AMTOB for rationalisation of Telecom Law, withdrawal of SIM tax
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
FE Report
Association of Mobile Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) Tuesday highlighted the discrepancies in the proposed Telecommunications Act 2001 and made some specific suggestions to rectify them
The operators also made a plea for removal of SIM tax for the sake of industry growth.
They made the demands in a press conference on the day.
Grameenphone's CEO Oddvar Hesjedal, Banglalink's CEO Ahmed Abou Doma, Robi's CEO Michael Kuehner, CityCell's CEO Mehboob Chowdhury, Warid Telecom's CEO Chris Tobit, Teletalk's Managing Director Md. Mujibur Rahman, AMTOB President Zakiul Islam along with Trustees of AMTOB were present at the press conference.
Bangladesh Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill 2010 was placed before the Parliament on June 13, 2010 and referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post and Telecommunication.
Leaders of the telecom operators highlighted that in the Bill, the highest level of fines worth Tk 3.0 billion from existing BDT 1.0 million has been proposed, which is astronomically higher than any other sector in the country and the maximum telecom fines prevailing in neighboring countries.
Among the other SAARC countries, Pakistan has the highest fine and that only Rs 350 million (approx BDT 280 million).
A provision like this will act as barrier to further foreign or even local investment in this sector, the mobile operators said.
The proposed amendment has given more administrative and judicial powers to the regulatory authority and there is no safeguard against these powers in shape of appeal against its decisions.
When all other sectors have the right to appeal against the decision of their regulators, denying telecom operators of that right seems unconstitutional. Other countries in the region with similar legal systems have provided appellate forums against decisions of telecom regulators.
Under the amendment all offences are made cognizable, which means now police can register a case even on a false allegation and arrest any one of the operators including the CEOs without warrant.
"This is a major deviation from the principles laid down in Criminal Procedure Code, therefore there should be some safety checks if allegation is against a licensee or this provision should be dropped," the AMTOB said.
Under the proposed amendment the government has been given unilateral power to amend license condition any time it deems fit.
Based on terms and conditions of license, a licensee makes investment for implementation of short and long term plan. If all of a sudden, license conditions are changed, whole investment plan is sure to get jeopardized. There should be some checks and balances on this extreme power and at least consent of the relevant stakeholders and licensees should be obtained before making any adverse change in the license.
AMTOB officials thanked the Parliamentary standing committee on telecommunications for taking the initiative to discuss the law with the stakeholders. They hope that the initiative will help in having a healthy debate on the draft amendments to help improving the law.
The AMTOB, however alleged that the recently declared Budget proposal for the fiscal year 2010-2011 is not in line with the government's ambitious plan of 'Digital Bangladesh'.
"We urge the government to eliminate SIM Tax to help the rural population of Bangladesh in having benefits of mobile communication," the AMTOB demanded.
Association of Mobile Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) Tuesday highlighted the discrepancies in the proposed Telecommunications Act 2001 and made some specific suggestions to rectify them
The operators also made a plea for removal of SIM tax for the sake of industry growth.
They made the demands in a press conference on the day.
Grameenphone's CEO Oddvar Hesjedal, Banglalink's CEO Ahmed Abou Doma, Robi's CEO Michael Kuehner, CityCell's CEO Mehboob Chowdhury, Warid Telecom's CEO Chris Tobit, Teletalk's Managing Director Md. Mujibur Rahman, AMTOB President Zakiul Islam along with Trustees of AMTOB were present at the press conference.
Bangladesh Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill 2010 was placed before the Parliament on June 13, 2010 and referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post and Telecommunication.
Leaders of the telecom operators highlighted that in the Bill, the highest level of fines worth Tk 3.0 billion from existing BDT 1.0 million has been proposed, which is astronomically higher than any other sector in the country and the maximum telecom fines prevailing in neighboring countries.
Among the other SAARC countries, Pakistan has the highest fine and that only Rs 350 million (approx BDT 280 million).
A provision like this will act as barrier to further foreign or even local investment in this sector, the mobile operators said.
The proposed amendment has given more administrative and judicial powers to the regulatory authority and there is no safeguard against these powers in shape of appeal against its decisions.
When all other sectors have the right to appeal against the decision of their regulators, denying telecom operators of that right seems unconstitutional. Other countries in the region with similar legal systems have provided appellate forums against decisions of telecom regulators.
Under the amendment all offences are made cognizable, which means now police can register a case even on a false allegation and arrest any one of the operators including the CEOs without warrant.
"This is a major deviation from the principles laid down in Criminal Procedure Code, therefore there should be some safety checks if allegation is against a licensee or this provision should be dropped," the AMTOB said.
Under the proposed amendment the government has been given unilateral power to amend license condition any time it deems fit.
Based on terms and conditions of license, a licensee makes investment for implementation of short and long term plan. If all of a sudden, license conditions are changed, whole investment plan is sure to get jeopardized. There should be some checks and balances on this extreme power and at least consent of the relevant stakeholders and licensees should be obtained before making any adverse change in the license.
AMTOB officials thanked the Parliamentary standing committee on telecommunications for taking the initiative to discuss the law with the stakeholders. They hope that the initiative will help in having a healthy debate on the draft amendments to help improving the law.
The AMTOB, however alleged that the recently declared Budget proposal for the fiscal year 2010-2011 is not in line with the government's ambitious plan of 'Digital Bangladesh'.
"We urge the government to eliminate SIM Tax to help the rural population of Bangladesh in having benefits of mobile communication," the AMTOB demanded.