The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has relaxed the revenue sharing and licensing fees provisions for IGW and ICX operators.
According to the amendment to IGW and ICX licence guideline, the operators will get more time to deposit the revenue sharing money and licensing fees than the previous timeframe.
The IGW and ICX operators maintain the international gateways and interconnection between exchanges for telecommunications.
The IGW and ICX operators were scheduled to deposit their revenue sharing money to the BTRC in a quarterly basis within 10 days after each quarter which is now extended to 25 days.
The IGW operators pay 51.75 per cent of gross revenue in every quarter which they earn from international incoming and outgoing calls where the ICX operators pay 65.75 per cent of the gross revenue in every quarter.
Both the licensee were also scheduled to deposit their annual fees anytime before the issuance date of the licence which is now 60 days from issue date of the licence, said the amended guideline.
The annual fee is Tk 7.50 crore for the IGW operators and Tk 2.50 crore for the ICX operators.
According to BTRC officials, in many cases the operators failed to submit the revenue portion within the previous stipulated time which cost operators fines.
They said often the operators failed to collect the money from their clients in time which caused the delay.
The amended guideline also said the IGW and ICX operators would have to establish their service within six months from the issuance of a licence until the government decides otherwise.
Earlier, the operators were bound to establish the service within six months for licence issuance.
According to BTRC data, there are 29 IGW companies and 26 ICX companies operating in the country at present.
-With New Age input
