Dhaka: The wave auction for installing the 4G (Fourth Generation) mobile service in the country will be held by 2016 where all the mobile phone operators will be able to take part, says State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim.

However, the mobile phone operators have to fulfil all the conditions and requirements first to participate in the auction, she said.

The state minister was speaking at a press briefing at the secretariat on the progress of her ministry’s activities during the last year.

Tarana also said the 3G mobile network will be expanded throughout the country in 2016, reports UNB.

According to the research of Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), she said Bangladesh is the 3rd among the 20 Asia Pacific countries in the field of telecommunication.

The junior minister said they will take part in a regional meeting with social networking site Facebook on 12-13 January in Singapore.

During the meeting, the Bangladeshi delegation will discuss how to curb cyber crimes on Facebook, she said.

With a view to making the state-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk stronger, the government is going to take several initiatives like branding a new logo by February and bringing foreign investment, Tarana added.

The government is also going to introduce a new policy for recruiting officials for Teletalk by fixing the educational qualifications, she said.

The registration process of mobile phone sets will begin by 2106 through the IMEI numbers, the state minister added.

Tarana further said the process of installing Ground Control Station for the first geostationary Bangladeshi satellite Bangabandhu-1 will begin very soon.

She said they will take some initiatives, including arranging an auction for distributing MNP licence, providing broadband service to the internet users through optical fibre and tightening cyber security, to improve the telecommunication and internet sectors of the country.

Tarana said the drive against illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is going on in full swing.

Some 244 drives were conducted from 2007 to 2015 while some 2.15 lakh SIM cards were blocked manually, 8.7 lakh were blocked through SIM box detection system and 1.16 crore through self regulation, Tarana said.