\\\'Political will, viable policy may bring positive results\\\'
FE Report | Sunday, 9 February 2014
It will not be possible to stop the illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) business that surged alarmingly in the country by using only technology; rather a political will and a commercially viable policy could bring positive results in this connection.
Experts and industry insiders said this at a roundtable on "Illegal Call Termination: Current Situation and Way Out" organised by the Telecom Reporters' Network, Bangladesh (TRNB) at a city hotel Saturday.
They said appropriate pricing for international call termination and regular monitoring will help control the illegal way of business.
At the roundtable, sector insiders including the telecom regulator, mobile phone operators, International Gateway (IGW) operators and independent experts placed their opinions to control the rein of the illegal VoIP.
TRNB General Secretary Muhammad Zahidul Islam gave a presentation on 'Illegal call termination' in the event, which was presided over by its President Abdullah Mamun.
Mr Islam showed at his presentation that the country witnesses only 45 million international calls per day in the legal way, which is actually around 140 million as per the data of the international carriers. As a result, the government is deprived of a large amount of foreign currency from the sector. The government gets 51.75 per cent revenue from each VoIP call.
At present, 29 IGW operators are permitted to terminate VoIP calls. Of the operators, four old companies terminate a major part of legal calls.
Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Sunil Kanti Bose admitted that his organisation has some limitations relating to implementation of all the recommendations that come from different sides.
Despite this, they took different measures to curb the illegal path of VoIP business.
He mentioned that mobile phone operators will get permission for access to the national data base for scrutinising the information of their subscribers.
The regulator will also monitor the bandwidth providing firms and Interconnection Exchange (ICX) companies in this connection, the BTRC chairman told the media.