SANS News Desk:
Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has decided to cancel licenses of five landline operators, whose services it switched off in March for their involvement in illegal international call termination through VoIP technology. BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed declined to comment on the matter. The operators are RanksTel, Dhaka Phone, National Telecom, Peoples Tel, and WorldTel. The decision was taken at a BTRC meeting on Tuesday May 11, 2010.These telephone companies were serving around six lakh clients, with RanksTel alone serving a half of them.
"We have decided to cancel the licenses of five private landline operators who were charged with involvement in illegal VoIP business," said a top official of the commission who attended the meeting. "The decision has been taken following a court order," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that he is not the right person to make the decision public.
Earlier in the day, in response to writ petitions filed by RanksTel and National Telecom Ltd, the High Court directed BTRC to decide within seven days whether it would cancel the licenses of the two operators. The court also ordered BTRC to appoint an administrator to each of the two companies for running their operations in the interest of their subscribers, if the commission cancels their licenses. The court also said the administrators will be appointed for six months or till disposal of the pending criminal cases filed against the companies. The cases are pending with a magistrate court in Dhaka. The administrators will place details about the subscribers of the two operators to BTRC for further action, the verdict added.
With the help of law enforcers, BTRC raided establishments of the five operators headquarters, and found hard evidence of their VoIP related operations, including equipment that are used for VoIP operation. Using voice over internet protocol (VoIP), a section of telecom operators have been involved in international call termination, channelling at least Tk 1,500 crore a year away from the legal telephone call market.
The Rapid Action Battalion drives against illegal VoIP operations exposed that a large number of operators have been in the business since 2007.
In a recent drive, BTRC nailed several such telecom companies, and suspended their regular operations. After the move, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to fine telephone operators involved in "illegal" VoIP business, instead of shutting them down. The issue however went to the court as some operators sought a court decision.
Chief Operating Officer of Rankstel AK Shamsuddin told Tuesday that BTRC chose to cancel the licenses, although it had the option of fining the companies.
Among the private landline operators, RanksTel is the market leader with more than 3 lakh subscribers followed by Peoples Tel's 1.6 lakh, and National Telecom's 1.38 lakh. Dhaka Phone has 77,000 subscribers while WorldTel has 14,000. (Source: The Daily Star, Dhaka)
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