Citycell goes through a heavy pressure from stakeholders as it owes more than Tk10.17 crore to different banks, telecom operators, regulator and National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The oldest mobile phone operator in Southeast Asia had already been served with a final show-cause notice form BTRC for payment of outstanding money while Grameenphone served a legal notice recently demanding outstanding bills.
The regulator served the notice on December 4, giving a 15-day ultimatum to pay its dues.
A source said Citycell Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mehboob Chowdhury has already met with BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose to seek more time to pay Tk252 crore of dues.
A senior executive of the mobile operator said they will reply the BTRC’s notice on December 18 and pray for more time.
Bangaldesh Telecom Regulatory Commission Secretary Md Sarwar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune on Thursday, “We have issued final notice, but we also have responsibility to give room to the cellphone company to continue its business.”
“After December 18, we will decide on what the next course of action to follow.”
GP served its legal notice on December 7, giving a 14-day time for paying its outstanding amount of Tk10.17 crore for interconnection charge.
“We have received the legal notice and we will solve the issue within next week through talks,” Taslim Ahmed, head of corporate communication, Citycell, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The legal notice says: “In the event, you fail to comply with our client’s demand within the stipulated time, our client shall consider taking appropriate legal actions against you.”
The cellphone company didn’t pay any interconnection charge since September 2013, says the notice.
As the practice goes, Citycell has to pay GP Tk0.18 per minitue for interconnection.
Other operators like Banglalink and Robi are also seeking to realise their outstanding interconnection charges from Citycell.
The two operators have already started making contact for realising their dues, sources said.
The cellphone company also owes a total of Tk1,040 crore to 12 banks as of June, and Bangladesh Bank apprehends that the loans would have to be classified as sub-standard.
In fact, the loans are up for consideration as classified after the end of September quarter, said a central bank executive.
The operator also owes NBR billions of taka, remaining outstanding.
The cellphone came into operation in 1993 and currently has a base of 13.49 lakh subscribers as of September, lowest among the operators in Bangladesh. It currently holds 1.23% market share.
Back in July 2010, it had around 20 lakh subscribers and enjoyed 3.23% market share.
Another senior executive of Citycell said the authorites are on the look out to sell the company and once the deal is final, all debts will be paid.
The net loss of the company stood at Tk196 crore in 2011, Tk226 crore in 2012, Tk320 crore in 2013 and Tk480 crore in 2014, according to a central bank report.
The mobile compnay currently has 44.54% shares owned by SingTel Asia Pacific Investment Pet Ltd, 37.95% by Pacific Motors Limited shares and 17.51% by Far East Telecom Limited.
