Draft policy on VoIP use awaits council approval
Monday, 9 July 2007
FE Report
The draft policy for commercial use of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is now awaiting approval of the Council of Advisers.
The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MoPT) on Thursday last approved the draft VoIP policy, prepared by a high-powered committee led by Bangladesh Telecommuni-cation Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Major General (retd) Manzurul Alam, and sent it subsequently to the cabinet, a senior MoPT official told the FE.
The MoPT took over a month, from June 1- July 5, to endorse the draft VoIP policy after necessary changes and placed it to the advisers' council.
The committee had submitted the draft VoIP policy to the MoPT in May last after finalising it.
The draft VoIP policy will be placed in next week's meeting of the council of advisers for final nod, the MoPT official said.
He, however, could not provide details on the finalised draft VoIP policy.
Recommendations of the previously constituted seven-member technical committee were kept in the focus, while preparing the draft VoIP policy, the MoPT official added.
The technical committee in its report in March had proposed for granting VoIP licences to internet services providers (ISPs) and the mobile and land phone operators.
The committee also proposed setting up of four government common platforms to monitor the calls made through VoIP.
The committee headed by Saiful Islam, professor of elec trical and electronic engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), also recommended for continuation of VoIP operation through existing data transmission gateway of the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) submarine cable network as a short-term measure to overcome the country's current problem in overseas telecommunications.
It also recommended augmentation of the capacity of data transmission gateway through installation of some new equipment.
The committee also suggested enhancement of the BTTB's capacity by introducing 3,000 more international telephone circuits in addition to the existing 11,000 within the shortest possible time and another 24,000 by next three months to ease congestion of the current international calls.
It also recommended formation of a technical committee for monitoring the private traffic records in order to assess revenue.
The committee also recommended a faster government procurement process aiming at quickening the establishment of the common platforms.
It also suggested an alternative submarine network link to reduce dependency on the lone international gateway.
The Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) however, is demanding that the VoIP license should be given to only the legal ISPs of the country.
This will not only ensure that the government can easily monitor call traffic and earn their due revenue fairly, without being cheated, but will also be in accordance with the global practice where international operators are separated from local operators, the ISPAB President Mohammad Abdus Salam told the FE Sunday.
"If the mobile or the fixed phone operators receive control over International traffic along with their present local telephony network, the government has to rely on their reporting to calculate its share of revenue. On the other hand, if the ISPs alone are allowed to VoIP, they will receive voice traffic from overseas and will terminate those calls to any mobile or fixed phone networks. As such the government has two sources of documents through which they can verify traffic, the ISPs themselves and the telephone company," he clarified.
We have placed the demand to the BTRC before finalising the draft VoIP policy, he said.
In the neighbouring countries especially in India the mobile or fixed line telephone operators did not get VoIP licenses, the ISPAB president said.
Sources said the government will initiate providing licences to the interested service providers immediately after getting approval from the council of advisers'.
The government will be able to enhance revenue by at least Tk 10 billion a year if the VoIP becomes legally operational in the country.
The draft policy for commercial use of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is now awaiting approval of the Council of Advisers.
The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MoPT) on Thursday last approved the draft VoIP policy, prepared by a high-powered committee led by Bangladesh Telecommuni-cation Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Major General (retd) Manzurul Alam, and sent it subsequently to the cabinet, a senior MoPT official told the FE.
The MoPT took over a month, from June 1- July 5, to endorse the draft VoIP policy after necessary changes and placed it to the advisers' council.
The committee had submitted the draft VoIP policy to the MoPT in May last after finalising it.
The draft VoIP policy will be placed in next week's meeting of the council of advisers for final nod, the MoPT official said.
He, however, could not provide details on the finalised draft VoIP policy.
Recommendations of the previously constituted seven-member technical committee were kept in the focus, while preparing the draft VoIP policy, the MoPT official added.
The technical committee in its report in March had proposed for granting VoIP licences to internet services providers (ISPs) and the mobile and land phone operators.
The committee also proposed setting up of four government common platforms to monitor the calls made through VoIP.
The committee headed by Saiful Islam, professor of elec trical and electronic engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), also recommended for continuation of VoIP operation through existing data transmission gateway of the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) submarine cable network as a short-term measure to overcome the country's current problem in overseas telecommunications.
It also recommended augmentation of the capacity of data transmission gateway through installation of some new equipment.
The committee also suggested enhancement of the BTTB's capacity by introducing 3,000 more international telephone circuits in addition to the existing 11,000 within the shortest possible time and another 24,000 by next three months to ease congestion of the current international calls.
It also recommended formation of a technical committee for monitoring the private traffic records in order to assess revenue.
The committee also recommended a faster government procurement process aiming at quickening the establishment of the common platforms.
It also suggested an alternative submarine network link to reduce dependency on the lone international gateway.
The Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) however, is demanding that the VoIP license should be given to only the legal ISPs of the country.
This will not only ensure that the government can easily monitor call traffic and earn their due revenue fairly, without being cheated, but will also be in accordance with the global practice where international operators are separated from local operators, the ISPAB President Mohammad Abdus Salam told the FE Sunday.
"If the mobile or the fixed phone operators receive control over International traffic along with their present local telephony network, the government has to rely on their reporting to calculate its share of revenue. On the other hand, if the ISPs alone are allowed to VoIP, they will receive voice traffic from overseas and will terminate those calls to any mobile or fixed phone networks. As such the government has two sources of documents through which they can verify traffic, the ISPs themselves and the telephone company," he clarified.
We have placed the demand to the BTRC before finalising the draft VoIP policy, he said.
In the neighbouring countries especially in India the mobile or fixed line telephone operators did not get VoIP licenses, the ISPAB president said.
Sources said the government will initiate providing licences to the interested service providers immediately after getting approval from the council of advisers'.
The government will be able to enhance revenue by at least Tk 10 billion a year if the VoIP becomes legally operational in the country.