BTRC scraps two more IGW licences for non-payment

The telecom regulator has cancelled the licences of two international gateways that were blocked more than a year ago for failure to pay their stipulated share of revenue and licence fees to the government.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission took the decision on Tuesday after a go-ahead from the post and telecom division, said Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of BTRC.

Vision Tel Ltd and Telex Ltd owe the government Tk 72.73 crore and Tk 138.76 crore in revenue-sharing. The two operators had not paid their licence fees for a year.

IGW operators handle international incoming and outgoing calls.

BTRC scrapped the licences of two others -- Ratul Telecom and Key Telecommunication -- on the same grounds last month, as they owe the government Tk 89.29 crore and Tk 78.27 crore in revenue-sharing respectively.

Two more operators -- SM Communication and Bestec Telecom -- also blocked for the same reason for more than a year now, owe the government Tk 29.18 crore and Tk 115.39 crore.

BTRC has written to the government to cancel these two licences as well.

The telecom regulator has also filed two separate cases against all six operators -- one to recover the revenues and the other for violating licensing guidelines -- but to no avail.

Bose said the regulator will be strict in collecting the money and will try to convince the government and the courts to give the culprits exemplary punishment. 

Grameenphone also sued eight IGWs, including these six, as the gateways failed to pay their outstanding amounts to the mobile operators. Other mobile operators and Interconnection Exchange operators also get some hundred crore taka from these IGWs.

There are 23 IGWs currently in business apart from the six penalised companies.