Russian-backed Ollo the country’s third Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) licence – which under recent regulatory amendments allows 4G TD-LTE mobile broadband service as well as mobile WiMAX. No auction was held for the 2500MHz band licence, which had gone unsold in the BWA auction of 2008. According to the report, Ollo – which currently operates fixed-wireless WiMAX services in the capital – will have to pay BDT2.46 billion (USD31.1 million) for the 2500MHz BWA licence, after telecoms minister Shahara Khatun approved the award on Monday evening. The approval is likely to be sent to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) by today (Tuesday 5 November), a ministry official confirmed to the Tribune. An official of the BTRC said the regulator had sent a letter signed by its Senior Assistant Director Shazeda Parvin to Bangladesh Internet Exchange Limited (BIEL, a joint venture partner in Ollo) on 15 September, informing it about the licence award.

The Tribune quotes legal experts as saying that the government might face a legal challenge to the decision, as there had been no reappraisal of the price for BWA spectrum leftover from the 2008 auction, while the telecoms minister told the paper simply: ‘Journalists need not know what we are going to do. The government will decide what is best for the people.’ The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) previously said it disagreed with the licence award to Ollo and requested the government assign spectrum through ‘proper valuation.’

TeleGeography notes that Ollo is a joint venture between two Bangladeshi ISPs – New Generation Graphics Limited (NGGL) and BIEL – and the latter’s Russian-based parent company Multinet, which bought BIEL in 2011 and injected investment into the newly formed Ollo joint brand, with additional investment from the Russian ICT Group. Ollo applied for a vacant mobile WiMAX (BWA) 2.5GHz licence left over from the 2008 auction, and in July 2013 the regulator sent a recommendation for licence approval to the telecoms ministry. Ollo currently operates fixed-wireless 3.5GHz WiMAX services in Dhaka, where its USB (dongle) modems can be used ‘within 200 metres from an Ollo base station’, whereas the two current BWA operators Banglalion and Qubee operate 2.5GHz mobile WiMAX and are both in the process of upgrading to LTE technology, with tests expected to be launched shortly.

source: http://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2013/11/05/ollo-buys-ltemobile-wimax-licence-for-usd31m/