The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has recently changed the broadband wireless access service guideline after Bangladesh Internet Exchange Limited, an internet service provider, applied to the commission for a WiMax licence, said commission officials.
BIEL, a subsidiary of Russian company Multinet, is providing internet services in partnership with New Generation Graphics Limited under the brand name of Ollo.
The notice announcing the amendments to the BWA guideline issued by the BTRC on Thursday showed that the amendments were initiated in reference to a BIEL file.
BTRC officials said BIEL recently applied to the commission to give it a licence for WiMax operation based on their participation in the 2008 WiMax auction.
After filing the application, the officials said, the BTRC moved to amend the BWA guideline in a bid to favour the BIEL as the existing guideline barred the telecom regulator from issuing a WiMax licence to BIEL
BIEL participated in the 2008 auction held for three WiMax licences. The company became sixth in the auction.
When winning companies refused to take the licences, the BTRC offered BIEL to get licence but the company refused too.
BTRC officials said it was highly unusual that any change in any guideline had taken place following plea from an operator under another licensing guideline.
‘If a BWA operator proposes a change in the guideline, the commission can endorse that. But operator under another licensing guideline should not propose or influence any change in the BWA guideline,’ a senior BTRC official told New Age.
The BTRC on Thursday published the amendments on its web site where the reference source of the amendment order was mentioned as BTRC/LL/BWA(407)BIEL/Part-1/2013-996. The reference source clearly indicates that the amendments were initiated in reference to a BIEL document, BTRC officials said.
The amendments to the BWA guideline removed a provision that if an ISP, alone or in partnership, wins a BWA licence, its IPS licence and the assigned frequency would be cancelled.
The amendments also said the BWA operators would be eligible to hold IPS licence simultaneously which was previously illegal.
‘All these changes indicate that the amendments to the rules were made to facilitate a single company who holds an ISP licence,’ said a BTRC official.
BIEL managing director Yulia Akstyutina at a press conference in June said that her company applied for a BWA licence.
Replying to a query, Yulia also admitted that Ollo does not have the regulatory approval for using the brand name and the logo.
BTRC chairman Sunil Kanti Bose could not be reached for comment on the matter despite several attempts.
-With New Age input
