The government has approved administrators for Grameenphone and Robi to oversee the operation of the two mobile operators.

The approval came after Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) sent letters to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on Tuesday (Oct 15) seeking permission.

Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar confirmed the matter to Bangla Tribune on Thursday (Oct 17).

After an audit of the two mobile phone operators, the BTRC in 2016 claimed Tk 125.7995 billion from GP, the leader in the country’s telecom service sector, and Tk 8.6723 billion from Robi, the second-largest operator, in taxes and late fees accumulated over several years.

Of the total, the principal audit claim from Robi was around Tk 3.15 billion, and around Tk 63.85 billion from Grameenphone.      

On Sept 18, the finance minister in a meeting with the two mobile operators announced that the longstanding dispute about the audit claim would be resolved within three weeks.

Earlier in July the BTRC slashed GP’s bandwidth by 30% and Robi’s by 15% for failing to clear the payment of the dues.

But they lifted the block on bandwidth after two weeks considering the inconvenience it was causing the subscribers.

On Jul 22, the BTRC decided not to give any kind of approval to the two mobile phone operators to roll out new packages or services, or import network equipment to pressure them into clearing their dues.