The two companies yesterday signed a contract in Dhaka to launch the new venture to build up wireless local loop (WLL) or personal handy phone system at an investment of Tk 25 crore. The company will provide 10,000 phones in the first year.

"We will seek a licence to operate fixed phone network in the western zone under the government's Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) licensing regime," Nitol Group Chairman Abdul Matlub Ahmed told reporters at the contract signing ceremony.

The company will give connections with a signup money of Tk 3,000 and a monthly line rent of Tk 150. Its call charge will be below Tk 0.50 per minute if Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) approves the tariff plan.

"If everything goes well, we will launch the service within six months of getting the licence," said GM Siraj, MP, chairman of Absco Limited. The company is going to submit application for licence to BTRC next week.

He said the company has a plan to raise the number of telephones to 50,000 in five years and would try to provide telephone service at a cheaper rate.

State Minister for Housing and Public Works Alamgir Kabir who attended the function as chief guest, assured the private entrepreneurs of all out support from the government to extend modern telecommunications service.

"I believe modern telecommunications service will economically benefit the people of the backward western region," he said.

The state minister said the government will consider extending any infrastructure support to private operators if they need land for setting up exchange in Dhaka in future.

The Nitol Group chairman said he has a long-term plan to seek PSTN licence for operating land phones in all five zones including Dhaka central zone as soon as the telecoms regulator brings it under licensing regime.

Currently, the central zone has been kept off-limit to licensing regime due to a pending dispute with the WorldTel Bangladesh Limited, which had obtained a licence in July 2001 to run PSTN service in the zone co-exclusively with the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB).

Nitol has already sought a PSTN licence for Bangla Phone Ltd, a joint venture between Technohaven Company Ltd and US-based Bengal Communications International Inc, to launch service in the eastern zone with an investment of Tk 100 crore.

Nitol officials said there will be a contract between Bangla Phone and OneTel to have a common platform of operations.