Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is planning to appoint a special administrator to realise the Tk 13,446.95 crore in dues, after getting replies from Grameenphone (GP) and Robi. Despite Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal's special involvement in resolving the tripartite problem of GP, Robi and BTRC, none of them has got any fruitful solution.
Based on the show cause notice of BTRC that was sent on September 5 last, and even after the tripartite meeting in presence of the finance minister, as the authority did not cancel the show cause notice, both the telecom operators answered their position. When asked about the next step in this regard, BTRC Chairman Md Jahurul Haque came up in the context of the appointment of a special administrator.
On the other hand, the top two companies in the telecommunication sector claimed in their statement that BTRC's legal notices on September 7, are baseless. Citing this a normal procedure, the lawmaker said, despite having a second time meeting, as the BTRC did not withdraw the notice to show cause, it is a normal process for Robi and the GP to reply.
GP’s Head of Regulatory and Acting Communication Hossain Sadat told Bangladesh Post, “We are thankful to the Finance Minister, Post and Telecommunications Minister and the Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) for their guidance and support to find a solution to the disputed and unfounded audit claim by BTRC.
“Building on recent constructive discussions we proposed a set of principles to guide the discussion towards an amicable and transparent conclusion. This framework has been under consideration of the government, and in a meeting last Thursday both operators received a counter-proposal that we are currently reviewing” he said adding, “Unfortunately the unfounded Show-Cause notice by BTRC to cancel our license has not been withdrawn and hence we have provided our response within the timeline”.
The second meeting involving finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, telecom minister Mustafa Jabbar, BTRC chairman Md Jahurul Haque, NBR chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan had been held at the secretariat in the capital recently.
In the meeting, the incumbents discussed the outstanding balance of the two operators. From their discussion, they came up with some proposals. Of them, forming a committee with the representatives of GP, Robi and BTRC is a major one. The committee will be responsible to fix the methodology or they will form a methodology to pay back the government amount. That way, two mobile phone companies will pay BTRC.
An official, who was present at the meeting on how that procedure would be shared said, there had been talk of re-auditing of previous audits of BTRC with another audit firm. To this end, both the operators and the BTRC agreed. Another proposal was withdrawal of all the restrictions and cases that were filed earlier for the smooth operation of the telecom operators. The third proposal stated that Finance Minister, Post and Telecommunications Minister, NBR Chairman and BTRC Chairman will directly monitor the activities of the Committee.
The BTRC has demanded Tk 12,579.95 crore from GP and Tk 867.24 crore from Robi as per the finding of the audits into the two operators’ books. of the Tk. 12,579.95 crore due by GP, Tk. 3,500 crore was earmarked as VAT, Tk. 6,000 crore as interest, Tk. 657 crore as royalty fee (which GP claimed the BTRC had waivered in 2009) and Tk. 2,422.95 crore as “other fees”.
In the case of Robi, Tk. 359 crore was earmarked as VAT, Tk. 193 crore as interest, Tk. 225 crore as royalty fee (which Robi claimed the BTRC had waivered in 2009) and Tk. 82.24 crore as “other fees”.
