The international telecommunication gateway operators, largely owned by people with political connections, owe the government outstanding dues of over Tk9bn as they are allegedly not sharing their revenues as per the guidelines.
International gateways (IGWs) are legal channels for generating international calls to the country. The call charge is $0.03 per minute – approximately Tk2.50 – and the IGWs are supposed to pay the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) 51.75% of that amount.
When IGWs were introduced in Bangladesh in 2008, only four companies were given licences through an auction. The present Awami League-led government awarded 25 more licences after assuming office – mostly to people related to ruling party stalwarts.
“As many politically influential people are attached to this business, the BTRC cannot do anything about it despite the commission’s good intentions,” a highly-placed telecom official, requesting anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune recently.
The official said the regulator had no control on the IGWs as the owners had powerful political connections.
The Vision Tel Limited, one of the top defaulters with Tk900m in dues, is an associate company of the Cloud Tel Ltd, half owned by a daughter of former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain.
Ratul Telecom Limited, run by Syeda Amrin Rakhi, daughter of State Minister for Local Government Jahangir Kabir Nanak, owes Tk700m to the BTRC. The company, which was bought from Rupayan Group, is half owned by Rakhi, while Nanak’s wife Syeda Arzuman Banu owns 20%.
Sources said Rupayan Group received the IGW licence after lobbying by Nanak. The state minister’s daughter and wife were then given its ownership.
Ratul Telecom had a minimum due of Tk80,000 at the end of December last year, but it has not paid any money to the regulator in the last six months.
Officials of Ratul Telecom declined to comment on the matter even after repeated attempts by the Dhaka Tribune.
The First Communications Limited, owned by Jatiya Party Presidium member Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, owes the BTRC Tk400m. the Telex Limited also owes about the same amount in dues. Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif recently bought shares in the company.
The 1Asia Alliance Gateway Ltd, which is owned by Syed Jawhar Rizvi, brother of the prime minister’s adviser Gowher Rizvi, also owes the regulator a handsome amount. Jawhar’s son Naser Rizvi also has some stakes in the company.
The BTRC is owed another Tk420m by Digicon Telecommunication Limited, which got licence through the reference of ruling party lawmaker barrister Fazle Noor Tapas, a nephew of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Tapas’ name was written on the top of the application submitted by the Digicon Telecommunication to get the licence, a BTRC source said.
The Bangla Tel Ltd, another powerful company in the IGW business, is reportedly owned by Mozzamel Hossain Rokon, a brother of Moazzem Hossain Ratan, a member of the parliamentary standing committee on the post and telecommunication ministry.
When contacted, Ratan, who was an employee of the state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited, however, said: “Although Rokon is my brother, there is no legal bar for our relatives to do business. And like anyone in business, he may have some outstanding dues.”
BTRC sources said the figure of the outstanding dues almost doubled every three months.
According to BTRC statistics, the outstanding dues of these IGWs up to December were Tk3.77bn although the companies gave the regulator permission to withdraw their bank performance guarantee of Tk750m each. The dues jumped to Tk5.33bn after March and crossed Tk9.47bn at the end of the last fiscal year in June.
The companies even failed to pay their annual licence fees of Tk750m each.
Officials said many of the IGWs had no intention to repay their dues to the BTRC before the next general elections, in which case the outstanding dues might increase further.
Owners of the four old IGWs alleged that the new operators were not maintaining the government-fixed rate of $0.03 per minute and were often generating calls at lower rates and dodging revenues.
When the BTRC in the last week of June threatened to cut the connections of three IGWs – First Communications Limited, 1Asia Alliance Gateway Ltd and Digicon Telecommunication Limited, the number of international call generation of the country suddenly jumped to 8m a day, the sources said.
Moreover, as politically empowered people have grabbed the business, real investors are frustrated over the situation, and many have closed their operations for the time being.
“We cannot manage the monthly rents of $5,000 in Singapore, so we are thinking of shutting down our business for the remaining few months of this government’s tenure,” the owner of an IGW company told the Dhaka Tribune.
Mir Nasir Hossain, president of the Telecommunication Infrastructure Operators of Bangladesh, said: “As it is an over-licenced market, we find no discipline here. My assumption is that no IGW operator can survive in the near future and we are very frustrated.”
He said surveillance should be increased to control the situation.
Meanwhile, Telecommunication Minister Shahara Khatun did not give any concrete answer when the Dhaka Tribune asked her about the outstanding dues owed by these companies.
“We have thought about it and you will get some result very soon,” she said.
BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose expressed his concerns publicly at different times to journalists and also at international seminars about the matter.