The telecom regulator has served legal notices to a number of operators in connection with their outstanding fees, charges and revenue share totalling more than Tk5,320 crore.
Sources from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said several dozens of legal notices – with very tight deadlines – have been served over the last week to the operators, including the state-run ones.
According to a commissioner, the decision to go tough was made in a commission meeting last week to meet the Tk13,829 crore revenue target, set by the government for the ongoing FY2014-15. This target is 38% higher than that of the last fiscal year that is 2013-14, during which the regulator collected Tk9,930 crore from the operators through 3G spectrum auction, revenue sharing, licence and annual fees and other charges.
BTRC secretary and spokesperson Md Sarwar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune: “The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Bangladesh also suggested that we should go tough, even for the government-owned operators.”
Available information suggests that state-owned operator Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) owes the BTRC Tk1,614 crore and Teletalk Tk1,610 crore.
State-owned mobile operator Teletalk does not share revenue but it has been running 3G services on “test run basis” since October 2012. It also owes the regulator Tk14 crore as contribution to the social obligation fund. The BTRC has so far served a total of 17 notices to Teletalk, but found no response. Recently, the telecom watchdog served fresh notices to both the operators, giving them only a month to pay their dues.
Meanwhile, BTCL has so far been served a total of 20 notices by the regulator, but none of them have fetched any reply, sources said.
The BTRC also has a Tk1,094.94-crore accounts receivable with the private international gateway (IGW) operators as share of revenue, licence fees and VAT.
The regulator has already filed several cases, served several notices and imposed bar on some of their call termination volumes.
The interconnection exchange (ICX) operators owe BTRC Tk631.91 crore in revenue sharing, licence fees and VAT and the international internet gateway (IIG) operators around Tk15 crore.
Dues of private land-phone operators stand at Tk35 crore, of Tk24.13 crore in outstanding licence fees.
Citycell, the oldest mobile phone operator in the country, has already been served a final show-cause notice asking why its licence should not be cancelled if it fails to pay around Tk252.52 crore in dues.
According to a working paper of the parliamentary watchdog on the telecom ministry, the regulator has collected Tk34,692.23 crore since its inception in 2001.
