Call centre licences from next month
Thursday, 20 March 2008
FE Report
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will start issuing licences to telephone-based call centres in the country from next month.
This was announced by the BTRC at a crowded public hearing in the city Wednesday. Individuals and Information Technology (IT) firms attended the day-long hearing held under the auspices of the Commission at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Centre.
"We will publish the guidelines for call centres next week and start receiving applications from the first week of April," said BTRC chairman Major General (Retd) Manjurul Alam.
According to the guidelines, call centres in Dhaka and Chittagong will get revenue-sharing holiday for a period of three years and, for other parts of the country, the holiday period will be for five years. On completion of the holiday period, the licence holders will have to share 0.5 per cent revenues with the BTRC every year.
BTRC said the licence fees for five years will be taka five thousand and there will be no renewal charge. Maximum 40 per cent foreign investment (FI) will be allowed for hosted call centre service providers, BTRC officials said at the public hearing.
They further said in the first year of its operation, a centre will be free to employ as many as foreign employees it needed, but thereafter the number of foreign employees in a call centre or hosted call centre service provider must not constitute more than 10 per cent of its total manpower.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will start issuing licences to telephone-based call centres in the country from next month.
This was announced by the BTRC at a crowded public hearing in the city Wednesday. Individuals and Information Technology (IT) firms attended the day-long hearing held under the auspices of the Commission at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Centre.
"We will publish the guidelines for call centres next week and start receiving applications from the first week of April," said BTRC chairman Major General (Retd) Manjurul Alam.
According to the guidelines, call centres in Dhaka and Chittagong will get revenue-sharing holiday for a period of three years and, for other parts of the country, the holiday period will be for five years. On completion of the holiday period, the licence holders will have to share 0.5 per cent revenues with the BTRC every year.
BTRC said the licence fees for five years will be taka five thousand and there will be no renewal charge. Maximum 40 per cent foreign investment (FI) will be allowed for hosted call centre service providers, BTRC officials said at the public hearing.
They further said in the first year of its operation, a centre will be free to employ as many as foreign employees it needed, but thereafter the number of foreign employees in a call centre or hosted call centre service provider must not constitute more than 10 per cent of its total manpower.