Home ›› 31 Mar 2022 ›› Front
The country is all set to roll out the super speed Fifth Generation (5G) web access while the existing 4G network still falls much short of optimum utility.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is going to hold 5G spectrum auction today (Thursday) to award 180MH radio frequency to the country’s telecom operators—60 MHz spectrum in six blocks from 2.3GHz (2300-2400MHz) bands and 120MHz spectrum in 12 blocks from 2.6GHz (2500-2600 MHz) bands through open auction.
According to the Instructions for Radio Frequency Auction 2022, operators have to launch 5G operations within six months after the bid.
The spectrum could also be used for 2G, 3G and 4G networks.
Welcoming the government move to launch the super speed internet across the country, the industry insiders say they are focusing on speeding up their existing 4G coverage and internet speed as 4G network currently suites the user patterns.
They hope that the upcoming 5G internet will provide industry-based services while 4G penetration and bandwidth failed to reach out potential telecom subscribers so far.
According to the operators, they are eying infrastructure development and spectrum costs to make the fifth generation technology available across the country.
They said they expected 5G guidelines before the spectrum auction, but BTRC did not issue them yet.
“We are not calling it 5G spectrum for now, we call it 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz band spectrums, which can be used in 5G technology,” said Zakir Hossain Khan, deputy director, Media and Publication Wing of BTRC.
Robi’s Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Shahed Alam stated that the country needs 100MHz spectrum to ensure 5G technology service, mentioning that special consideration is required to determine the spectrum price to get the required frequencies.
According to the BTRC, as of January 2022, the country’s total mobile subscribers stands at 180.78 million of which 83.02 million users belong to Grameenphone, 53.57 million to Robi Axiata, 37.41 millions to Banglalink and 6.78 million to Teletalk.
In the country, 2G mobile subscribers account for 77.09 million, 3G 40.08 million and 4G 59.24 million.
The total internet subscribers are 121.87 million, among which mobile internet users make up 111.77 million, ISP and PSTN stakes 10.10 million.
Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman said: “GP is connecting a subscriber base of 83.3 million out of which 44.6 million access internet and 27.6 million are empowered by 4G connectivity, meaning that 4G covers 61.88 per cent of the total internet penetration.”
“What the country needs now is the government digital services, transport, streaming services for entertainment, e-commerce, etc. All these can be made possible in 4G network.” 5G will be needed much when it comes to bringing efficiency in garments, automated machines, airports, ports, manufacturing industry and cities, he opined.
“We will try to go for 5G trial and test in the next six months,” said Yasir.
Kaan Terzioglu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VEON, Banglalink parent company, welcomed the government new move with spectrum auction, mentioning that less than 50 per cent of smartphone users have come under the 4G coverage of Banglalink.
“We are trying to bring our subscribers under the 4G coverage in the next two to three years,” he said.
The CEO emphasised sharing optical fibre networks and tower infrastructure among the operators to easily afford to build a strong network.
“In our existing 4G services, there is some trouble. The spectrum which will be sold on the auction day will boost up the 4G speed alongside launching the 5G service. It will remove the speed problems in the 4G service in some areas,” Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar told The Business Post.
According to the Singapore-based online survey farm Kepios, Bangladesh’s internet penetration rate stood at 31.5 per cent of the total population at the start of 2022, and 114.5 million people did not use the internet at the start of 2022, meaning that 68.5 per cent of population remained offline at the beginning of the year.
According to the BTRC policy, the minimum speed for 3G service should be 2 Mbps and the minimum speed for 4G is 7 Mbps.
During the drive-tests run by the BTRC last year, it was found that none of the mobile operators could maintain the minimum speed.
“We have 4G but the required speed could not be ensured yet. We have less than 12 Mbps while the Arab Emirates has 200 Mbps. 20 Mbps is enough for now for video streaming, which 4G can easily do,” observed Dhaka University IIT Professor Dr BM Mainul Hossain.
On December 12, the state-owned telecom operators Teletalk officially launched 5G network for the first time in six areas -- Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, Secretariat, Bangabandhu Museum, Bangabandhu’s birthplace Tungipara in Gopalganj and the National Martyrs’ Memorial in Savar.
Jahangirnagar University IIT Professor Dr M Mesbah Uddin Sarker said: “We have to convert the existing network towers into 5G specialised ones to reap the benefits of 5G. Besides, subscribers will require 5G-enabled devices.”
As the pioneering countries the US, South Korea and China have managed to make the 5G services popular.
Among the SAARC countries, India, Pakistan Nepal and Sri Lanka have already public access to 5G.
