The electrical properties for 20Bi 2 O 3 -60B 2 O 3 (20−x)-CaF 2 -xSm 2 O 3 glasses (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) were measured in the temperature range 297 K up to 629 K and in the frequency range 0·1-100 kHz. The d.c. and a.c. conductivity values and the dielectric loss (tan δ) values were found to increase with increasing Sm 2 O 3 content, whereas the activation energy of conductivities and the dielectric constant decreased. These results were attributed to the introduction of the rare earth ions; promote the formation of a high number of non-bridging oxygen atoms, which facilitate the mobility of charge carriers. The frequency dependence of the a.c. conductivity follows the power law σ ac (ω) = Aω s . The frequency exponent (s) values (0·64 < s < 0·8) decrease with increasing temperature. This suggested that the a.c. conduction mechanism follows the correlated barrier hopping model (CBH). The dielectric constant (ε ) and dielectric loss (tan δ values) were found to increase with increasing temperature and increasing Sm 2 O 3 concentration in the glass. The a.c. conductivities as a function of frequency at different temperatures of a given glass superimposed onto a master curve (Roling scaling model). Furthermore, we have performed to scale the data as a function of composition. Two master curves were obtained, which suggested that there are differences in dominant charge carriers between glasses having Sm 2 O 3 concentration ≥1 and glass of Sm 2 O 3 concentration <1.