Network Mobility
No BTRC dept wants to review RanksTel application, inter-dept committee formed
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has decided to form an inter-departmental committee to review a RanksTel’s application for countrywide network mobility without mobile licence as no single department wants to take the responsibility at the fag end of the government tenure, said officials. BTRC officials said the posts and telecommunication ministry recently sought telecom regulator’s opinion after fixed telephone operator RanksTel had applied to the ministry for countrywide network mobility.
If the application is approved, it will allow the company to operate like a CDMA mobile phone operator without having mobile service licence and without paying hefty fees, they said.
RanksTel earlier filed the same application to the BTRC where the legal and licensing department of the commission refused to allow the facility saying it would violate the licensing condition of the company.
‘No single department is willing to take the responsibility of the task as the officers concerned fear that they may face government audit charges later for this particular approval,’ a highly placed official of the commission told New Age on Tuesday.
He said after the ministry sent the application for opinion the file was sent to the system and services department because of the previous rejection from the legal and licensing department.
‘The SS department was also reluctant to precede the file and was trying to push it to the spectrum department. Finally the commission decided to form a committee comprising members of all departments to deal with the matter,’ he said.
‘Such approval is not justified as the mobile operators spend huge money for spectrum and licensing. If you allow a single company to enjoy the same facility [availed by the mobile operators] with a very minimum cost it will create industry imbalance,’ he said.
He said by changing the public-switched telecom network guideline such approval could be legalised for all PSTN operators, not only for RanksTel.
The BTRC, however, recently did the same by changing the broadband wireless service guideline to facilitate an internet service provider,’ he said.
He also said some influential high-ups of the BTRC were trying to get the facility in favour of RanksTel.
RanksTel, a public-switched telecom network operator, started its commercial operation in 2005.
The BTRC in May 2010 cancelled its licence and take back the allocated frequency due to allegations of illegal use of voice over internet protocol.
RanksTel got its licence and frequency back on July 14, 2011 and its switch-room was opened on July17, 2012.
The Association of Mobile Telephone Operators of Bangladesh has recently expressed its concern over the issue saying it may create uneven playing field for the mobile phone operators.
Asked about the issue RanksTel’s chief operating officer Abul Kalam Shamsuddin recently told New Age that it would not hamper the mobile operators’ business as the technology used by the PSTN and mobile companies were different.
-With New Age input
