State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak at a meeting on Thursday directed Teletalk Bangladesh Limited to pay its outstanding dues amounting to Tk 18.48 billion (excluding VAT and tax) to BTRC.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission's (BTRC) finance department officials also afterwards at the meeting directed the state-owned mobile operator to provide all related data to BTRC and to commit to fulfill its financial obligations in time.
Teletalk's Managing Director AKM Habibur Rahman assured the Commission of the company's intention to comply with the directive.
Teletalk high officials made a commitment at the meeting held at BTRC office to pay all its outstanding dues.
On the same day, the state minister at a meeting with the high officials of Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) directed them to address financial shortcomings and work for improvement of the services.
BTCL was also asked to pay all the dues to BTRC and send all the data related to ISIX, NTTN, IPTSP and PSTN to the Commission, develop innovative products and take initiatives to ensure customer satisfaction.
Meanwhile, BTCL faced a two-pronged approach.
While Thursday's meeting focused on service upgradation and customer satisfaction through features like its 'Alap' app, a Wednesday session with State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak delivered a stark ultimatum: turn a profit in the current financial year.
Palak stressed the need for efficient use of the government resources and urged BTCL to work towards profitability.
The state minister further demanded an immediate external and internal IT audit, highlighting leadership effectiveness.
He requested for detailed data on manpower, corporate plans, and annual performance agreements.
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