Illegal VoIP business on rise

Jamal Uddin The government's ongoing drive against the unauthorised Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business has hardly made any visible impact on the business, as the number of illegal calls continued to rise. According to the telecom regulator, the number of legal VoIP calls has reduced significantly in the recent times. Figures from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) revealed that the number of per day legal VoIP calls has come down to 33 million which was 40 million just week before. With the advent of new technology, termination of illegal international calls is increasing rapidly in Bangladesh, the industry insiders said, adding that thousands of unauthorised operators are active in doing illegal VoIP business in big cities where internet connectivity is available. As a result, the government is losing a large amount of foreign currency, they opined. Some 29 international gateway (IGW) operators are authorised for terminating international calls at a rate of US cents 3.0, however, the rate is lower than 2.5 cents in 'gray market' which encourages the illegal business. The IGW operators are terminating international voice traffic from around the world and delivering those to the desired telephone numbers. But a vested quarter is terminating a large number of calls in illegal way. "We are worried about the falling number of legal VoIP calls, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rankstel AKM Shamsuddin said, added that "A vested quarter is terminating VoIP calls bypassing the legal route." The actual market size of the VoIP calls is more than 70 million per day as per the Rankstel CEO. "It will be difficult for IGW operators to sustain in the market if the ongoing illegal VOIP business is continued without any challenge, Mr Shamsuddin, who has IGW operation, mentioned. In April 2012, the government issued 25 new licences in IGW category for termination of international calls along with 23 interconnection exchanges (ICX) and 34 international internet gateway (IIG) operators to handle international calls, bandwidth and interconnectivity. According to the sources, fall in the number of legal VoIP calls has started after debut of new IGW operators. Stable position of the legal calls number a day was nearly 54 million until August, 2012 and it came down to 26 million in November, which was the lowest record according to the BTRC. To rein in the alarming rise of the illegal business, BTRC conducted drive to different offices of telecom operators including IGW, ICX and IIG. Besides, in November last, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) filed five cases against 14 people, including six BTCL officials, on charges of misappropriating government's revenue of Tk 2.05 billion. As a result, the legal calls rose to nearly 40 million in November last and the number was stable for the next three months. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) recorded about nine (8.8) million incoming call-minutes on January 1, 2013 alone, registering the highest incoming calls in BTCL history, a BTCL director said. Seeking anonymity, an official of BTRC said, "At present we have no sufficient manpower to monitor the large number of operators." Even it would be tough for us to rein in illegal VoIP business in the country due to uneven competition among the operators and involvement of powerful person, he added.