Move to issue more IGW licences could hurt healthy competition, experts say

FE Team | Published: January 15, 2012 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Md Jamal Uddin
The government's move to provide fresh International Gateway (IGW) licence for voice and data transfer could create 'trouble' for a healthy market competition, said experts and industry insiders.
At first the government should launch market study and then fix the number of licences to be issued to ensure healthy competition in the sector, otherwise uneven contest will stir up the market, they observed.
In response to the queries of industry people, the telecom regulator said the government will fix the number of licences after examining the evaluation report to ensure diversification, uninterrupted and efficient telecom gateway services.
The government will provide fresh licences in three categories --International Gateway (IGW), Interconnection Exchange (ICX) and International Internet Gateway (IIG).
The telecom authority received a total of 153 applications from different sections for issuing licences in three categories and the authorities will select the applications on point basis.
Among the applicants, 43 applied for IGW, 51 for ICX and 59 for IIG, according to the data of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
Barrister Aneek R Haque, former legal consultant of the BTRC, said the commission should do market survey before issuing fresh licences for the interest of the businesses.
Otherwise, the vibrant sector will stumble like PSTN (public switched telephone network) sector, he opined. Mr Aneek told the FE that there is no expert of BTRC for projection of financial evaluation of the market. So it should involve experts from outside.
Earlier, the regulatory body rejected the recommendations of the ministry of posts and telecommunication and the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry for including outside experts regarding fresh licences saying it has sufficient manpower to handle the issue.
A K M Shahiduzzaman, Director General (Legal & Licencing Division) told the FE that the commission does not need any survey as it has financial calculation in this regard.
He said the ministry will take decision on how many licences will be issued.
Managing director of Mango Telecom Mir Masud Kabir who has IIG licence and submitted application for IGW licence said the government could provide fresh licences for a competitive market , but it should not cross the limit.
He said business of IIG service is different than that of IGW and ICX as it sells only bandwidth.
The bandwidth charge will be hiked if more licences are provided as they have to buy bandwidth in retail price instead of wholesale from international market, Mr Masud added.
BTRC in its guideline has fixed 51.75 per cent, 65.75 per cent and 10 per cent revenue sharing for the selected IGW, ICX and IIG operators respectively.
Licence acquisition fee has been fixed at Tk 150 million for IGW, Tk 50 million for ICX and Tk 0.5 million for IIG.
Currently, Bangla Trac Infrastructure Limited, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), Mir Telecom Ltd and Novotel Limited are giving IGW service while Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited, Getco Telecommunications Limited and M & H Telecom are providing ICX service.
BTCL and Mango Teleservices Ltd are only operators in IIG category.