HC rule upon BTRC, govt following GP writ

FE Report The High Court (HC) Wednesday issued a rule upon the telecom regulator and the government and stayed the imposition of the market competition factor (MCF) on the spectrum obtained by Grameenphone (GP) in 2008 following a writ petition filed by the telecom operator recently. The bench of Justice Farid Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Hasan Arif gave the order relating to the issue. The court directed the parties to follow NBR (National Board of Revenue) SRO (Statutory Regulatory Order) on VAT (value added tax) deduction from the payable fees and directed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to proceed with the renewal process unhindered by these two issues, said a GP statement. Earlier, BTRC asked the leading telecom operator to pay Tk 3.84 billion as spectrum fee for 2008 along with its 2nd Generation licence renewal fee.