The telecom regulator has again recommended 50% tariff cut of international phone call termination although the government turned down such a proposal previously fearing an estimated revenue loss of nearly Tk1,100 crore annually.
The industry sources said the regulator resent the tariff cut proposal as influential people affiliated with the ruling party are involved with IGW operations.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) made the same proposal to the telecom ministry weeks before and later the finance ministry refused it.
After getting the same plea, the telecom ministry already left the matter for finance ministry’s consideration.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will decide about the proposal to reduce the international call termination rate from $.03 to $.015 per minute.
“Only those persons will be benefited if the government finally goes for reducing the termination rate bowing down to the political pressure,” said a source related to the telecom industry wishing not be named.
Meanwhile, the government also cut by half the annual licence fee for International Gateway (IGW) operators.
Finance Ministry had already expressed its utter dismay at the proposal and suggested the telecom regulator to go tough against illegal call terminations to protect the state from loss.
Telecommunication Infrastructure Operators of Bangladesh (TOIB), a platform IGW operators, however wants to see strong monitoring over illegal call terminations.
“We know that the overall situation will not improve even after the rate cut. Rather, the BTRC should become more worried about the illegal call termination and initiate more policing on it,” Mir Nasir Hossain, president of TOIB told the Dhaka Tribune.
BTRC in its proposal has recommended for reducing the call termination rate and changing the revenue sharing structure – reducing the government’s share from existing 51.75% to 40%.
But the legal experts said the government can’t arbitrarily change it as the rate was fixed by an open auction.
“The revenue sharing structure has been fixed through a public auction and BTRC cannot change it,” said Barrister Aneek R Haque, a lawyer at the Supreme Court.
BTRC said at present international calls of 3.5 crore minutes are generated daily through legal way and the loss from the proposed tariff cut will be Tk1,073 crore.
But as the legally-terminated calls increased to 6 crore minutes on an average per day now, the actual loss will be Tk1,500 crore, according to the analysts.
The telecom watchdog reduced the termination rate to 6 US cents per minute in 2008 and to 3 cents in 2009.
BTRC proposal noted Bangladesh’s termination rate is higher compared to other countries in the subcontinent.
But the VoIP Service Providers Association (VSPA) said the call termination rate in the neighboring countries is three to eight times more than Bangladesh.
“The per minute international call termination rate in Sri Lanka is 9 US cents, 9.5 cents in Nepal, 8.8 cents in Pakistan and 25 cents in Maldives, the highest,” said VSPA convener Rabiul Karim.
“International call is considered as export earnings in all countries. But our decision makers are trying to reduce it,” he said.
If BTRC proposal is accepted, the government’s earning from the IGW and ICX sector will reduce to Tk777 crore from Tk1,851 last year.
