Prime minister Sheikh Hasina gave her approval to start the process of cancelling licenses of two International Gateway (IGW) operators for failing to pay about Tk150 crore as license fees and revenue sharing, sources of the telecommunication ministry and the regulatory commission informed.
Last week the Premier gave the approval, which the Post and Telecommunication Division immediately forwarded to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), a senior official of the telecom division told the Dhaka Tribune.
Two IGWs are Ratul Telecom, owned by the family members of former state minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Kay Telecommunications Ltd, formerly owned by another lawmaker of the ruling party Shamim Osman’s family.
The prime minister took charge of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology after Abdul Latif Siddique was sacked in October.
“We have received the letter from the government and according to the legal process, BTRC needs to serve a legal notice inquiring why the license would not be cancelled,” a senior official of the legal wing of BTRC told the Dhaka Tribune. He added that they had already gone through this process.
“Now we need to place the issue before the commission for a final decision. But as two powerful leaders are involved, the commission may send it to the government again,” BTRC official said.
Ratul Telecom, 50% of which is owned by Nanak’s daughter Syeda Amrin Rakhi and 20% by Nanak’s wife Syeda Arzumand Banu, started operations as an IGW in October 2012 and went out of operation in August 2013 when BTRC blocked them for not paying the outstanding revenue sharing.
Kay Telecommunications Ltd, owned by Shamim Osman’s wife Salma Osman and his two sons Tanvir Ahmed and Imtinan Osman of Narayanganj, was reportedly transferred to Md Shakawat Hossain, Debabrata Chowdhury and Md Rakibul Islam.
Both Ratul Telecom and Kay Telecommunications Ltd were awarded the license in April 2012 and since then they have not paid their share of revenue.
According to the then guidelines, IGW operators were responsible for terminating the international incoming telephone calls and for that they received 3 US cents per minute. Out of this money they have to share 51.75% with the BTRC, 20% with the mobile or land phone operator and 15% with Interconnection Exchange (ICX) operators.
Ratul Telecom’s full outstanding to BTRC upto June this year is Tk138.35 crore of which Tk49.06 crore has been paid. It owes BTRC a further Tk89.29 crore excluding the late fines. On the other hand Kay Telecommunications outstanding is Tk100.02 crore but it has paid only Tk37.65 crore to date leaving a due of Tk62.37 crore without late fines.
Furthermore the two companies have dues to mobile operators and ICX amounting not less than Tk100 crore, according to market sources. GrameenPhone has already filed a case against the IGW operators to recover the dues.
On October 23, BTRC decided in a meeting to scrap Ratul Telecom’s license along with another operator Telex Limited. It also sent a letter to the government but the then minister did not respond.
Sources said, BTRC served a show-cause notice to Kay Telecommunications Ltd but found only a pharmacy at that address in Narayanganj.