Dhaka: The much-awaited auction for mobile number portability (MNP) is going to take place in May, but none related to the cellular phone operators in any form would be allowed to take part in the process.  

‘We are determined to float the MNP tender next month,’ said State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim while talking to BSS at her office on Thursday.

All necessary approvals from authorities concerned have already been taken for the MNP but, she said, her ministry is taking some time to seal any type of loophole so that no operator or their representative could take part in the auction.  

‘We are incorporating a clause in the guideline that says nobody can participate in the process which has 'conflict of interest' for the operation of the service’ revealed Tarana Halim.  

She said the telecom regulator has been asked to take ministry's approval after incorporating the clause. ‘Actually, I want to seal any type of gap,’ added the state minister.

The MNP system would enable cell phone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers even after switching to one mobile network operator from another.  

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) would call the international tender to appoint a third party MNP operator to provide the service and Taka 10 million has been fixed as floor price for the auction.

Once the MNP is introduced, customers can switch to one mobile phone operator to another operator keeping their number unchanged and they can again avail the facility after 40 days with a subscription fee of Tk 30.

On assuming the charge of the telecommunication sector as the state minister earlier last year, Tarana Halim promised to introduce the MNP by March 2016 so the mobile phone users could choose networks of their choices retaining the same number. But, time consumption of finance ministry to approve the guidelines has rendered the little delay.

According to the guideline, the BTRC will issue a MNP license for 15 years at Tk 20 lakh as annual license fee and the MNP operator has to share revenue with the government at 5.5 per cent rate from the second year of the license.

Any Bangladeshi or expatriate Bangladeshi owned company registered in the country will be eligible to bid in the auction but, foreign companies having partnership with Bangladeshi ones could also take part in the auction.

The foreign companies, however, can hold as high as 51 per cent share, and the company must invest in foreign currency and they would get no chance to mobilize fund from Bangladeshi market.

The guideline said owner or director, partner, investor and shareholder of any mobile phone operator registered in Bangladesh will be ineligible to take part in the tender.

Seventy two countries including the neighboring India and Pakistan have already adopted the popular system for their customers, while Singapore is the pioneer in the field.

Currently, Bangladesh has six mobile phone operators - -Teletalk, Grameenphone, Robi, Airtel, Banglalink and Citycell.