Will cellular phone service improve now?
The other day, Grameenphone and Robi were in an intense fight to buy five megahertz of spectrum on 2100 band during an auction.
The most notable two operators were particularly keen on getting the spectrum because they were the previous block of the unused spectrum in the band.
The united states also sold all of its wavelengths in the 1800 band. So, the two operators visited great lengths to create record bids as they wanted the spectrum because they turn to improve service top quality amid surging subscribers.
Market leader Grameenphone had the previous laugh at the end of your day. It bought the five MHz. On the day, it purchased a complete of 0.4 MHz in 1800 band and 10 MHz in 2100 band at a combined cost of $378.75 million.
Robi, the second-largest operator, took residence 2.6 MHz and 5 MHz in both bands, respectively. It has to spend $225.6 million.
Banglalink took 4.4 MHz in 1800 band and 5 MHz in 2100 band for $281 million.
The government is defined to receive more than $885 million from the operators by selling a total of 27.4 MHz of spectrum in the first auction since 2018.
Operators can pay 25 % of the spectrum selling price by March 23. The others will be paid in instalments over an interval of five years, signifying 15 % per year.
Due to latest auction, GP right now has 47.4 MHz of spectrum, Robi 44, Banglalink 40, and Teletalk 25.2 MHz.
GP hopes that the brand new spectrum will help it improve customer support. It will not spread the price to customers.
Robi says the grade of voice and online sites will be further increased through the utilization of the additional spectrum.
Abu Saeed Khan, a senior analysis fellow at LIRNEasia, a digital policy research organisation located in Colombo, is sceptical about any major improvement in service quality.
"The brand new allocation of spectrum provides some short-term improvements to telecom services, but not long-term benefits. To be able to bring long-term benefits, the federal government needs to enhance the optical fibre infrastructure."
Khan said the bond with the brand new spectrum from the bottom transceiver station to customers would improve somewhat. But the service emanating from the primary network would not go properly to the bottom station due to too little optical fibre infrastructure.
The network wants state-of-the-art infrastructures from commence to finish if it wants a sustainable solution.
An official of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said that regardless if the spectrum was availed at the price tag on plenty of money, customers shouldn't worry about it.
"We have rules. We do round-the-clock monitoring. We take activities when people make a complaint. Therefore, you won't be the circumstance that the excess money needed for buying the spectrum will be mobilised from the clients. We will have what we are able to do," the state said.
Towers are being create in remote areas after a gap of more than two years.
"Now, new spectrum possesses been allocated. Because of this, there will be benefits in the times to arrive," the BTRC official explained.
Grameenphone said it had been committed to maximising customer service quality.
Jens Baker, acting ceo and chief financial officer of GP, said: "This spectrum will enable us to further donate to the Digital Bangladesh initiative and meet up with the growing high-speed net demand of customers found in urban and remote areas.''
"As the largest operator, we will continue to work to improve the quality of 4G users' experience and service through the excess spectrum. GP is operating tirelessly to make sure extensive 4G policy through the highest amount of 4G sites."
Robi's Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Shahed Alam expressed fulfillment as it was able to acquire the required spectrum as per its concentrate on from the most recent auction.
"For strategic reasons, we'd wanted to have another 5 MHz."
Had the second-largest operator had gotten the excess spectrum, the price of building network infrastructure could have been lessen and strengthened the network even more, he said.
"As well, we would have already been in a position to ensure faster online sites for our customers than expected. Even in that case, the spectrum we bought in both bands of 1800 and 2100 MHz will definitely support in increasing the caliber of service," Alam stated in a statement.
However, mobile operators need more spectrum to enhance the quality of services at the expected degree of customers.
Experts say service top quality can be ensured if the entire telecommunication ecosystem improves, including the increase in the application of optical fibre and 4G devices. Radio frequency in the new bands must be allocated.
The recently acquired spectrum can help Banglalink wthhold the top position among all private operators in Bangladesh about the amount of spectrum provided per subscriber.
Erik Aas, CEO of Banglalink, said, "Banglalink's acquisition of the additional spectrum is another landmark inside our endeavour to serve our clients as an electronic service provider."
"Weare maintaining impressive performances and also have made significant advancements in key indicators including the market share, data earnings and data customer foundation."
The spectrum can help Banglalink capitalise on its success and increase client satisfaction further, he said.
At the moment, Banglalink is serving 3.59 crore customers with 30.6 MHz spectrum. It bought 9.4 MHz spectrum on Monday. Now, the number of members per MHz will lower from 12 lakh to about 9 lakh.
On the trunk of 37 MHz spectrum, GP happens to be providing services to 8.3 crore clients, meaning it features around 22 lakh consumers per MHz.
If 10.4 MHz spectrum is added, the volume of Grameenphone's spectrum will stand at 47.4 MHz. After that, the number of clients per MHz will come to be around 17 lakh.
For Robi, the amount of subscribers per MHz will come down from 14 lakh to 12 lakh, because of the brand new spectrum. It has 5.15 crore subscribers.
