Two private land phone operators have filed compensation suits totalling Tk15.132bn against the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
They have claimed that BTRC’s move to shut down their services three years ago was unlawful as the regulator did not pass any prior official order.
The two operators, National Telecom and World Tel, filed two separate suits on May 22 claiming Tk9.6bn and Tk5.532bn compensation respectively.
Another operator, Dhaka Phone, is also reportedly planning to file a separate compensation suit against the telecom watchdog, sources said.
According to the first information on the case filed by National Phone- owned by National Telecom Limited- the shutting down of its services by BTRC without any prior notice was a violation of articles 27, 31, 40 and 41 of the constitution.
“We have been compelled to take this step as we have big term loans and debts to settle and repay with Banks,” Major (retd) Mohammad Jahangir, Managing Director of National Telecom and secretary general of the Association of PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network Operators) of Bangladesh (APOB), told the Dhaka Tribune.
He also said they were mainly pressured by their stakeholders and the suit was a reflection of the extensive damage that their business and reputation had suffered due to the sudden stoppage and subsequent forced closure of services for more than two and a half years.
“Our international shareholders are mulling international lawsuits [against BTRC],” he added.
Jahangir said his company has been fighting 27 cases that international vendors had filed following the closure.
In March 2010, BTRC switched off the services of five PSTN operators- Ranks Tel, Dhaka Phone, National Telecom, Peoples Tel and World Tel- claiming they were involved in illegal international call termination through voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology.
In a meeting on May 11, 2010, BTRC decided to cancel the licenses of all of the five private landline operators based on charges of being involved in illegal VoIP business.
When BTRC made the decision, the telephone companies were serving around 600,000 clients, with Ranks Tel alone serving half of them.
However, in May 2012, BTRC withdrew the cancellation of National Telecom’s license, on the condition that the operator would never claim any compensation.
On this issue, Jahangir said: “BTRC took advantage of the situation and forced me to agree to such an undertaking. But it is totally unconstitutional. Not just my company, the other companies are also waiting to legally fight against the unruly and unconstitutional action.”
World Tel has not sued BTRC alone. It has made the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications a party in the suit as well.
“We need a sensible and constructive resolution to this episode as we are a bona fide and longstanding stakeholder in the sector. We seek to reach an accord with the authorities which ensures the settlement of this highly damaging episode and ensures that our PSTN businesses are fully viable,” Nayeem Mehtab Chowdhury, CEO of World Tel, told the Dhaka Tribune.
There are also allegations that the country’s telecom regulator has never listened to a High Court order directive that asked it to appoint administrators to run the businesses of the PSTN operators for the sake of the subscribers.
RanksTel has already revived its license and restarted operations last year. The company claims to have recovered a third of its subscribers.
BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose, however, declined to talk to the Dhaka Tribune despite repeated requests.
But high ranking officials at BTRC said they would legally fight the suits. They also pointed out that existing laws gave them indemnity on such issues.
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Aneek R Haque, however, told the Dhaka Tribune that the BTRC had “misinterpreted” the law.
“Section 95 (indemnity) of the telecom act says affected persons are not entitled to file compensation suits against the telecom minster, BTRC chairman or other commissioners or an employee of the Government and officer or consultant of the commission. But, that does not mean that nobody can sue the commission,” the lawyer said.
Despite the court ordering the appointment of administrators for six months, or until the disposal of the pending criminal cases filed against the company, BTRC avoided doing so