The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has reached out to the International Internet Gateway (IIG) companies in a bid to recover its outstanding dues in revenue.
Thirty-two IIG companies owe Tk 976.35 million to the BTRC.
In its 283rd meeting, the Commission estimated the dues based on revenue-sharing calculations for undisclosed downstream bandwidth in several quarters from 2016 to 2023.
Since complete data for most operators from the time they obtained their licences to 2015 was unavailable, it was also decided at the meeting that a technical audit through audit would be conducted firms to determine the revenue share up to December of that year.
The primary revenue for the period from 2016 to 2023 amounts to Tk 625.57 million.
Value-added tax and late fees raised the total dues to Tk 976.35 million. BTRC began sending letters to the companies on May 22, directing them to pay the outstanding amounts by June 13 or face regulatory action.
IIG Forum Secretary General Ahmed Junayed said what the BTRC claimed based on the mismatch of upstream and downstream bandwidth was not fair.
He said the mismatch between upstream and downstream bandwidth arose from overlapping of data of one month with another month.
He said they would continue dialogue to resolve the issue.
Mr Junayed urged BTRC to review the calculation and the amount claimed.
He said the amount would be significantly cut if a thorough review was done considering the overlapping of bandwidth.
He also said a meeting of IIG Forum on the issue would be held today (Sunday) and a decision would be taken.
However, a BTRC official said as a government organisation, BTRC was collecting dues as per regulations.
"Letters have been issued accordingly, and further action will be taken as per the law if payments are not made on time," he said.
However, he refused to comment on IIG claim.
Earlier last year, the state-run Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC (BSCPLC), which connects Bangladesh to the world through an undersea cable for the internet, blocked bandwidth supply by around 25 per cent to IIGs from November 23.
The BSCPLC stopped the supply of over 500Gbps to a number of International Internet Gateway (IIG) operators as they had not paid around Tk 3.60 billion, its managing director Mirza Kamal Ahmed told the FE at that time.
In Bangladesh, internet connectivity is delivered to customers through a complex network. Initially, bandwidth is provided to Bangladesh via submarine cables or international terrestrial cable (ITC) operators.
Subsequently, it is distributed to mobile operators and broadband service providers through the Nationwide Telecommuni-cation Transmission Network operators. Finally, mobile and broadband operators deliver the internet to the consumers.
Total bandwidth usage now stands at about 5,000 Gbps and more than half of it -- about 2,700 Gbps -- comes through the ITC service providers that import bandwidth from India across land borders.
The rest -- about 2,300 Gbps -- is supplied by the BSCPLC, which connects the country with two submarine cables.
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