GP refuses to pay Tk 30cr fine for broadband service

Grameenphone refused to pay a fine of Tk 30 crore imposed by the telecom regulator for running a broadband internet business in a breach of rules.

The deadline for paying the fine ended yesterday, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, but instead of paying, the operator challenged the move in a letter to the commission.

A letter signed by Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer at Grameenphone, said the notice did not provide any indication of how the BTRC determined the amount of fine.

In the letter, Grameenphone denied any wrongdoing by providing broadband internet service.

"Considering the issues mentioned in the notice issued by BTRC and assessing the fact and relevant laws, GP has exercised its statutory right and filed a discharge petition to BTRC declining the allegations," Hossain told The Daily Star.

On November 6, BTRC asked Grameenphone to pay Tk 30 crore in 10 days for providing broadband internet services under Go Broadband.

BTRC also fined two ISP operators—ADN Telecom and AGNI Systems Ltd (ASL), partners of Grameenphone in GO Broadband—Tk 5 lakh each.

BTRC officials said none of the ISPs paid the fine by the deadline.

The commission directed Grameenphone to pay the fine, and the mobile operator is not allowed to ask the BTRC to reconsider the decision, said a senior official of BTRC.

"Even after that, if Grameenphone thinks there is scope for discussion, they should have contacted us earlier, not on the last day of payment."

He said as per the rules, the mobile operator will have to pay an additional 15 percent late fee for missing the deadline.

The BTRC letter sent to Grameenphone on November 6 showed that the mobile operator signed an agreement with Sonali Bank on the basis of an approval provided to ADN Telecom and AGNI Systems.

But the approval to ADN Telecom and ASL was annulled before execution of the agreement between Grameenphone and Sonali Bank, according to the BTRC letter.

It also said mobile operators are allowed to build optical/wired backbone transmission networks, only if the nationwide telecom transmission network operators do not have that infrastructure.

Grameenphone built the optical/wired backbone transmission network, while providing services to Sonali Bank and violated the infrastructure sharing guidelines, according to BTRC.

In its letter on Wednesday, Grameenphone said that BTRC provided a provisional approval on December 2012 to ADN and ASL that allowed Grameenphone to provide coordinated services of GO Broadband.

After that, BTRC, following the request of ADN and ASL, twice approved the tariff of the said service.

Later on March 3, 2014, ADN and ASL sought tariff continuation, but BTRC never replied to that.

Grameenphone signed an agreement with Sonali Bank in December 2014 to provide internet services to 551 branches of the state-run bank.

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