Citycell can now pay its dues to BTRC by Sept

FE Team | Published: July 19, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

FE Report
The country's oldest mobile phone operator -- Citycell -- has got three more months for payment of its Tk 2.29 billion dues to the telecom regulator.
In response to the Citycell appeal, the regulator extended the time of its due payment to September this year. In March, the operator paid Tk 260 million as revenue sharing, social obligation fund and spectrum charge, but it did not pay 2G (second generation) licence renewal fee.
During the last two and a half years, the CDMA (code division multiple access) operator had been in a tangle with Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) over the due payment. As a result, the company is deprived of getting approval of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)-based telecommunication service along with existing service.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Citycell Mehboob Chowdhury told the media that his company will try to make the payment in next three months. But at the same time the company will give due importance to spectrum related problem solution as the Citycell is yet to get its due allocated spectrum from the authority.
The top Citycell executive earlier told the FE that he wants to solve the dispute over spectrum allocation. Then he will pay the dues to the regulator.
In 2012, the operator applied first to the regulator for launching the service, but it did not get approval for having dues with the regulator.
At present, all operators except Citycell are giving mobile phone service by using GSM technology.
Among the five multinational companies, only Citycell is surviving with the lowest market share as its clientele dropped to 1.43 million. Total mobile subscribers of the six telecom operators reached around 116 million until May 2014.
Sources said it requires around Tk 16 billion for transferring technology. At present the operator has 860 BTS out of more than 3,000 BTS across the country.
Citycell is the first mobile operator in Bangladesh which launched operations with the name of Bangladesh Telecom Ltd. It got licence in July 1989.