Govt wants fee on Robi-Airtel merger

The government has suggested that Robi Axiata Limited and Airtel pay a fee on the imminent merger of the two companies. Posts and Telecommunications Division yesterday forwarded the merger recommendation report from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to get final approval. State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the recommendation report had been sent to the PMO. A Posts and Telecommunications Division official said the division had added one recommendation to the report saying a fee should be fixed on the merger. “It’s very reasonable, the neighbouring country of India also charges crores on merger cases,” the official said. “We haven’t fixed an amount for the merger fee since the recommendation file is now on the prime minister’s table,” the official added. The official further said since the two companies would be benefited from the merger, they should give some amount of money to the regulatory body considering the benefits in terms of money. The two operators submitted a joint application to BTRC last September for the merger. The companies are expecting to get an approval on the deal by June. Earlier BTRC held a public hearing on merger agreement between mobile phone operators Robi and Airtel, where most opinions came out in favour of the deal. The regulatory body also formed two-member expert committee to make a market analysis report. On January 29, Robi and Airtel signed a merger agreement in Kuala Lumpur to venture into a joint business operation in Bangladesh. The joint venture will be named Robi. Upon completion, Axiata will hold 68.3% controlling stake in the combined entity while Bharti will hold 25%. The remaining 6.7% will be held by the existing shareholder, NTT DOCOMO of Japan. According to a recent statement by Robi, the combined entity operating as Robi will serve approximately 40 million customers. The joint strength of Robi and Airtel will deliver the widest mobile network coverage across Bangladesh, strengthening its position in the mobile internet segment as well as consolidating its position as the second largest operator in the country. The merger will strengthen long-term sustainability of Bangladesh telecom landscape and market structure, secure faster nationwide roll-out of mobile broadband and contribute significantly to the overall economy and revenue of the country. The telecommunications landscape in Bangladesh has been one of high-growth, but intensively competitive with six players. Industry insiders said the merger is set to strengthen the industry structure, competitiveness and, more importantly, bring greater benefits to customers in terms of network quality and coverage and an improved offering of data products and services. Axiata is one of the largest Asian telecommunications companies. It has controlling interests in mobile operators in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia with significant strategic stakes in India and Singapore. The Group, including its subsidiaries and associates, has over 260 million mobile subscribers in Asia. The Group revenue for 2014 was RM18.7 billion. Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. The company had over 346 million customers across its operations at the end of November 2015.