Ratul Telecom Ltd, an International Gateway (IGW) owned by former state minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak’s daughter and wife, has received yet another time extension to pay Tk100 crore in outstanding revenues to the telecom regulators; although four other IGWs are facing cases for the similar offence of failing to share revenues on time.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) approved Ratul Telecom’s application yesterday at a commission meeting and gave them the opportunity to pay the outstanding amount of Tk96.79 crore with 15% late fees by May 31.
“We have given them more time to pay the outstanding revenues according to the [telecom] minister’s recommendation,” Md Abdus Samad, commissioner (legal and license) of BTRC, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Earlier, Telecommunications Minister Abdul Latif Siddique recommended on allowing more time to Ratul Telecom for paying its dues. However, on February 18, the regulator had declared there was no way to allow more time for Ratul Telecom to pay the dues.
Ratul Telecom, 50% of which is owned by Nanak’s daughter Syeda Amrin Rakhi and 20% more by Nanak’s wife Syeda Arzuman Banu, had paid only Tk15.01 crore in revenue share, while they left dues of around Tk96.79 crore.
According to BTRC documents, they also needed to give an additional 15% charge as late fees, making the total due over Tk100 crore.
In August last year, the telecom regulator barred call termination for Ratul Telecom along with a few other IGWs.
Although Ratul Telecom was allowed a time extension, BTRC sources said cases have been filed against four other IGW operators for a similar offence.
The BTRC filed certificate cases to get Tk92.5 crore from Telex Ltd, Tk181.5 crore from Vision Tel Ltd, Tk122.5 crore from Bestec Telecom Limited and Tk84.27.5 crore from Kay Telecommunications Ltd – as dues against revenue sharing plus annual license fees.
According to the IGW guideline, the companies can earn $0.03 per minute against incoming international calls. The operators are required to pay 51.75% of revenue to the telecom regulator.
Despite initiatives by the telecom watchdog to file a case against Ratul Telecom, the company allegedly managed to evade prosecution by influencing senior officials.
Despite repeated attempts, the Dhaka Tribune failed to reach the telecom minister for comments yesterday.
Earlier, former telecom minister Shahara Kahatun had allegedly violated the existing act and approved three installments to the company for depositing their dues, but Ratul Telecom still missed all the three deadlines – on November 30 and December 31 last year and January 31 this year, sources said.
Meanwhile, the BTRC served a notice to Ratul Telecom on not giving them more time, and prepared to file one criminal case and another case under Public Demands Recovery Act. On the first week of February, the BTRC decided to file a case under telecom act section 73/2, where the punishment is maximum five years’ imprisonment or Tk300 crore fine or both.
However, all initiatives stopped when the new telecom minister reportedly gave them another chance.