The Post and Telecommunication Division on Sunday asked the telecom regulator to sign an annual performance agreement with it in a bid to ensure better monitoring over the telecom sector, said officials. The decision was finalised in a meeting on Sunday presided over by telecom ministry additional secretary Firoz Salahuddin, they said. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will be given some key performance indicators under which the regulator will have to report, ministry officials said.
‘We have decided to sign a performance agreement with the BTRC following instruction of the Cabinet Division,’ Firoz Salahuddin said, while talking to New Age on Sunday.
Under the agreement, the BTRC will be given some KPIs relating to telecom industry and the internet service under which the regulator will have to report to the Post and Telecom Division, he said.
‘The BTRC will also have to project its future targets under those given KPIs for next fiscal year,’ he said, adding that ‘So the government will have a clear picture about the telecom industry and how the regulator is planning its expansion,’ Salahuddin said.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited will have to sign the same agreement, he said.
‘All the other ministries and divisions will have to sign the same agreement with the Cabinet Division. The performance agreements will help the government allocate budget,’ Salahuddin said.
Asked about the issue a senior BTRC official admitted that there was meeting with the Telecom Division about the issue on Sunday.
‘We are preparing the required papers for the agreement but it may take a little time,’ he said.
Another BTRC official, however, said, ‘As an independent commission such performance agreement is awkward for the BTRC.’
‘The BTRC is a statutory body and such performance agreement would reduce the power of the commission to work independently,’ he said.
-With New Age input
