The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has decided to take stern action against the interconnection exchange operators which owe the government Tk 389.20 crore in revenue share. According to BTRC officials, 25 ICX companies have huge amount of dues but are dillydallying in payment as most of the ICX operators are backed by influential ruling party politicians.
The BTRC in 2012 proposed at best 10 more licences, but the government, on political consideration, awarded 25 IGW, 23 ICX and 34 IIG licences raising the number of gateway licences to 91.
Before 2012 there were two ICX operators, said the BTRC officials.
The ICX operators route international and domestic calls and link between the other operators like international gateway operators and mobile telephone operators.
The BTRC officials said although the ICX operators were paying their dues in fractions, the commission was now concerned about the huge arrears as the total amount reached nearly Tk 400 crore.
‘As the companies are not paying the dues for a long time, the commission has decided to take regulatory action against the ICX operators,’ a senior BTRC official told New Age on Thursday.
He said the legal department of BTRC would soon place a proposal to the commission about the possible legal measures against the ICX operators.
‘Depending on the amount of money and duration of the dues we will propose action like confiscation of the performance bank guarantees to suspending their operation,’ he said.
The BTRC has recently increased the revenue sharing of the ICX operators from international calls to 17.5 per cent from 15 per cent.
According to the BTRC data last week, Getco Telecommunication has dues worth Tk 32 crore, M&H Telecom Tk 40 crore, Bangla ICX Ltd Tk 18 crore, Voicetel Ltd Tk 36 crore, Bantel Ltd Tk 12 crore, Integrated Service Ltd Tk 39 crore, Jibandhara Solution Tk 9 crore, Cross World Telecom Tk 6 crore, Tele Exchange Tk 14 crore and Micre Trade Tk 29 crore.
The data also showed that Bangla Telecom has dues worth Tk 5 crore, Vertex Communication Tk 9 crore, Agni System Tk 17 crore, Paradise Telecom Tk 17 crore, Teleplus Network Tk 2 crore, Gazi Networks Tk 6 crore, Ring Tech BD Tk 19 crore, Mother Telecommunications Tk 1 crore, Cloud Tel Tk 7 crore, New Generation Telecom Tk 10 crore, Imam Network Tk 7 crore, Soft Tex Ltd Tk 8 crore, Purple Telecom Tk 5 crore, SR Telecom Tk 5 crore and MM Communications has dues worth Tk 25 crore.
The BTRC earlier in September last year blocked 10 international gateway operators for not paying dues worth Tk 275 crore.
The BTRC officials said although the IGW operators were paying their dues in fractions, some of the operators were dillydallying in payment due to their influential political links.
-With New Age input
