Telecom licensees told to take prior permission

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has ordered all telecom licensees enlisted with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSCF) to take prior permission when they change their capital structure.

The telecom regulator gave the directive recently to all telecom operators including mobile phone companies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), International Gateway (IGW) and International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) operators.

The regulator issued the directive following violation of section 37 (2) of the telecom act 2001 by a number of companies relating to the capital market issue.

The directive read that some telecom licence holding companies are changing their capital share taking approval of RJSCF, but do not inform the regulator, which is violation of the telecom act and licensing condition.

The directive signed by M A Taleb Hossain, director at Legal and Licensing Division at the BTRC also said the telecom licensees have legal obligation of taking prior approval during changing their capital structure, new share issue and distribution, restructure of board of directors or inclusion of new share holders.