Three mobile phone operators — Robi, Banglalink and Teletalk– have confessed their inability to offer quality of services without additional spectrum allocation on emergency basis in this COVID-19 gripped situation.
They said the government should consider the issues with utmost priority as people are staying at home being compelled to adopt “digital life style” which made the operators’ network capability overburden, reports BSS.
“It is worth noting that due to the lock-down situation, data traffic has increased by more than 25 per cent on our network,” Robi Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Shahed Alam said on Friday.
“In this situation, it is not possible for us to meet the quality expectations from our customers unless we are provided additional spectrum,” he said, adding, “That’s why we have requested the government to consider allocating us some additional spectrum for three-month period without any charge in greater public interest.”
The three operators placed a proposal to the government last week, seeking 5 megahertz spectrum each from the 2100 band — where 20 MHz of spectrum has been sitting idle for years — for free for three months.
“At the end of the three months period, the government can take back the additional spectrum,” said Shahed Alam.
Robi said it has long been requesting the government to reduce the price of the spectrum to make it viable for it to purchase the amount of spectrum it needs to satisfy its customers’ quality expectations.
Subsequently, it had applied for additional spectrum at a discount price to the government and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission last year, which is still awaiting regulatory approval.
“Once we get the additional spectrum, within seven days we can significantly improve the quality of service experienced by our customers,” said Shahed, adding, “We hope the government will positively consider our request given the crisis situation.”