The country's three mobile operators will have to purchase additional spectrum at the previous rate to meet the growing demand for data during the ongoing shutdown, BTRC chairman Md Jahurul Haque said.
He said the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission can't allocate spectrums free of charge or at reduced price, violating existing rules.
The commission has received applications from Robi, Banglalink and state-run Teletalk, seeking allocation of additional spectrums.
They have sought additional spectrums to manage additional pressure of data usage during the lockdown enforced by the government to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Mr. Jahurul said the commission can allow operators to pay spectrum charges in instalments, but there will not be any free or cut-price spectrum.
"If the government wants to provide spectrums free of charge or at reduced rate, we will follow instructions," he told the FE.
The rule of spectrum allocation is to hold an auction for allocating new spectrum to service providers.
The three private mobile phone service providers invested Tk 52.68 billion for 4G spectrum and Tk 44.50 billion for 3G spectrum when the prices were determined by open auction.
According to the BTRC data, total internet use in the country was 922 GBps last year and 894 GBps in 2018.
The BTRC data showed that as of December last year, the total number of internet users in the country was 9.9 million of which 9.4 million were mobile internet users.
According to an official of a mobile operator, data consumption has increased manifold during the shutdown that started since March 26.
"People have become dependent on the internet for their work during the shutdown, so the use of data has shot up. We need more spectrum to meet the additional demand," he said.
At present, market leader GP has 37 MHz spectrum, followed by Robi 36.4 MHz, Banglalink 30.6 MHz and Teletalk 25.2 MHz in three different bands.
