HC decision on Robi-Airtel merger likely tomorrow

“The High Court has taken all the aspects related to the merger of Robi Axiata Limited and Airtel Bangladesh Limited into account and fixed August 31, 2016 for passing its judgement,” Barrister Sayed Mahsib Hossian, counsel for Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office approved the merger proposal of mobile phone operators – Robi and Airtel, paving the way for first such initiative in Bangladesh. If the court decision goes in favour of the merger, Robi will have to pay Tk507 crore as spectrum fee and Tk100 crore as merger fee to the government exchequer. As of June this year, Robi had around 27.5 million subscribers while  Airtel nearly 10 million, according to BTRC. After the merger, the company will be named as Robi and will have the second largest subscriber base in the country. On July 24, Posts and Telecommunications Division sent a summary proposal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her consent as she is also the minister of Posts, Telecommunications and IT. Apart from the merger fee, the telecom division has also fixed Tk33.8 crore for per megahertz 2G spectrum fee, the official said. An inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith finalised the merger fee and spectrum prices on July 13. Earlier this year, the two operators signed an agreement to merge their companies in Bangladesh. Upon completion of the merger process, Robi Axiata Ltd, Robi’s parent company, will hold 68.3% controlling stake in the combined entity while Airtel’s parent company Bharti Airtel 25%.