Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has taken a fresh initiative to realise Tk 14.486 billion outstanding revenue from Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL), officials said.
The regulator has already issued letters in this connection to the ministry of finance, the ministry of post and telecommunication and the operator concerned, they said.
In the letter issued on November 14, BTRC mentioned that it would take legal action against the state-owned telecom company for realising the dues as per the Public Demands Recovery (PDR) Act 1913.
The dues of the BTCL amounted to Tk 14.486 billion for non-payment of its regular revenue sharing part with the BTRC from October, 2008 to September, 2013.
The regulator said all other telecom licence holders, except BTCL, have been paying their revenue sharing portions, licence renewal fees and other charges to the BTRC regularly.
As the regulator it is committed to making a balance in the telecom sector by ensuring discipline for all.
It also requested the ministries to give necessary directions to the BTCL relating to payment of the dues.
In the last five years, BTCL's dues stood at Tk 8.0799 billion in revenue sharing part of international incoming calls through International Gateway (IGW) while it was Tk 4.3623 billion for Interconnection Exchange (ICX), Tk 0.1769 billion for international incoming calls through public switched telephone network (PSTN), Tk 1.4665 billion for PSTN operation and Tk 0.4 billion as late fee.
The government audit team raised audit objections against Tk 17.2411 billion dues of BTCL until fiscal year (FY) 2011-12, the letter mentioned.
The audit team mentioned that BTRC should comply with the PDR Act 1913 in the future. Therefore, the BTCL should pay all the dues on an emergency basis to the regulator.
In this connection BTRC vice chairman Md Giashuddin Ahmed said his commission is being strict relating to collecting public money. Even it will take legal action for this purpose, he said.
Meanwhile BTCL managing director Mohammad Kalimullah told the FE Friday that they had a meeting with BTRC and the regulator formed a committee to determine the actual outstanding revenue of the company. "We'll pay the amount determined by the committee," he added.
Apart from BTCL, state-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk's dues stood at Tk 315.8 million. Out of five private mobile phone operators, Citycell has around Tk 2.0 billion worth of dues to the BTRC.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
