Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has taken the initiative to revoke the licences of Grameenphone (GP) and Robi to get outstanding dues. This comes as a third step after limiting of bandwidth and stopping of No Objection Certificate (NOC).
Before rescinding the licence, BTRC will send show cause notice, which will take two days to prepare. After BTRC’s chairman comes back from Bhutan, the notice will be sent, said BTRC sources.
Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Mustafa Jabbar says: “Our policy decision is to take a strict stance; despite several reminders, the telephone operators are not paying the dues and are concocting stratagems to avoid paying.”
“We will send notices and see their reaction,” said the minister.
On April last, BTRC sent notices to GP and Robi demanding Tk 125.8 billion and Tk 8.67 billion respectively.
The operators were given two weeks to pay the money but when this did not happen, BTRC limited bandwidth for the two operators.
At a BTRC meeting held on May 22, decision was taken to adopt 8 steps against the telecom operators including, stopping of issuing No Objection Certificate, stopping MNP port, limited new subscribers, stopping bandwidth from International Internet Gateway, limiting or stopping calls, stopping 4G and 3G services in certain areas of the country etc.
BTRC’s Senior Director, Jakir Hossain Khan, says: “All steps are taken as per law and we hope that the operators will pay the dues and come within a disciplined system.”
Several sources of BTRC say that process has begun to prepare the notices and operators may be given 30 days to respond as to why their licences will not be revoked.
A senior BTRC official observes: “The letter to cancel licence is a big issue and this will be printed in all major media outlets of the world and will adversely impact share prices and the overall image.”