Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said the government has no plan to suspend the licence of Grameenphone – as recommended by the Grameen Bank Commission – because the country was looking for boosting foreign investment.
The government’s decision was conveyed to the visiting Telenor officials, he told reporters after a meeting with Sigve Brekke, executive vice-president and head of Telenor’s Asian operations, at his Secretariat office.
At the meeting Brekke expressed concerns about the GP’s fate, but Muhith assured him of no drastic decision, saying: “Grameenphone has invested in our country. Besides, the company has had its licence renewed for 15 years [last year].”
Muhith said the government was working on resolving the dispute with the mobile operator and, if needed, would work with the Norwegian government – the majority shareholder of Telenor, which has 55.8% stake in Grameenphone – to settle the matter.
He said the Telenor officials discussed the 3G licence issue and the report of the Grameen Bank Commission about which they “were unhappy”.
The Grameen Bank Commission, established last year to review Grameen Bank’s governing structure and the status of other companies bearing the name Grameen, such as Grameenphone, concluded that the mobile operator’s original licence issued in 1996 had been obtained illegally.
Telenor, which has invested about $1.6bn in Grameenphone, has already denied any impropriety in obtaining the licence, which was renewed, without any difficulty, last year.
Muhith said the commission’s interim report recommended cancellation of Grameenphone’s licence under specific circumstances.
