Bangladesh govt approves final spectrum renewal fees

The Bangladesh government has finalised the spectrum fees for four mobile operators whose licences are set to expire on 15 November. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has approved the fees to renew the licences for fifteen years, The Daily Star reports. The government has set the fee at BDT 1.50 billion for all spectrum bands but each operator has to pay a different fee per MHz of spectrum based on their market share. Operators with a market share of over 20 percent will have to pay an additional fee while operators with less than 20 percent market share pay a reduced fee. Grameenphone will have to pay BDT 32.41 billion for its 14.6 MHz of spectrum, Banglalink is required to pay BDT 19.71 billion for its 12.4 MHz, Robi will have to pay BDT 19 billion for 12.8 MHz, and Citycell is expected to pay BDT 4.50 billion for its 10 MHz of spectrum. The operators will also have to pay BDT 100 million each for licence renewal fees. Additionally, the operators will be required to share 5.5 percent of their revenues with the government and pay 1 percent of their revenues into the Social Obligation Fund. The operators are required to pay 49 percent of the spectrum charges in November when their licences will be renewed and the remainder can be paid in three instalments due in May 2012, November 2012, and May 2013. The licences of two other operators – Teletalk and Airtel – are set to expire in 2020.