Too many companies a threat to telecom sector
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Jamal Uddin
Too many companies now operating in the country`s telecom sector are engaged in an uneven competition and unethical business practice pushing the emerging sector into risk.
As a result, the number of illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) call is increasing and people are witnessing poor quality internet service and voice call.
The government issued 79 new licences this year in three categories- international gateways (IGW), interconnection exchanges (ICX) and international internet gateways (IIG)- for handling VoIP call, inter connectivity and bandwidth. Besides, four IGWs, three ICX, and two IIG have been offering the service from the beginning.
Of the new operators, 14 IGW, 11 ICX and 7 IIG have started their operations recently and some companies are in dilemma weather they will go into operation or not.
Telecom experts think the decision of the government for issuing such a large number of licences was absurd and it is creating anarchy in the sector.
"Licensing procedure of the government was not correct, it has increased complexity in the telecom sector," said ISPAB (Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB)) Vice-President Sumon Ahmed Sabbir.
Though the decision was a political one, now the authority is feeling the reality, he thinks.
Earlier, four IGW operators would handle almost 50 million international incoming calls per day, now it will be distributed among 26 licence holders.
Business viability is the main question for this market that is why some new IGW licence holders are hesitating to go into operation. So far 14 companies out of 24 have started their operations.
Mr Sabbir said already the market got negative impact as the number of illegal VoIP calls has increased tremendously from earlier 5-10 million to 20-25 million per day. Though the number recently decreased for continuous drives of the telecom regulator, it is not a permanent solution.
The government rate of per VoIP incoming call is 3 US cents, while the 'grey market' rate is nearly 2 US cents or lower. That is why VoIP call receivers choose the 'grey market', according to industry insiders.
They said the number of illegal VoIP calls could drop if the government reduced revenue sharing from the present 51 per cent and cut the pricing of the call rate to minimum level to curb the malpractice.
Seeking anonymity, an official of a mobile operator said the mobile companies are facing challenge to ensure connectivity to a large number of ICX operators for inter connectivity.
He said there is no such example of inter connectivity in the world.
ISPAB Vice-President Sumon Ahmed Sabbir said the number of bandwidth providers is more than internet service providers (ISPs). So how they will survive in the market, obviously they have to choose illegal path, he added.
The number of large ISPs will be mostly 30 to 35 while 35 IIG that sell bandwidth to the ISPs are trying to go into operation.
Too many companies now operating in the country`s telecom sector are engaged in an uneven competition and unethical business practice pushing the emerging sector into risk.
As a result, the number of illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) call is increasing and people are witnessing poor quality internet service and voice call.
The government issued 79 new licences this year in three categories- international gateways (IGW), interconnection exchanges (ICX) and international internet gateways (IIG)- for handling VoIP call, inter connectivity and bandwidth. Besides, four IGWs, three ICX, and two IIG have been offering the service from the beginning.
Of the new operators, 14 IGW, 11 ICX and 7 IIG have started their operations recently and some companies are in dilemma weather they will go into operation or not.
Telecom experts think the decision of the government for issuing such a large number of licences was absurd and it is creating anarchy in the sector.
"Licensing procedure of the government was not correct, it has increased complexity in the telecom sector," said ISPAB (Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB)) Vice-President Sumon Ahmed Sabbir.
Though the decision was a political one, now the authority is feeling the reality, he thinks.
Earlier, four IGW operators would handle almost 50 million international incoming calls per day, now it will be distributed among 26 licence holders.
Business viability is the main question for this market that is why some new IGW licence holders are hesitating to go into operation. So far 14 companies out of 24 have started their operations.
Mr Sabbir said already the market got negative impact as the number of illegal VoIP calls has increased tremendously from earlier 5-10 million to 20-25 million per day. Though the number recently decreased for continuous drives of the telecom regulator, it is not a permanent solution.
The government rate of per VoIP incoming call is 3 US cents, while the 'grey market' rate is nearly 2 US cents or lower. That is why VoIP call receivers choose the 'grey market', according to industry insiders.
They said the number of illegal VoIP calls could drop if the government reduced revenue sharing from the present 51 per cent and cut the pricing of the call rate to minimum level to curb the malpractice.
Seeking anonymity, an official of a mobile operator said the mobile companies are facing challenge to ensure connectivity to a large number of ICX operators for inter connectivity.
He said there is no such example of inter connectivity in the world.
ISPAB Vice-President Sumon Ahmed Sabbir said the number of bandwidth providers is more than internet service providers (ISPs). So how they will survive in the market, obviously they have to choose illegal path, he added.
The number of large ISPs will be mostly 30 to 35 while 35 IIG that sell bandwidth to the ISPs are trying to go into operation.