Court to hear Citycell petition on Oct 31

The Supreme Court yesterday fixed October 31 for the hearing of a petition filed by Citycell to reinstate its spectrum allocation.

Citycell filed the petition on Monday -- five days after the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission suspended its spectrum allocation following the beleaguered operator's failure to pay the full amount of its dues on time.

The operator owes the BTRC Tk 477.69 crore, and in September the Supreme Court ordered Citycell to pay two-thirds of the amount, Tk 318.42 crore, by October 19. The operator managed to pay Tk 130 crore.

Citycell's spectrum allocation will remain suspended until October 31 as the SC chamber judge did not stay the suspension order, BTRC's Lawyer Khandaker Reza-E-Raquib told The Daily Star.

In the petition, the mobile operator claimed that it paid Tk 130 crore to BTRC and Tk 14 crore to the National Board of Revenue in instalments.

The petition was moved before Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division.

After a brief hearing, the chamber judge of the apex court sent the petition to its full bench and fixed October 31 for the hearing.

Earlier on July 31, the regulator asked Citycell customers to switch to other operators by August 16, as it had decided to suspend its operations.

The dues include the spectrum renewal fee at Tk 229 crore, annual licence fee of Tk 10 crore, annual spectrum fee of Tk 27.14 crore, VAT Tk 39.92 crore and late fees of Tk 135 crore, according to a BTRC notice.

Barrister Shafique Ahmed and Advocate AM Aminuddin appeared for Citycell, while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the government.