Mobile number portability license to be given today

The mobile number portability (MNP) license will be handed over today (Thursday) to the selected joint venture firm Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited for offering the much-awaited service in the country.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman Sahjahan Mahmood will hand over the license at a ceremony at the commission office.

Mahmood told BSS Wednesday that they would hand over the license tomorrow (Thursday) as the selected firm (Infozillion BD Teletech) had already deposited the licensing fee.

Earlier, the firm was given one month's time to receive the license through depositing the licensing fee. The stipulated time was to end this week.

Managing director of Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited (IBTCL) Mabroor Hossain said the required licensing fee was deposited last Thursday and BTRC asked them to receive the license today.

The license acquisition fee was Tk 100 million and the company will have to share 15 per cent of its revenues with the government from the second year onwards. The company must provide the service within 180 days of getting the license.

"We will be ready to offer the service within March as per the licensing condition," Mabroor told BSS.

He said they have planned to import the hardware for the job by January and complete the installation by the end of February. "Actually it is depending on the operators how much time they would take to do the job, but we will be ready in March."

Once the service is introduced, the mobile phone user can port to another operator retaining his/her number unchanged at Tk 30 and the process would take highest 72 hours. If any user again wants to change operator, he/she has to wait for 90 days.

About the roll out target, the IBTCL has to bring 1 percent of the total mobile subscribers under the service within six months of getting license while 5 per cent within one year and 10 per cent within five years.

Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium is a joint venture of Infozillion BD Limited and Teletech DOO, Slovenia.

BTRC has been trying to introduce the MNP service, which would help bring more competition to the market and improve the service quality, for the last few years.

Some 72 countries, including neighboring India and Pakistan, have introduced the service with Singapore being the pioneer in this field.