Mobile phone operator Banglalink has transferred its shares at least twice changing structure of full shares volume and taking no permission from the telecom regulator.
This is an offence which could lead to licence cancellation or imposition of administrative fine.
Banglalink, the second largest mobile phone operator of the country, changed share structure in 2012 after renewal of licence in November 2011.
It also transferred some shares in 2013 without permission from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
BTRC issued a showcase notice to the operator in December last year.
The regulator found that when Banglalink licence was renewed three years ago, its number of shares was 42,951,226, which increased to 4,760,377,996 in 2013.
By this time the operator had changed some of its transferred shares with its top management taking no approval.
In the meantime, the company was renamed “Banglalink Digital Communication Limited” from Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd.
About the showcase notice, Banglalik said it hadn’t transferred major shares which could lead the company lose ownership control.
“As transfer of ownership of the shares held by individual shareholders did not result in any change in control of the company, we had no choice but to allow transfer of this non-controlling shares,” the statement said.
According to the operator, the Telecom Venture Ltd owned 99.99998% of total shares while only 0.00002% of shares are being held by individual shareholders.
As per the Company Act 1994, Banglalink will have minimum seven shareholders.
Banglalink said though it hadn’t taken prior permission from the regulator, it took permission from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
However, sources said the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms had asked Bangalalik to take prior no objection certificate (NOC) from the telecom regulator for share transfer.
Banglalink transferred three shares from R Solaiman, Ezzeldin M Heikal and Khaled Galal Bishara to Ahmed Abou Doma, Mohamed Osman and Khaled El Laicy in 2012 before increasing the number of shares.
In 2013 Banglalink had also transferred Naguib Sawiris’s 100 shares to Philip Tohme. The operator now wants to change its share structure once again.
All these individual shareholders obtained 100 shares, while a local investor Afzal H Choudhury, who owned majority shares of Sheba Telecom before 2005, has secured his 100 shares.
The rest of 4,760,377,396 shares belong to Orascom Telecom Ventures Ltd.
The issue was placed at a BTRC meeting. But the meeting skipped the punishment issue.
BTRC can fine Banglalik upto Tk300 crore on this ground, a senior official of the regulator told Dhaka Tribune.
The regulator has decided to send Banglalink’s application to the government for approving the changes.
“BTRC has decided to send the issue to the government. The decision on the matter will be made by the government.” said BTRC secretary Md Sarwar Alam.
Banglalink had not responded to the Dhaka Tribune queries on the issue till Tuesday.
Earlier in February 2005, Orascom launched its venture in Bangladesh taking majority shares from the then Sheba Telecom.
After launching the service, Banglalink got second position in terms of active subscribers.
As of December 2014, the number of active subscribers of the operator is 30.9m, said BTRC data. Of which, 12.1m are using data service.
