The government is moving forward with a plan to form a cartel of international gateway (IGW) operators – a move that would allow a handful of companies to form a two-tier clearing exchange for gaining control over the pricing of international incoming call termination.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has already formed a panel to that effect, containing only seven out of the 23 active IGW operators.
The IGW Operators Forum (IOF), which is constituted with 18 operators, has also been working to implement the two-tier system in a bid to remove the existing structure that ensured equality for all IGW operators.
Based on a proposal from the forum, the regulator has categorised all the IGWs – except the selected seven – as tier 1 operators and decided that from now on all international incoming calls must be routed through the tier 2 operators as they alone would stay connected with the Interconnection Exchange (ICX) and mobile and land phone operators.
The BTRC even dropped the state-owned operator BTCL from the tier 2 list, which is also known as the IGW Operator’s Switch (IOS).
It has also been proposed that after deducting the revenue share for the BTRC, ICX and mobile or land phone operators, the IGW operators will deposit the rest of the amount to a single account before distributing it on a 1:1.9 ratio. If tier 1 received Tk1, the tier 2 operators will get Tk1.9 from the account. At the same time, the IOS will also take 7.5% from the overhead amount as market development charges.
BTRC sources said its Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose had been under pressure to issue a directive regarding the IOS before leaving for the US last Sunday on a trip.
Issuing the directive, Sunil sent it only to Global Voice Limited.
In its directive, the BTRC said the IGW Operators Forum should inform about the formation of its executive committee and all its decisions to the commission.
Global Voice Limited Chairman AKM Shamsudoha acknowledged receiving the letter from the regulator.
“Nobody in the telecom sector – the BTRC or the government – will be available in October [because of vacations and IT-related events], so it will take time to form the IOS and we also need to import some equipment,” Shamsudoha said on Tuesday.
The president of the forum’s ad-hoc committee, he said he had found nothing illegal in the formation of the IOS.
“I think it could be helpful for the gateway industry and everybody will profit from it,” he added.
Opposition to the ios
Sources said the parties that would be affected by the bifurcated tiers might take legal action to protect their equal rights.
“We are against this new formation; it means some IGWs are powerful and the rest will die within a short time,” said Zahir Ahmed, managing director and CEO of Bangla Tel, an IGW operator that has been against the formation of the cartel from the very beginning.
Questioning the legality of the IOS, Zahir said: “There is no need to create another platform for IGW operators; only the BTRC can control the market if they are given the power.”
Owners of two other IGW operators – BG Tel Limited and DBL Telecom Limited – told the Dhaka Tribune that they were also against the formation of the IOS.
On the other hand, legal specialists also raised questions about the process.
“The BTRC cannot issue this kind of directive before a government approval, as it is related to a large amount of public money,” barrister Aneek R Haque, a former senior legal consultant for the BTRC, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Claiming that changing the conditions of the licences would be a violation of law and guideline, Aneek said if the IOS was activated, it would mean that there would be another regulator inside the official telecom regulator.
Seeking anonymity, a senior BTRC official said the IOS will share revenue on the rate of ¢1.5 per minute, but might profit by charging more than that without disclosing the added rate. Similar practices were carried out in Pakistan, he claimed.
Sources said an influential business tycoon with ties to the ruling party, who is the top boss of a leading business conglomerate of the country and allegedly has ownership of at least one IGW operator, was behind the move to cut the rates for international call termination.
Sources also said an amendment to the International Long Distance Telecom Services (ILDTS) policy had been sent to the telecom ministry in order to implement the whole process.
In 2012, the government amended the ILDTS policy to award more licences to operators with ties to the ruling party and awarded 82 licences for three category with IGW (25), ICX (20) and IIG (37) and all this license created juncture in the industry and that’s why this types of problems arises, sources also said.
Controversial members
The BTRC’s choices for the tier 1 panel have raised some eyebrows, as some of the IGW operators have controversial reputations. The selected operators include politically backed companies that were previously blocked by the regulator for not sharing revenues according to the guideline, while others also had criminal offences lodged against them.
The tier 2 IGWs that would enjoy better benefits than their competitors include Mirtel Ltd, Bangla Trac Communications Ltd and NovoTel Ltd – all of them active since 2008 and capable of handling a high volume of calls.
Digicon Telecommunications Ltd, Unique Infoway Ltd, Roots Communications Ltd and Global Voice Telecom Ltd acquired licences in 2012.
In July 2013, Digicon – which got its licence through a reference from a ruling party lawmaker who is also a close relative of the PM – was blocked by the BTRC because of failing to share their revenue.
Digicon also owes around Tk20 crore to the regulator, as it tried to pass off calls with total duration of several crore minutes as “test calls,” even though there is no provision for test calls.
However, the BTRC had claimed that it picked the seven IGW operators as tier 1 operators as they had not violated any regulation in the last fiscal year.
Half of the stakes in Roots Communication was owned by Gulshan Ara Miah, wife of prime minister’s Special Assistant Abdus Sobhan Mia, while the other half was owned by a BNP leader.
Unique Infoway Ltd is owned by Shahnaz Siraj, son of GM Siraj, a former BNP lawmaker and also a transport leader.
Global Voice also has strong ties to the government, the Dhaka Tribune has learnt.
