The move to cause Tk 108cr revenue loss from 2014
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has recently slashed the annual licence fee for the international gateway operators by 50 per cent which will cause a Tk 108.75 crore yearly revenue loss of the government, officials concerned said.
The BTRC’s latest amendment to the IGW guideline in last week said that the new annual licence fee would be Tk 3.75 crore from previous Tk 7.50 crore and applicable from 2014.
BTRC officials said the government approved a proposal to reduce the annual licence fee of IGW operators following a proposal from the operators which was strongly backed by the commission.
‘The ruling Awami League government issued huge number of IGW licences on political preference without considering the market depth. Now the entire industry is a lost business case and in order to keep those operators alive the government made the decision,’ a senior BTRC official told New Age on Sunday.
In 2008, the BTRC had awarded four IGW, three ICX and two IIG licences. The regulator had proposed at best 10 more licences, but the government last year awarded 25 IGW, 23 ICX and 34 IIG licences on political consideration which made the market vulnerable, the BTRC officials said.
Until Sunday the total due from IGW annual licence fee was more than Tk 100 crore.
The BTRC in July had sent a proposal to the telecommunications ministry to slash the call rate to 1.5 cents from the existing 3 cents and government revenue sharing to 40 per cent from the existing 51.75 per cent.
If the government endorses the proposal, it will lose Tk 1,073 crore in revenues every year, the BTRC proposal also said.
According to the BTRC data, the country records around 55-million minutes of international incoming calls daily out of which 35-million minutes are legal.
The BTRC has recently sought approval from the telecom ministry for cancelling licences of two IGW operators — Telex Ltd and Ratul Telecom — for their failure to pay the dues.
Ratul Telecom is run by Syeda Amrin Rakhi, daughter of state minister for LGRD Jahangir Kabir Nanak.
Rakhi owns 50 per cent shares in the company while her mother Syeda Arzuman Banu owns 20 per cent shares.
On the other hand, Awami League joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif is a minor shareholder of Telex.
The politically influential IGW operators also include Roots Communications Ltd, First Communications Limited, Vision Tel Limited, and Digicon Telecommunications Limited which have ‘strong links’ to the ruling party or its allies, the BTRC officials said.
-With New Age input
