A BTRC proposal for slashing international incoming call termination rates – which had previously been rejected by the Finance Ministry for alleged irregularities – has now been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) after massive lobbying from different influential quarters including several senior cabinet members.
Post and Telecommunication Division sources said the latest of the two BTRC proposals in this regard was sent to the PMO last week, as there was confusion on whether the approval of the proposal might cost the government around Tk1,000 crore.
“We have sent the proposal to the head of the government for her views, as it has twice been rejected by the Finance Ministry,” Md Abubakar Siddique, outgoing secretary of Post and Telecommunication Division, told the Dhaka Tribune.
He added that earlier, the ministry had rejected two BTRC proposals as the telecom regulatory body acknowledged that the government might end up losing around Tk1,073 crore for slashing call termination rates.
Earlier the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) recommended lowering international call termination charges to 1.5 US cents ($0.015) per minute from the existing 3 US cents ($0.03) for IGW operators and also reducing the share of government from 51.75% to 40% only.
The BTRC – in its first proposal in July last year – said the government earned around Tk1,800 crore from international call termination, while the earnings might be reduced to only around Tk777 crore if the proposal was accepted. However, when the initial proposal was rejected in March this year, the BTRC amended its estimations and submitted a second proposal to the Finance Ministry in May claiming that slashing the call termination rates would allow the government to earn an additional Tk162 crore.
The second proposal, however, was also rejected.
