The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) are in a tug of war over issuing licences for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.
The ministry had recently sent the draft licence policy to the telecoms regulator, who on Thursday wrote back saying the draft needed a review as it was not in line with the telecommunications law.
The process to finalise the policy on issuing licences to stop illegal VoIP calls began last year. BTRC was supposed to start issuing licences from April, but the process is lingering on as the two keep exchanging letters.
Telecoms Secretary Sunil Kanti Bose told bdnews24.com: "We have done away with the system of evaluating the application of firms by marking them to ease the licensing process in the final policy. Concurrently, the authority to form the scrutiny committee has been vested with the ministry."
"The final policy has also dropped BTRC's proposal to specify the number of licences to be issued."
"BTRC will take too much time if it is given the job to evaluate applications and form the scrutiny committee. That's why the decision was taken," the Secretary reasoned.
Bose further said they had seen to it that big firms did not get the licences. "If the licences are given to general entrepreneurs, the number of unemployment will be reduced."
But BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed has a different story to tell.
"The telecoms law doesn't support the changes made in the licence policy by the ministry. We've asked the ministry to review their decision," he told bdnews24.com.
Secretary Bose, however, said he did not get any letter from BTRC. "But if I get the letter, the answer will be sent on Sunday or Monday."
"The letter to BTRC will say the ministry's decision on the process will not be changed." He said the process of issuing licence will be finished 'at the soonest'.
The BTRC lost its right to issue any telecom licences to the telecom ministry following the amendment to the telecommunications law in 2010. The tug of war between the two institutions had begun since then.
According to the law, anyone must apply to the BTRC for any kind of telecom licences. BTRC will issue the licences following the government's approval.
The draft policy sets the licence application fee at Tk 5,000 while the fee for licence authorisation is Tk 500,000 with a bank guarantee of Tk 250,000. Successful operators will have to return 20 percent of their earnings to the government while Tk 10,000 will be charged for renewing licence every year.
The draft policy also bars the licenced operators, who will be known as VoIP Service Provider (VSP), from making more than 90 calls at one time.
According to the BTRC statistics, nearly 40 million minutes of international calls are made legally to and from Bangladesh per day while 10 million minutes of calls are terminated illegally on average.
BRTC said the government loses Tk 50 million in revenue every day due to illegal VoIP and currently every international call charges $0.3 for Bangladesh.
The ministry had recently sent the draft licence policy to the telecoms regulator, who on Thursday wrote back saying the draft needed a review as it was not in line with the telecommunications law.
The process to finalise the policy on issuing licences to stop illegal VoIP calls began last year. BTRC was supposed to start issuing licences from April, but the process is lingering on as the two keep exchanging letters.
Telecoms Secretary Sunil Kanti Bose told bdnews24.com: "We have done away with the system of evaluating the application of firms by marking them to ease the licensing process in the final policy. Concurrently, the authority to form the scrutiny committee has been vested with the ministry."
"The final policy has also dropped BTRC's proposal to specify the number of licences to be issued."
"BTRC will take too much time if it is given the job to evaluate applications and form the scrutiny committee. That's why the decision was taken," the Secretary reasoned.
Bose further said they had seen to it that big firms did not get the licences. "If the licences are given to general entrepreneurs, the number of unemployment will be reduced."
But BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed has a different story to tell.
"The telecoms law doesn't support the changes made in the licence policy by the ministry. We've asked the ministry to review their decision," he told bdnews24.com.
Secretary Bose, however, said he did not get any letter from BTRC. "But if I get the letter, the answer will be sent on Sunday or Monday."
"The letter to BTRC will say the ministry's decision on the process will not be changed." He said the process of issuing licence will be finished 'at the soonest'.
The BTRC lost its right to issue any telecom licences to the telecom ministry following the amendment to the telecommunications law in 2010. The tug of war between the two institutions had begun since then.
According to the law, anyone must apply to the BTRC for any kind of telecom licences. BTRC will issue the licences following the government's approval.
The draft policy sets the licence application fee at Tk 5,000 while the fee for licence authorisation is Tk 500,000 with a bank guarantee of Tk 250,000. Successful operators will have to return 20 percent of their earnings to the government while Tk 10,000 will be charged for renewing licence every year.
The draft policy also bars the licenced operators, who will be known as VoIP Service Provider (VSP), from making more than 90 calls at one time.
According to the BTRC statistics, nearly 40 million minutes of international calls are made legally to and from Bangladesh per day while 10 million minutes of calls are terminated illegally on average.
BRTC said the government loses Tk 50 million in revenue every day due to illegal VoIP and currently every international call charges $0.3 for Bangladesh.
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