BTRC not aware of TMI-DCM deal
FE Report | Monday, 23 June 2008
The country's telecom regulatory body said it is not aware of a partnership deal signed between Malaysian TM International, 70 per cent stakeholder in Bangladesh's third-biggest wireless carrier AKTel, and Japanese NTT DoCoMo, said a senior official Saturday.
"TM International Bhd (TMI) has inked a shareholders agreement with NTT DoCoMo, Inc (DCM) of Japan to regulate the relationship of the parties as shareholders in TM International (Bangladesh) Ltd (TMIB)," said a report of the Malaysian National News Agency Barnama.com last week.
TMIB, trading under the brand name AKTel, was incorporated on 15 November 1997 as a joint venture company between TM International Sdn Bhd (TMI), a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia Berhad, and AK Khan & Company, one of the largest and oldest private sector corporations in Bangladesh.
TMI signed the agreement with NTT DCM after the Japanese cell phone giant announced last week that it is purchasing 30 per cent stake in AKTel at a cost of $350 million from its local owner AK Khan & Company.
According to Barnama report, TMI said the shareholders agreement will come into force upon the completion of the sale by AK Khan to DCM.
"We are pleased that a highly innovative company like DCM has chosen to invest in TMIB. We look forward to DCM's contribution towards further improving the services and offerings of TMIB," Barnama quoted TMI president and group chief executive officer, Datuk Jamaludin Ibrahim, as saying after signing the agreement.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said when it does not issue any permission to AK Khan and company to transfer its stake in AKTel to DCM how TMI can sign such partnership deal.
"We have come to know about the deal unofficially. The commission will take its next course of action after scrutinising the fact," a senior spokesman of the BTRC said.
He said: "TMIB only informed us that NTT DCM will purchase 30 per cent stake in AKTel."
The BTRC official further said till date there is no application from TMIB to the regulatory commission seeking its permission to hand over share of AK Khan and company to NTT DCM.
"We will submit application to the BTRC seeking its permission for transferring shares to DCM soon," Fazlur Rahman, director, Coordination and Regulatory Department of TMIB, told the FE by phone from Malaysia Saturday.
Regarding the deal between TMI and DCM, he said there is a "verbal permission".
According to Barnama report, AK Khan is leaving TMIB and had entered into a share sale and purchase agreement to dispose of its entire stake in TMIB to DCM.
DCM is the largest cellular operator in Japan with approximately 54 million subscribers. It offers a variety of services including i-Mode, e-wallet and e-credit card services.
It also has investment in other cellular phone companies in Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Guam and Malaysia.
According to official statistics of BTRC, AKTel's number of subscribers until May stood at 7.71 million out of the country's total 42.04 million mobile users where market leader Grameen Phone Ltd, Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited (Banglalink), PBTL (Citycell), Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd and Warid Telecom International L.L.C have 19.58 million, 8.99 million, 1.64 million, 0.99 million and 3.13 million customers respectively.
"TM International Bhd (TMI) has inked a shareholders agreement with NTT DoCoMo, Inc (DCM) of Japan to regulate the relationship of the parties as shareholders in TM International (Bangladesh) Ltd (TMIB)," said a report of the Malaysian National News Agency Barnama.com last week.
TMIB, trading under the brand name AKTel, was incorporated on 15 November 1997 as a joint venture company between TM International Sdn Bhd (TMI), a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia Berhad, and AK Khan & Company, one of the largest and oldest private sector corporations in Bangladesh.
TMI signed the agreement with NTT DCM after the Japanese cell phone giant announced last week that it is purchasing 30 per cent stake in AKTel at a cost of $350 million from its local owner AK Khan & Company.
According to Barnama report, TMI said the shareholders agreement will come into force upon the completion of the sale by AK Khan to DCM.
"We are pleased that a highly innovative company like DCM has chosen to invest in TMIB. We look forward to DCM's contribution towards further improving the services and offerings of TMIB," Barnama quoted TMI president and group chief executive officer, Datuk Jamaludin Ibrahim, as saying after signing the agreement.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said when it does not issue any permission to AK Khan and company to transfer its stake in AKTel to DCM how TMI can sign such partnership deal.
"We have come to know about the deal unofficially. The commission will take its next course of action after scrutinising the fact," a senior spokesman of the BTRC said.
He said: "TMIB only informed us that NTT DCM will purchase 30 per cent stake in AKTel."
The BTRC official further said till date there is no application from TMIB to the regulatory commission seeking its permission to hand over share of AK Khan and company to NTT DCM.
"We will submit application to the BTRC seeking its permission for transferring shares to DCM soon," Fazlur Rahman, director, Coordination and Regulatory Department of TMIB, told the FE by phone from Malaysia Saturday.
Regarding the deal between TMI and DCM, he said there is a "verbal permission".
According to Barnama report, AK Khan is leaving TMIB and had entered into a share sale and purchase agreement to dispose of its entire stake in TMIB to DCM.
DCM is the largest cellular operator in Japan with approximately 54 million subscribers. It offers a variety of services including i-Mode, e-wallet and e-credit card services.
It also has investment in other cellular phone companies in Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Guam and Malaysia.
According to official statistics of BTRC, AKTel's number of subscribers until May stood at 7.71 million out of the country's total 42.04 million mobile users where market leader Grameen Phone Ltd, Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited (Banglalink), PBTL (Citycell), Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd and Warid Telecom International L.L.C have 19.58 million, 8.99 million, 1.64 million, 0.99 million and 3.13 million customers respectively.