On 14 February 2013 the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) invited applications for four 2100MHz 3G (technology neutral) mobile licences to be auctioned on 24 June 2013, with a cut-off date for applicants of 12 May. Alongside the long-awaited announcement, the regulator issued final 3G licensing guidelines, which also allow the rollout of 4G services using the new frequencies. As announced late last month, the regulator and the telecoms ministry agreed to split the 2×40MHz of spectrum up for auction into 2×5MHz blocks instead of the earlier proposed 2×10MHz slots. Prospective new entrants including foreign companies will be permitted to bid for a licence, while there is no spectrum reserved for any specific bidders. Individual bids will be capped to two paired blocks, while a third block could be bid for in the event of there being leftover spectrum. The reserve bidding price per MHz of paired spectrum was set at USD20 million, or USD200 million for a 2×10MHz licence (USD300 million for 2×15MHz). Winners will be notified on 26 June 2013.
Outside of the auction process, another 2×10MHz licence in the 2100MHz band was previously issued to state-run Teletalk – which has already launched 3G services – and the price of this licence will be fixed via the bidding for the other four concessions.