Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the telecoms watchdog, has almost finalised the licensing process to allow private operators to offer fixed line phones to subscribers.

Experts say the state monopoly in fixed line telephony, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), does not have adequate interconnection to share with prospective fixed phone operators.

Interconnection is a system that enables one telecoms operator to communicate another through an exchange.

"The move to bring in fixed phone operators without resolving the interconnection issue will only put in place fixed phone intercom system like mobile-to-mobile phones in the country," one expert said.

He said like the mobile-to-mobile subscribers, fixed phone intercom subscribers would not be able even to call for ambulance, police and fire service.

Mobile-to-mobile telephony was developed by the country's cellphone operators in the face of interconnection scarcity.

Considering the scarcity of interconnection, private mobile phone operators have spent about $2 million on having a separate tandem exchange to resolve the interconnection issue.

Four cellphone operators have about 18 lakh mobile phones, of which only two lakh have the mainframe fixed line access.

The BTRC is considering inviting proposals from parties interested in operating fixed phone. "We (BTRC) will go for an open licensing regime," BTRC Chairman Syed Marghub Murshed recently told The Daily Star.

The BTRC, however, is also formulating guidelines to resolve the interconnection issues.

The telecoms regulator should encourage floating of infrastructure companies before bringing private operators into fixed line telephony to solve the interconnection riddle, said Dr. MA Awal, former research team member of US-based Lucent Technology and Bell Laboratory.

Allowing infrastructure companies to come into being will help ensure interconnection for both fixed and cellphone operators.

The BTRC may also think of awarding more licences for fixed phone service, technically referred to as Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), on both national and zonal basis, sources said.

Bangladesh's telecommunications market is characterised by low penetration and shortage of service, which too is generally of poor quality.

The immediate telecoms market for new entrants in Bangladesh is about 1.2 million fixed lines, which can be fed by the private sector, says a study.

Considering the scarcity of PSTN, the government has taken up a programme, equally funded by the BTTB and private operators, to add about 3.5 million additional telephones by 2005.

This will put Bangladesh on a par with its neighbours in terms of teledensity, which will be around 4 percent.