3G in Bangladesh: Points to ponder

3G in Bangladesh:Points to ponder

Abu Saeed Khanaskhan@ieee.org

@ TRNB WorkshopDecember 29, 2012

The dark age

“Main telephone” denies mobile

YEARBOOK OF STATISTICSTelecommunication Services

Chronological Time Series 1996-2005July 2007

A miracle had happened in 1997

Oslo 2006

Ubiquitous Universal Access

Operator1 Effective Regulation

• License• Spectrum

• Interconnection• Internet Bandwidth

Universal Service

•Ubiquitous voice/data•Ubiquitous broadband

Operator2

Operatorn

1997 →

2015 →

Three percent of family income: Entry point for broadband adoption

Affordability levels

Policy uncertainty

20.90%

29.10% 29.50%

32.90%

40.10% 40.10%

45.40%

India Thailand Philippines China Cambodia Pakistan Bangladesh

Source: A Future Within Reach 2008

Networked Readiness Index 2012Rank 113 (Out of 142); Score 3.2 (1-7)

The Global Information Technology Report 2012, WEF

Internet and broadband penetration in the Eurasian region, 2010

Three percent of family income: Entry point for broadband adoption

Affordability levels

1 EB = 250 million DVDs5 EB = A transcript of all words ever spoken

“The Internet is not a humanitarian project, it’s a business”- Grant van Rooyen, SVP, Level 3 Communications

“Despite falling 22% compounded annually between Q2 2007 and Q2 2012, the median price of a GigE port in Hong Kong has remained 2.7 to 5.1 times the price of a GigE port in London over the past five years.” (August 2, 2012).

High, Low, and Median Hong Kong GigE IP Transit Prices by Carrier

Notes: Shaded area represents price range between low and high price by individual carrier; line shows median. Data shown are monthly price per Mbps, excluding installation and local access fees. Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) = 1,000 Mbps. Source: TeleGeography.

H

L

M

Ban

glad

esh

USD

100

(mea

n)The Great Asian Bandwidth Divide

Fiber didn’t exist when mobile came

>US$

400

mill

ion

inve

sted

Outline of Infra-sharing Guideline

• Forbids sharing transmission capacity with anyone but NTTN.

• Forces to transfer all transmission customers to the NTTN operators.

• Prohibits one mobile operator from leasing transmission capacity to another mobile operator unless either of the NTTN declines.

2008

2011

Objectives of the Guideline

Optical fiber TX has been dropped

Unlawful: Upsets the market

• The Foreign Private Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act, 1980• Section 29(d) of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulating Act, 2001

Screenshot on December 21, 2012

Impact analyses• Airtel and Robi.– CAPEX and NRO.

• Grameenphone, Banglalink and CityCell– Investment (>US$ 400 million), clientele.

• The entire mobile sector– Reliability of network under threat.

• Existing clients– Assignment of contract, sensitive customers (Banks,

MNCs and Government).

It makes 3G expensive

Skype is the limit• ILD traffic grew 4% in 2011, to

438 billion minutes.

• International Skype-to-Skype calls (including video calls) grew 48 % in 2011, to 145 billion minutes.

• Skype added 47 billion minutes of international traffic in 2011 — more than twice as much as all the telephone companies in the world, combined.

“If all of Skype’s on-net traffic had been routed via phone companies, global cross-border telephone traffic would have grown 13 percent in 2011, remaining in line with historical growth rates.”

TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert

Wi-Fi delivers over 75% of allUK Smartphone Data: Nielsen study

• People in UK with Android smartphones transfer 78% of their internet content using WiFi and just 22% over a mobile connection.

• The amount of mobile data ‘offloading’ - either via commercial WiFi hotspots or home and business networks - starts to increase in the evening from 5pm and reaches a peak between 11pm and midnight, when 90% of data transferred during that hour is via WiFi.

• Peaks in 3G data usage tended to be just before the working day started, at lunchtime and during the early evening commute; times when users are unlikely to be able to rely on a WiFi connection.

“This is a good description, wide area networks are less demanded by data users, compared to voice/sms users that always are sensitive to coverage. “

Martin Bäckström Technology Advisor, PLDT/Smart

Section 21A. Social Obligation Fund.(1) The Commission will create a fund to be known as the Social Obligation Fund for

extending telecommunication facility in the areas deprived of such facility. (2) Money received from the following sources shall be credited to the Social Obligation Fund,

namely:-

(a) grants made by the Government; (b) grants made by any other local or foreign or international organization; (c) subscription received from telecommunication and radio communication operators for this purpose; and (d) any contribution received from any other legal source. (3) Money of the Social Obligation Fund shall have to be kept deposited in any scheduled

bank to be determined by the Commission. (4) The maintenance of accounts and operation of the Social Obligation Fund, its

administration, procedure for withdrawal of money of the said Fund and the rate of subscription for the Fund to be realized from the licensed operators, shall be prescribed by rules.

Section 21A. Social Obligation Fund.(1) The Commission will create a fund to be known as the Social Obligation Fund for

extending telecommunication facility in the areas deprived of such facility. (2) Money received from the following sources shall be credited to the Social Obligation Fund,

namely:-

(a) grants made by the Government; (b) grants made by any other local or foreign or international organization; (c) subscription received from telecommunication and radio communication operators for this purpose; and (d) any contribution received from any other legal source. (3) Money of the Social Obligation Fund shall have to be kept deposited in any scheduled

bank to be determined by the Commission. (4) The maintenance of accounts and operation of the Social Obligation Fund, its

administration, procedure for withdrawal of money of the said Fund and the rate of subscription for the Fund to be realized from the licensed operators, shall be prescribed by rules.

• For carrying out the purposes of this Act, the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules consistent with the provisions of this Act.

Section 98. Power to make rules.

• For carrying out the purposes of this Act, the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules consistent with the provisions of this Act.

Section 98. Power to make rules.

2G License Renewal

Where is the rule?

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Thanks for your attention

Abu Saeed Khanaskhan@ieee.org

@ TRNB WorkshopDecember 29, 2012