Action against GP if it fails

operator GP to pay it an amount of Tk 32.40 billion in revenue sharing and taxes by October 24. Meanwhile, GP has refused to pay the amount and instead threatened to sue BTRC for claiming a staggering amount of revenues following an audit run by a local firm. GP's chairman, Sigve Brekke, in a press briefing last Sunday, threatened to take the regulatory authority to court for a settlement of the purported audit findings. "The BTRC will decide the next course of action if GP fails to pay the amount by October 24," Giasuddin Ahmed, vice-chairman of BTRC told the FE. However, the vice chairman did not explain what could be the next course of action, but said: "The commission will decide the befitting action." Other officials of the telecommunications ministry said BTRC, the telecom watchdog of a sovereign country, could take a set of actions including harsh measure, against any rogue service provider. Telecommunications minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju told reporters on Monday that his ministry would not go beyond the purview of law in settling the issue against GP. A section of market observers said the standoff between the GP and the BTRC has taken an ugly turn as both flexed its muscle instead of finding a solution. They said both the sides should take softer stance to settle the issue for the sake of business by foreign investors in the country. "We should try to avoid a court settlement and instead go for a dialogue on the issue," AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former adviser of the past caretaker government and a leading economist told FE. "Any stiff measure to resolve the issue may shake foreign investors confidence in a country where flow of foreign direct investment is not yet encouraging," said the former adviser who also looked after telecommunications ministry along with finance. Norwegian telecom giant Telenor, which has 55.8 per cent share of GP with a turnover of some $1 billion annually refused to pay the amount demanded by BTRC. GP dominates the telecom industry in Bangladesh with some 34.79 million subscribers out of the total 79.67 million at the end-August 2011, BTRC said. Besides GP, Banglalink of Orascom Bangladesh Limited provided service to 21.62 million and Robi, the network of the Robi Axiata Limited 14.97 million as of August 31. Rest of the subscribers bought mobile services from three other operators, namely Airtel of Airtel Bangladesh Limited, Citycell of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited and Teletalk of Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd, data released by BTRC said. Telenor chief executive officer Jon Fredrik Baksaas dashed into Dhaka and met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week to apprise her of the standoff between Telenor's venture partner GrameenPhone (GP) and the BTRC. But officials of the Prime Minister's Office said it was just a courtesy call and no words on the stalemate was uttered by anyside. "It was just a courtesy call and the prime minister has given audience to the Telenor boss out of her usual generocity," PM's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told the FE. Brekke, who is also head of Telenor's Asia operations, told the press conference on Sunday that the audit was not done in a proper way. Executives of the Norwegian phone company initially responded by saying that the audit findings did not follow international standards, but later said there was still room for settling the dispute through dialogue. Meanwhile, BTRC in a separate advice on Monday, asked GP to pay another Taka 38.4 million for renewal fee for 2-G frequencies obtained in 2008 by October 27. In a press release GP said: "We are surprised and shocked to see that our regulator has tagged some conditions with it and invoked a new confusion around the frequency assigned in 2008." "GP obtained 7.4 Mhz frequency for Tk 800 million per Mhz for 18 years and with a written commitment that no additional charge will be imposed for this particular assignment for future licence renewal." On Tuesday GP in a letter to BTRC demanded an explanation on these issues.