BANGLADESH

The telecom regulator says it has evidence that Grameenphone has violated 22 rules.

Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had a meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) representatives on Wednesday on how to recover Tk 8.87 billion that Grameenphone owed NBR, BTRC chairman Zia Ahmed said.

"Grameenphone's audit report shows it broke six rules, and we have evidence it broke 16 other rules," he said. However, he refused to reveal what these violations were, saying, "They'll be made public in time."

Ahmed brought up once again the allegation of one million additional SIMs, saying the revenue generated from the calls made on those SIMs was being evaded.

"The two government agencies will try to recover their money together."

"We have shown enough consideration," Ahmed said, "On Tuesday we sent another letter inviting them to talks."

GP was yet to reply to this letter, he added. In that letter, the telecoms regulator reminded the country's largest mobile-phone operator of the 21-day deadline ending on Oct 24 for a meeting.

Acknowledging the receipt of the letter, GP's chief communication officer Kazi Monirul Kabir told bdnews24.com on Tuesday, "We will let them know about our position on Wednesday."

In the letter, BTRC did not mention anything about GP's conditions including the withdrawal of the first letter.

GP was told to bring necessary documents on their objections to the audit.

Following a letter from BTRC on Oct 3 to pay up Tk 30.34 billion in dues, the leading telecom operator said the audit conducted by the regulator was erroneous.

The day after receiving the letter, GP in a news conference said the government told them to pay the money based on a wrong audit.

GP claimed that the audit firm engaged by BTRC did not follow national and international standards, despite their repeated objections.

BTRC on Oct 5 sent a letter to the company asking it to send a team on Oct 10 to discuss the audit and also to bring necessary documents on objections to the audit.

BTRC and GP officials sat on Monday where the operator requested the watchdog to withdraw their letter that asked to pay the dues, before they sit with necessary documents.