Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission

regulatory · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head: Major General (retd) Md Emdad Ul Bari, OSP, NDC, psc
Role: Chairman
Annual budget: —
Staff: 369
Established: 2002
Legal basis: Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, 2001 (Act No. XVIII of 2001), gazetted 16 April 2001; BTRC commenced operations 31 January 2002. Amended by Bangladesh Telecommunication (Amendment) Act, 2010.

Executing the post-election spectrum policy reset under PTD direction: 700 MHz band partially commercialised (Grameenphone 10 MHz via auction, Teletalk 10 MHz via executive directive); broadband tariffs standardised under 'One Nation, One Rate'; QoS framework in monthly enforcement mode with all major operators currently compliant. BTRC's FY2026 revenue target of Tk 3,825 crore is contested internally as unrealistic given subscriber-base contraction.

Recent activity

2026-01-14 regulation BTRC conducted Bangladesh's first-ever 700 MHz spectrum auction under Instructions for Radio Frequency Auction 2026. Grameenphone was the sole bidder and secured 10 MHz at the base price of Tk 237 crore per MHz -- total Tk 2,370 crore for a 15-year licence payable in 10 instalments. Robi Axiata withdrew before bidding. The remaining 15 MHz was not sold: 5 MHz is tied up in a court case (AONB litigation) and 10 MHz was subsequently directed to Teletalk. ↗↗↗
2026-04-24 regulation Posts and Telecommunications Division issued an executive directive to BTRC to allocate 10 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum to state-owned Teletalk at the auction-discovered price of Tk 237 crore per MHz, bypassing a competitive auction process. Teletalk carries accumulated dues to BTRC exceeding Tk 5,700 crore (Tk 55.06 billion in spectrum fees, Tk 1.20 billion in licence fees, Tk 1.02 billion in revenue sharing, Tk 620 million in other charges). The three private operators (Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink) jointly wrote to BTRC protesting the allocation as competitively distortive and contrary to 'use it or lose it' principles. ↗↗↗
2026-04-27 regulation BTRC's Systems and Services Division issued a tariff notification implementing the 'One Nation, One Rate' (Ek Desh Ek Rate) broadband policy for fixed-line ISPs. Maximum monthly caps: 30 Mbps at Tk 500, 100 Mbps at Tk 1,000, 250 Mbps at Tk 3,000. ISPs must maintain QoS at the customer level. The notification was issued to individual ISP licensees, including Sam Online, as a test case for uniform national pricing. ↗↗↗
2026-02-17 policy BTRC operating under active QoS enforcement regime: the revised QoS framework (effective September 1, 2025) raised minimum 4G download speed to 10 Mbps and introduced new benchmarks for VoLTE (max 3-second call setup), mobile data latency (under 50ms), and call drop rate (max 1%). Monthly compliance checks via drive tests have been under way since September 2025. As of January 2026, national median 4G download speed stood at 31.15 Mbps -- all four major operators exceeded benchmarks nationally. ↗↗↗

Provenance & notes

BTRC commenced operations January 31, 2002 under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, 2001 (Act No. XVIII of 2001). Chairman Md Emdad Ul Bari (Major General, retd) was appointed September 10, 2024 for a three-year term; his predecessor Md Mohiuddin Ahmed resigned August 14, 2024. Staff count of 369 is the sanctioned organogram approved in 2008; actual deployed headcount may differ. annual_budget_bdt is null: BTRC is a self-funding regulatory commission that collects spectrum fees, licence fees, and revenue sharing from operators; it does not receive a line-item parliamentary budget allocation in the same format as ministries and divisions. The FY2025-26 revenue target of Tk 3,825 crore (raised ~Tk 1,700 crore over prior year) is BTRC's collection target set by Finance Ministry, not an appropriation. 700 MHz auction (January 14, 2026): 25 MHz offered in five 5-MHz blocks; Grameenphone won 10 MHz (two blocks) at base price, no premium; 5 MHz blocked by AONB court case; 10 MHz now allocated to Teletalk via PTD directive April 24. Teletalk dues to BTRC: Tk 55.06 billion spectrum fees + Tk 1.20 billion licence fees + Tk 1.02 billion revenue sharing + Tk 620 million other = approximately Tk 57.90 billion total. QoS: the framework in the notable_events entry (dated 2026-02-17 as the midpoint of the 90-day window) records the enforcement state as of the window opening; the original directive effective date is September 1, 2025. Broadband tariff notification April 27 applies to ISP licensees individually; the policy is 'One Nation, One Rate' announced by PTD; BTRC's Systems and Services Division issues the individual licences and tariff approvals. Cross-verified against: PTD record (posts-and-telecommunications-division.json), TBS, Daily Star, Financial Express, Telecompaper, Mobile World Live, BSS -- all material claims have 2+ independent sources.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission

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