IGW Revenue Share Cut
Ministry questions BTRC’s temporary amendment process
The telecommunications ministry has asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to explain the procedure for temporary amendment to its licensing guidelines after the regulator proposed a change to the IGW guidelines to legalise lower revenue sharing.
The ministry in a letter last week also suggested that the BTRC should take legal opinions on the issue from the authorities concerned.
The letter also asked to explain the logic of changing the revenue sharing for international outgoing calls as the rate for such calls were not changed.
The BTRC in September 18 issued an order to lower the international gateway operators’ revenue sharing with the government to 40 per cent from 51.75 per cent without making necessary amendments to the guidelines.
The BTRC also lowered the international incoming call termination rate to US 1.5 cent from the previous 3 cents.
The BTRC order, however, said both the changes were made for a period of six months.
A senior official of the telecommunications ministry said as revenue sharing was a part of the licensing conditions so the BTRC cannot change it by only issuing an order.
‘To change a clause in the licensing guidelines you must amend the guidelines. But the BTRC issued the order to the IGW operators without doing so,’ he told New Age on Thursday.
He said that such procedural flaws could create trouble for the BTRC officials involved with the process.
‘As the ministry informed its decision on the issue, the BTRC should have followed the procedure in implementing the order. If they did not follow, the audit department might raise objection against it,’ he said.
According to the Telecommunication Act 2010, the BTRC has to give a 15-day time to operators concerned to express their views before making any change to the licensing condition.
Asked, a senior BTRC official told New Age that the regulator should have amended the guidelines first before issuing the order for lower revenue sharing for the IGW operators.
‘It would have been better if we had followed the procedure. But there is no problem if we do it now,’ he said.
He also alleged that the ministry was trying to take advantage of the awkward situation and put the BTRC officials into trouble.
‘If the ministry lingers the amendment and takes it to the next fiscal year, BTRC officials will face audit objection for the mistake,’ he said.
BTRC officials said the call charges and revenue sharing rates were lowered mainly to give benefits to the 25 IGWs which got licences in 2012 because of their strong connections with the ruling party Awami League.
-With New Age input
