Chief executive officers of four mobile operators met the prime minister's establishment and administrative affairs adviser, HT Imam, on licence renewals yesterday.
The meeting of the four CEOs -- Tore Johnsen of Grameenphone, Ahmed Abou Doma of Banglalink, Michael Kuehner of Robi and Mehboob Chowdhury of Citycell -- was successful, said a top official of a telecom operator to The Daily Star.
The four mobile operators are supposed to renew their licences by November.
HT Imam has assured the mobile companies that he will take the issues up with the appropriate quarters, including the finance minister, said the official.
Four issues have been placed before the adviser: business-friendly spectrum fees, fees to be paid in installments, taking the social obligation fund off the guideline and the non-licensing issues to be taken out of the guideline.
After a meeting on April 12 with the mobile operators, the telecom ministry declared that the spectrum fees could be submitted in installments, the social obligation fund would be 0.5 percent of revenue earnings and the non-licensing issues would be taken off the licence document.
According to the posts and telecommunication ministry, the financial issues of the renewal process fall within the purview of the finance ministry. They will judge the fees that have been fixed by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in the 2G (second generation) draft licensing guideline.
According to the draft guideline, four mobile operators will have to pay a total of Tk 12,118 crore in spectrum fees. Grameenphone will have to pay the highest -- Tk 5,504 crore, Banglalink Tk 2,994 crore, Robi Tk 3,000 crore, and Citycell Tk 620 crore.
The meeting of the four CEOs -- Tore Johnsen of Grameenphone, Ahmed Abou Doma of Banglalink, Michael Kuehner of Robi and Mehboob Chowdhury of Citycell -- was successful, said a top official of a telecom operator to The Daily Star.
The four mobile operators are supposed to renew their licences by November.
HT Imam has assured the mobile companies that he will take the issues up with the appropriate quarters, including the finance minister, said the official.
Four issues have been placed before the adviser: business-friendly spectrum fees, fees to be paid in installments, taking the social obligation fund off the guideline and the non-licensing issues to be taken out of the guideline.
After a meeting on April 12 with the mobile operators, the telecom ministry declared that the spectrum fees could be submitted in installments, the social obligation fund would be 0.5 percent of revenue earnings and the non-licensing issues would be taken off the licence document.
According to the posts and telecommunication ministry, the financial issues of the renewal process fall within the purview of the finance ministry. They will judge the fees that have been fixed by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in the 2G (second generation) draft licensing guideline.
According to the draft guideline, four mobile operators will have to pay a total of Tk 12,118 crore in spectrum fees. Grameenphone will have to pay the highest -- Tk 5,504 crore, Banglalink Tk 2,994 crore, Robi Tk 3,000 crore, and Citycell Tk 620 crore.