Ecnec pours cold water on Teletalk’s plans

Teletalk, it often seems, is overindulged.

But what transpired at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday suggests a break from custom: the state-run carrier's proposal for building towers and network at a cost of Tk 3,279.05 crore was scrapped.

The reason being, the move went against telecom rules.

According to telecom guidelines, no mobile operator is allowed to set up towers as four companies were awarded exclusive rights in 2018 to do so. And the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission stuck to that diktat.

In spite of that, Teletalk proposed to install 3,000 new towers to expand its network in villages and get its network ready for 5G roll-out.

Senior ministers at the Ecnec meeting were critical of the matter: tower licences were issued to bring down the mobile operators' capital expenditure, so why is Teletalk planning to spend huge amounts of public money on this?

They expressed doubts about the feasibility study carried out by Teletalk on the project and called upon the telecom minister to run a fresh study by a reputed third party.

Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar acknowledged the discussions that took place at the Ecnec meeting.

"Some of my colleagues think we need to go for a third-party feasibility study," Jabbar told The Daily Star.

A fresh feasibility study will be carried out as soon as possible and a revised proposal will be sent to the Ecnec, he said, adding that the project can be implemented in several phases.

"It is true that the project is very vast and time-consuming. But this project is a lifeline for Teletalk."

The ministers acknowledged that technology changes every two to three years, so fresh investment would be needed as per technological innovation.

Though the ministers had varying opinions, they were all on the same page that the state-run operator needed more investment to make it competitive, Jabbar added.

Currently Teletalk has 4,864 towers, which is only 26.78 per cent of their total demand and account for only 3 per cent of the total towers in Bangladesh.

In the project proposal, the operator, which already has an ongoing project to add about 1,000 new towers, said it needs about 18,160 towers to cater to its existing customers.

The carrier has a plan to increase its data transmission capacity to 100 Gbps as part of its efforts to embrace 5G technology.

It also plans to strength coverage in 50,000 government offices, educational institutions, hospitals and 500 high-rise buildings in divisional cities.

Of the proposed amount, Teletalk has asked the government to give Tk 3,155.50 crore at a 5 per cent interest, while it will provide Tk 123.52 crore from its own fund.

After the meeting at the planning commission chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Planning Secretary Nurul Amin told reporters that the premier herself also stressed on the need for a third-party feasibility study.

The prime minister also asked the operator to improve its services, he said.