Thursday, July 12, 2012

Bangladeshi Mobile operators are planning to outsource the maintenance of the base transceiver systems

Mobile operators are planning to outsource the maintenance of the base transceiver systems (BTSs) – mobile towers – to a third party and instigate a network-sharing mechanism to cut down operational costs, telecom industry sources said. A number of Indian companies, including Quippo Telecom, Idea Cellular and Viom Networks, are keen to take the mandate of maintaining the BTSs. Viom Networks, one of the four largest telecom companies that maintain over 40,000 BTSs owned by various cellphone operators in India, recently offered Bangladesh’s largest mobile operator, Grameenphone, to look after its 14,000 mobile towers. Quippo Telecom, which maintains over 5,000 BTSs, owned by various companies, throughout India, is keen on getting the mandate of maintaining about 5,200 BTSs of Banglalink, the second largest operator of the country, sources said. Officials of both Grameenphone and Banglalink declined to comment on the issue, arguing that handing over the maintenance of BTSs is a big operational decision and the companies are in talks with the telecom regulator and the stakeholders to give shape to the plans. Meanwhile, Robi, the third largest operator, has sought permission of the telecom regulatory to hand over the maintenance work of its 8,200 BTS to an associate organization, sources added. The company has already started talks with India- based Idea Cellular, which is owned 20 per cent by the Malaysia-based Axiata Ltd, the parent company of Robi. Robi wants to cut down both costs and employee strength by outsourcing the maintenance of BTSs to a third party, and renew its focus on customer service, a company official said. The telecom regulator, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), has in principle supported the operator's proposal and is scrutinizing the existing law for its viability. “The commission is considering allowing the operators' move to shift the BTS maintenance to associated bodies or third parties as they (operators) want to come out of the complexities of tower maintenance,” BTRC chairman Major General (retd) Zia Ahmed said. BTRC is looking for an option as to how the operators can hand over the maintenance of BTSs under the existing law, Ahmed said. A separate policy will be needed to legalize the lone job of tower maintenance, the telecom regulator chief said. Section 35 of the Telecommunication Act-2010 says that an operator cannot construct and operate any telecommunication infrastructure for providing services without having a telecom licensee, he pointed out. It would be impossible for third parties to enter the maintenance scene unless the provisions were changed in their favors, experts said. Third party maintenance of telecom infrastructure is existent in many countries, a BTRC official said. Telecom operators in those countries buy BTS services from companies specifically engaged in that business, obviating the need for spending large sums on putting up BTSs, he added. The telecom regulator has already started preparing a guideline under which the mobile operators will be able to share their networks, BTRC chairman said. Under the existing regulations, the mobile operators can now share among themselves their basic infrastructure, including buildings or high-rise tops or even the towers, BTRC sources said. The new guideline will allow them to share one another’s base-transceiver system (BTS), they further said. Under the new guideline, the mobile operators will need to spend less on building their infrastructure, Ahmed told The Independent. Also, it will lessen the cost of import of various network maintenance instruments, he added. The new guideline will give the smallest of operators as much leverage in terms of service reach, as enjoyed by the largest one, he further said.