Regulator lifts BTCL int’l call cap despite Tk 1,106cr dues

The telecom regulator has lifted the cap on international incoming calls for state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), even as the company owes Tk 1,106 crore in unpaid revenue from that same service.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) took the decision recently after reviewing BTCL’s application to remove restrictions on calls routed through its International Gateway (IGW).

BTCL has operated as an IGW operator for international incoming calls since 2008. Over time, discrepancies emerged in revenue sharing and reporting.

According to regulatory documents, BTRC found that BTCL was not consistently depositing the government’s share from international call termination, causing dues to accumulate year after year.

BTRC’s finance, accounts, and revenue division repeatedly flagged the matter to both BTCL and the Posts and Telecommunications Division, but the outstanding amount remained unsettled.

The regulator first acted in March 2018, imposing a 30 percent cut on BTCL’s international and local incoming calls. A month later, it capped international incoming call termination at 8 million minutes per day.

The regulator even considered legal and administrative measures to recover the dues, but saw limited progress in enforcement.

BTRC found that BTCL was not consistently depositing the government’s share from international call termination, causing dues to accumulate year after year

The documents also detail that BTCL had earlier been instructed to clear unpaid revenue dues and comply with its financial obligations. However, the instructions yielded no results.

BTCL applied multiple times to have the restrictions lifted. In early February this year, it petitioned the commission again, arguing that the cap was harming service quality and international connectivity, with foreign carriers reporting low answer-seizure ratios, high network error rates, frequent call rejections, and increased call drops.

Traffic data shows that BTCL’s actual call volume had stayed below the ceiling for months, falling from 243.99 million minutes in October 2025 to 198.72 million minutes in March 2026. Daily averages declined from 7.87 million to 6.41 million minutes over the same period, meaning actual traffic remained below the imposed ceiling.

Pointing to the decline, BTRC Chairman Md Emdad ul Bari said international incoming call volumes have fallen significantly in recent years, and BTCL already terminates fewer than 8 million minutes daily.

“Therefore, keeping this cap in place is no longer necessary,” he added.

The decision has drawn scrutiny from industry observers who say it reflects a broader pattern of unequal enforcement.

TIM Nurul Kabir, a telecom industry expert, described the BTRC’s approach as a “dual regulatory mechanism” in which government-owned entities receive preferential treatment and face little punitive action for non-compliance.

Similar non-compliance by private operators usually leads to stricter measures, including service restrictions, he said. “This creates concerns, as regulatory consistency is essential for maintaining market balance.”