The telecom regulator is going to conduct a comprehensive study soon to find out the actual size of illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) call termination in the country, sources said.
The decision was taken recently following the recommendations made by stakeholders including mobile and IGW operators as some dishonest people are involved in such grey-market business.
"Unfortunately, there is no specific data with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) about termination of the illegal VoIP call in the country", a top official working with the commission said requesting anonymity.
The official told the FE that the regulator recently held a meeting with the relevant offices to check such illegal telephony business that deprives the government as well as the operators of large size of revenue sharing.
Among others, representatives from the mobile, International Gateway (IGW), interconnection exchange (ICX) and International Internet Gateway (IIG) operators were present at the meeting.
The regulator is also considering imposition of ban on 'late night offer' by the mobile operators as the authorities received complaints that some dishonest operators are taking advantage of the offer to terminate VoIP calls.
The illicit telephony business largely came into spotlight following the allegations made by the country's three leading mobile operators---Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi---with the regulatory commission.
The official said the BTRC is already aware of such termination of grey traffic that causes not only revenue losses for the multinational operators but also for the government as well as other stakeholders like ICX and IGW operators.
According to statistics available with the regulator, average volume of the legal VoIP call terminations last month stood at nearly 50 million minutes every day. However, as per the data of international carrier, the country terminates around 114 million calls a day.
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