Dhaka, June 27 (The Daily Star):
The telecom ministry plans to award the third
transmission licence to Bahon Ltd among four companies that sought permissions.
Bahon will join two other national telecommunication
transmission network (NTTN) companies Fiber@Home and Summit Communications.
Abubakar Siddique, telecom secretary, said Bahon is the
only eligible company to get the transmission licence among the four
applicants.
NTTN companies rent out their optical fibre cable
capacity to the voice, internet or data service providers. The ministry is
preparing the paperwork for the new licensee.
In February, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory
Commission (BTRC) sent the applications of four applicants -- Bangla Phone,
Mango Teleservices, B-Connect and Bahon -- to the ministry to consider for NTTN
licences.
The telecom ministry has been the licence approving
authority for any telecom licence since 2010, when the Telecom Regulatory Act
was amended.
Before that, the regulator used to issue licences.
“Our target is to
lay the optical fibre cable network in 64 districts within the next three to
five years so that the mobile, WiMax or internet service providers can get
connectivity,” said Syed Samiul Huq, managing director of Bahon.
The other shareholders of Bahon are Syed Ruhul Huq,
chairman, Salma Islam, a director, and Farzana Lucky Ali, a director, according
to its application.