Dhaka: Five foreign firms have submitted expression of interests (EOIs) to the telecom regulator to be selected as consultant to finalise the necessary process of holding the 3G auction.

The firms submitted their EOIs in response to the call of the regulator -- Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), said an official.

The official of licensing division preferring anonymity said the consultant firm would be selected under the public procurement laws and the BTRC expects to complete the appointment process as early as possible to hold the much awaited mobile broadband auction on time.

Of the five firms, three are from India- E- procurement, Price Water House Coppers and Tele cell com - while the Web hander Shon is from Australia and Datacom Asia pacific is a German firm based in Thailand.

The regulator sought EOI in March while the last date for submission of EOI was April 15.

Meanwhile, the BTRC has formed an evaluating committee with its commissioner Monirul Alam at the top for scrutinizing the proposals and asked it to submit the final report to the commission by April 24.

The consulting firm will be given the responsibility to organize the necessary process for holding the auction for the spectrum of mobile broadband technology scheduled for June 24.

The commission already held a pre-bidding meeting in March 14 with the companies interested in the auction.

The BTRC will award three licenses to three out of existing five mobile companies operating in the country and one to any foreign firm. Another local operator the state-run Teletalk who has been offering the service on trial basis will be given the 3G license.

A total 40 MHz of spectrum will be auctioned in eight blocks where a single bidder can bid for two blocks, maximum.

The minimum allocation for a spectrum block is 5 MHz with base price of US$ 20 million for each MHz.

The validity period for a 3G license will be 15 years.

Ends/AMA/19/04/13