New provision on spectrum assignment soon
KATHMANDU, MAY 27 -
The government is coming up with a new provision to assign frequency for introducing services based on WiMax technology. The Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee has agreed to auction spectrum for this technology.
The committee under the Ministry of Information and Communication on Thursday agreed in principle to auction spectrum and is also all set to finalise it formally. As per the existing method, the government assigns frequencies in the service operating license or on a later date to operators on the first-come-first serve basis.
“The spectrum will be provided to two operators one each from telecom service providers and internet service operators for the WiMax technology-based services,” said a high level ministry official. The official said the committee, after holding a meeting for three consecutive days, agreed to auction the much talked about WiMax technology.
This is the first time that the government is devising such a provision based on which operators wanting to acquire operating license for WiMax will have to go through an auction process. The method is considered as the most transparent and revenue generating for the government.
However, the committee is yet to agree on a base price for the auction. Surya Bahadur Raut, chief of Frequency Division at the ministry, said the committee is holding discussions to fix the base price.
The government will first select eligible operators from existing ISPs through a beauty contest method to check their eligibility for taking them to the auction phase. However, telecom operators will be taken to the auction phase directly, according the official.
There are six telecom operators and 42 ISPs in the country. The government has already set aside 2.3 GHz and 3.3 GHz band for WiMax.
The ministry official said the government will assign licence to an ISP for taking data services across the country and the base price for them would be less than that for telecom operators. “Telecom operators those bag the spectrum paying the highest amount will be allowed to provide data as well as voice service through this technology in any part of the country,” the official added. WiMax is a technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access.
The technology provides high speed broadband speed without the need for cables in urban as well as rural areas where laying optical fibres are expensive.
Bhesh Raj Kanel, chairman of Nepal Telecommunications Autho-rity and member of the committee, said the authority’s recommendation to the committee to introduce WiMax is being materialized after a long time. “The committee will come up with a final decision on frequency assignment and minimum pricing soon,” he added.
After two-and-a-half years, the committee led by Minister for Information and Communications Agni Sapkota has started to discuss WiMax technology, spectrum policies and its pricing. The committee will also come up with a decision on pricing for extra spectrum being occupied by operators and spectrum for 3G.
Source: Kantipur
The government is coming up with a new provision to assign frequency for introducing services based on WiMax technology. The Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee has agreed to auction spectrum for this technology.
The committee under the Ministry of Information and Communication on Thursday agreed in principle to auction spectrum and is also all set to finalise it formally. As per the existing method, the government assigns frequencies in the service operating license or on a later date to operators on the first-come-first serve basis.
“The spectrum will be provided to two operators one each from telecom service providers and internet service operators for the WiMax technology-based services,” said a high level ministry official. The official said the committee, after holding a meeting for three consecutive days, agreed to auction the much talked about WiMax technology.
This is the first time that the government is devising such a provision based on which operators wanting to acquire operating license for WiMax will have to go through an auction process. The method is considered as the most transparent and revenue generating for the government.
However, the committee is yet to agree on a base price for the auction. Surya Bahadur Raut, chief of Frequency Division at the ministry, said the committee is holding discussions to fix the base price.
The government will first select eligible operators from existing ISPs through a beauty contest method to check their eligibility for taking them to the auction phase. However, telecom operators will be taken to the auction phase directly, according the official.
There are six telecom operators and 42 ISPs in the country. The government has already set aside 2.3 GHz and 3.3 GHz band for WiMax.
The ministry official said the government will assign licence to an ISP for taking data services across the country and the base price for them would be less than that for telecom operators. “Telecom operators those bag the spectrum paying the highest amount will be allowed to provide data as well as voice service through this technology in any part of the country,” the official added. WiMax is a technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access.
The technology provides high speed broadband speed without the need for cables in urban as well as rural areas where laying optical fibres are expensive.
Bhesh Raj Kanel, chairman of Nepal Telecommunications Autho-rity and member of the committee, said the authority’s recommendation to the committee to introduce WiMax is being materialized after a long time. “The committee will come up with a final decision on frequency assignment and minimum pricing soon,” he added.
After two-and-a-half years, the committee led by Minister for Information and Communications Agni Sapkota has started to discuss WiMax technology, spectrum policies and its pricing. The committee will also come up with a decision on pricing for extra spectrum being occupied by operators and spectrum for 3G.
Source: Kantipur
