Licence of 2 Operators BTRC gets 7 days to decide

The High Court yesterday directed the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to decide within seven days whether it will cancel the licences of RanksTel and National Telecom Ltd.
The BTRC had shut down operations of these landline operators in March this year on charges of running illegal Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business.
The HC in separate verdicts also ordered the BTRC to appoint an administrator to each of the companies in running their operations in the interest of their subscribers, if it (BTRC) cancels their licenses.
Deputy Attorney General Razik Al Jalil yesterday told The Daily Star that the telephone companies could run their operations after seven days, as per the HC verdicts.
The HC said in the verdicts that the administrators would be appointed for six months or till disposal of the pending criminal cases filed on charge of running illegal VoIP business. The cases are pending with a magistrate court in Dhaka.
The administrators will place details about the subscribers of two operators to the BTRC for taking next course of action, it said.
The HC bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore came up with the verdicts after hearing two separate writ petitions filed by the telephone companies challenging the BTRC actions suspending their operations.
Earlier in March this year, the HC issued separate rules on the BTRC to explain why its action suspending operations of the companies, disconnecting their networks should not be declared illegal.
Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, advocate Anisul Huq, barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and barrister Shakhawat Hossain appeared for the petitioners.

Courtesy of The Daily Star