Ministry backtracks as Latif faces removal
The telecommunication ministry has apparently dropped the idea of giving retrospective effect to the reduced charge for IGW operators for international call termination from July 1 after the prime minister decided to sack the telecom minister Abdul Latif Siddique.
After the BTRC on September 18 announced the new rate of 1.5 US cents, instead of 3 US cents, for termination of one minute international call, Latif had told reporters that the new rate would be given effect from July 1.
Telecommunications secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, however, on Thursday told New Age that the new rate would be effective from September 18, the date of notice issued by the ministry giving the approval for reduced rate.
‘When the ministry sent the approval to BTRC it clearly said that the new rates would come into effect from the approval date. There is no scope to give retrospective effect to the new rate,’ said Faizur.
When he was asked whether the new rate would be effective from September 18, he replied in the affirmative.
When it was pointed out that the BTRC directive of the new rates did not mention any date of effect, Faizur said, ‘As par the standard government rule, any order is effective from issuance date unless mentioned otherwise.’
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission officials said the minister’s move to give retrospective effect to the new call rate would have caused an additional loss of around Tk 345 crore to the government exchequer.
The prime minister Sheikh Hasina in early September had approved the call termination rate cut and reduction of IGW operators’ revenue sharing with the government to 40 per cent from 51.75 per cent for a trial period of six months.
The government took the move following hectic lobbying by the politically-licensed operators although the move would cause revenue loss for the government, said the officials concerned.
The government also increased the revenue sharing of the IGW operators to 20 per cent from 13.25 per cent.
Latif Siddique also took the move to give more benefits to the operators through retrospective effect of the rate cut as the powerful cartel of IGWs continued lobbying with the government high-ups.
Ministry officials said that Latif was so ‘aggressive’ that no official dared to contest the minister’s decision. ‘Had he not been removed from the ministry, he would issue a notice with the retrospective effect after returning from US visit,’ said an official.
BTRC officials said buoyed by Latif’s announcement of retrospective effect, some IGW operators already paid the mobile phone operators the revenue share of July-August period according to the new rates and revenue sharing model. ‘In some cases mobile companies were forced to accept the new rates with the date of effect from July 1,’ said an official.
Asked about the issue, Faizur said, ‘I am not aware of such incidents. I will look into the matter.’
When asked whether the ministry would clear the confusion about the date of effect of new rates and revenue sharing, Faizur said, ‘There is no confusion. The order was clear enough.’
The prime minister Sheikh Hasina decided to remove Latif from the cabinet for his controversial remarks about Hajj and Tabligh.
-With New Age input
