After losing a court battle against Grameenphone, the telecoms regulator is writing to the top mobile-phone operator asking for nearly Tk 4 billion, including late fees, to renew its 2G licence.
"The account of Grameenphone's dues in licence renewal and spectrum fees and dues [in late fees] since 2010 have been finalised," Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman Zia Ahmed told on Tuesday.
"A letter asking them to pay the dues will be sent to Grameenphone [Wednesday]," he added.
The BTRC chairman said the work to finalise accounts of dues of other operators Banglalink, Robi and Citycell is underway. "Letters will be sent to them, as well."
Their licences will not be renewed until they pay up the dues, Ahmed, a retired brigadier general, said.
A senior BTRC officer, seeking anonymity, said the amount of Greenphone's dues totalled Tk 3.965 billion.
He said the amount includes Tk 2.492 billion, including late fees, in dues for first instalment for fees for licence renewal and spectrum allocation and Tk 1.47 billion in dues as late fees from 2010.
The late fee for the first instalment of Grameenphone's licence renewal and spectrum allocation is Tk 95.6 million and the late fee for the dues from 2010 is Tk 151.6 million, the officer said.
"Grameenphone gave the first instalment of fees for spectrum and licence renewal, excluding 15 percent tax at source, in November 2011. The dues totalled Tk 2.492 billion as late fee was charged from then," he said.
The operator has been paying annual licence renewal fees, revenue and spectrum fees, excluding 15 percent tax at source, since 2010, he said. "So it will have to pay dues of Tk 1.47 billion, including late fees."
The BTRC chairman said on Monday that Grameenphone's licence will be renewed once it pays Tk 2.4 billion.
Grameenphone moved the High Court when the BTRC in a letter on Oct 17 asked the leading telecom operator to pay dues in spectrum fees.
The operator said the regulator claimed Tk 2.36 billion 'extra' fees for 7.4 MHz spectrum for the year 2008. The High Court on Monday said Grameenphone's assertion was legal.
The court, however, declared valid the BTRC claim of dues in fees for 14.6 MHz spectrum.
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Asking all not to drift in swirling 'rumours' about the journalist couple's murder, the home minister on Tuesday said the 48-hour deadline she had set was only a ploy to introduce a sense of urgency in the investigation into.
"Do not listen to the rumours. The RAB (Rapid Action Battalion), police and CID (Criminal Investigation Department) are working (on the case)," she told journalists at Bangladesh Coast Guard headquarters at Agargaon on Tuesday.
The home minister also said "good news" might come soon.
When attention was drawn to her earlier announced 48-hour deadline to nab the culprits in the twin murders of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, Shahara said the time was fixed so that the incident is probed with more urgency.
Three days into the twin murder, police are yet to name or arrest any suspect. While visiting to offer condolences to the bereaving families, Shahara had said she ordered the police to search out and arrest the killers within 48-hour.
A few unconfirmed reports were published by some sections of the media, referring to police sources claiming that investigators suspect more than one journalist to be behind the twin murders.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) deputy commissioner (Tejgaon zone) Imam Hossain said police have not come across any evidence yet to indicate the involvement any media person in the murders.
An amendment to the anti-terrorism law was tabled in Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) on Tuesday with death sentence topping punitive measures.
Anyone funding terrorism or militant activities will get up to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment along with fines.
The bill placed by home minister Shahara Khatun was forwarded for scrutiny to the parliamentary standing committee on her ministry, which has been told submit a report within three days.
The cabinet gave the go-ahead to the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill-2011 on Dec 26 last year. However, without the parliament in session, the bill was passed as an ordinance. The ordinance was tabled on Tuesday to make it a law.
An ordinance has to be tabled for approval at the parliamentary session following its passing as it will automatically lose validity within 30 days of the next session.
The US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs Robert O Blake met with prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the parliament building on Tuesday.
"No terrorists or extremists would be allowed to use Bangladesh's land," her deputy press secretary M Nazrul Islam quoted her as telling the US diplomat in the meeting that focused on bilateral issues.
She pointed out that a number of laws to this end have been passed and added that her government was showing 'zero-tolerance' towards terrorism.
Hasina also said that the Bangladeshi government has decided in principle to open an embassy in Afghanistan.
"Nothing like the bombings that occurred when the BNP-Jamaat government was in power has happened in this government's tenure," she reportedly said.
The issue of killings at the Bangladesh-India border also came up in the meeting, the spokesperson added.
"We are continuing our efforts to stop border killings. Some incidents took place even after India's top leadership gave their assurance. We are trying to solve them," he quoted the prime minister as saying.
She asked Blake for his help to get quota-free entry for Bangladeshi apparel products to the US market without duty.
Prime minister Hasina declined a request from Blake to write to the US government to deploy US Peace Corps in Bangladesh. She reasoned that Washington withdrew them during the BNP-led regime on security reasons even though theywere here in 1998 during her previous tenure.
The US ambassador to Dhaka Dan W Mozena and ambassador-at-large M Ziauddin were present.
A final decision on financing the Padma bridge project is yet to be taken, the finance minister said Tuesday, even though the government is scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia.
"If we decide to go for PPP (public-private partnership scheme) all previous agreements with others will have to be cancelled," A M A Muhith told journalists at the Secretariat, reiterating that the Malaysian government is keen on taking up Bangladesh's biggest-ever infrastructure project to date.
"Talks with the World Bank (WB) regarding the Padma bridge are not over yet. But they have extended the effectiveness of loan by six months. But it is unacceptable" he said.
"Now we have to do some job. If the funding is to be sourced from a new channel four agencies including World Bank will be asked, 'How can you do that'."
He noted that there are two ways – the first one is direct loans and the second is PPP.
"But PPP is quite expensive. Since it's a big project, we'll need to see if it can be done directly with more investors," the minister added.
He said Malaysia's interest in investing in the Padma bridge project is a "different issue". "It is a PPP offer. I know about it. They (communications ministry) know about it," he said.
There will be discussions with the World Bank and other donor agencies before taking a final decision about the new way of funding the bridge, Muhith said.
Apart from the $ 1.2 billion pledged by the global lender, the government signed deals with Asian Development Bank for a $ 610 million fund, Japan International Cooperation Agency $ 400 million and Islamic Development Bank $ 140 million.
After the World Bank suspended the fund following allegation of corruption in the project, Malaysia expressed its eagerness to build the 6.15 kilometre bridge.