The outstanding bills of various international call carriers to the state-owned telecommunications company BTCL have stacked up to a staggering Tk1,959.86 crore against a bank guarantee of only Tk168.36 crore.
Of the figure, some 53 post-paid foreign carriers owed as much as Tk994.91 crore as of May this year to the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL).
BTCL seeks bank guarantee only from the post-paid carriers; no national foreign carriers have any bank guarantees although their total outstanding amounts are higher than the foreign carriers.
BTCL sources said because of some senior officials involved with the process, the government company cannot collect the money.
“Sometimes we have found that officers do not carry out their duty towards the company’s money. They are not willing to collect the money,” Mahfuz Uddin Ahmed, BTCL’s managing director, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday in his office.
He however said they can collect most of the outstanding amounts but then the government needs to face a tough challenge.
The BTCL boss said they had been trying to collect the money from the carriers and were preparing to launch legal suits against some defaulters.
“We are going to cash the bank guarantees that we have in our hands now,” Mahfuz said.
But BTCL itself is also facing some legal challenges against the cashing of bank guarantees as some carriers have disputed its claims.
State-owned BTCL, as an international gateway (IGW) operator, charges international call carriers 1.5 US cents for terminating each minute of an international call. The rate used to be 6 and then 3 US cents in the past.
According to BTCL, Zamir Telecom UK owes the highest amount of $47.68m, equivalent to Tk370.25 crore.
Zamir has already filed an arbitration case against BTCL, as a result of which the collection process is held up.
“Our officers sometimes create disputes and banking on these disputes companies like Zamir always try to delay payment,” said the BTCL MD.
The company is owned by two sons of BNP leader and former parliament speaker Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar.
The BTCL has in the meantime switched off the connections with Zamir, following an order by then telecom minister Latif Siddique. BTCL officials predict that this and a court order may both go against them.
Another senior BTCL official alleged that sometimes BTCL’s advocates deliberately lose cases against foreign companies. Sources said DigiTech (Singapore) owes BTCL $11.6m to BTCL against a bank guarantee of $1.737m.
N.Tel has no bank guarantee but its outstanding bills exceed $8.159m.
Among the local carriers, STC owes Tk37.76 crore to BTCL but offers no bank guarantee.
Under the pre-paid system, Greenwitch Trading Pte Ltd crossed Tk6.19 crore in outstanding bills although they do not have any security deposit either.
Regarding the massive outstanding bills of the pre-paid companies, the fixed-line officials said the companies had recently became pre-paid carriers and the arrears had incurred before the conversion.
Sources also told the Dhaka Tribune that some BTCL officials allegedly advised these pre-paid carriers on how to delay or avoid paying the dues.
