The government eventually has decided to reissue licence to two among the five PSTN companies the operations of which were closed down by it in March last year for their alleged involvement in illegal VOIP business.
The authorities have asked the telecom regulatory body to take necessary measures in this connection.
The PSTN (public switched telephone network) operators that have been considered for reissuance of licence are RanksTel and National Telecom. The remaining three companies would also get permission to resume their operations in phases, sources said.
The telecommunication ministry Thursday issued a letter to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for reissuing licences.
A high official of the BTRC admitted that they got a letter from the telecom ministry and that they would fix their next plan according to the ministry’s instruction.
He said the ministry has set some conditions for reissuance of licence. The conditions are: the companies have to withdraw the cases that were filed against BTRC and pay dues. However, the PSTN companies will not have to pay any charge for last 14 months of shut down.
The government took the decision in response to the appeal made by the operators, he said.
“In phases, the government will consider reissuing licences to the remaining PSTN operators,” the official said seeking anonymity.
The five PSTN companies, the operation of which were shut in March last year following their alleged involvement in illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) business include RanksTel, People’sTel, Dhaka Phone, National Telecom and WorldTel.
Earlier, the banned companies appealed to the BTRC to review its decision.
Welcoming the government decision, Head of Operations of RanksTel Abul Kalam Shamsuddin told the FE that they would re-start operations after getting letter from BTRC.
He said they have to assess their machinery and other equipment to resume operation as some of their operational tools have already been damaged by this time.
As per the appeal of the companies, Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications asked both the ministry and the BTRC to resolve the issue.
Among the closed down operators, RanksTel was the market leader with more than 0.3 million subscribers, followed by People’sTel with 160,000, National Telecom with 138,000, Dhaka Phone with 77,000 and WorldTel with 14,000 subscribers.
Courtesy of The Financial Express
