The country's oldest mobile phone operator Citycell has sought additional six months to settle its dues and other functional issues with the telecom regulator, officials with the operator said.
"We've already applied to the Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to give another six months to settle the long- pending issues," a senior official at the operator said requesting anonymity.
Earlier, the BTRC had served a legal notice it claimed as the 'last and final' warning to pay the dues that expired last week (December 18, 2014).
In case of failure, the regulator will cancel the company's operating licence.
"However, the regulator is yet to give a reply to the operator's appeal," the official said adding that the watchdog will take the decision in the next meeting of the Commission.
"This time, we hope all the issues with the regulator will be settled clearly," the official said adding that the operator is facing financial hardship as its subscribers are gradually falling.
The regulator's move against the country's lone CDMA (code division multiple access, a US technology) operator has come following the telephony firm's failure to pay its outstanding dues despite repeated reminders by the watchdog.
Commission Secretary Md Sarwar Alam told the FE that the operator replied to the BTRC's legal notice. "Now we will take up the issue in the next meeting of the Commission for further discussion," he added.
"However, the latest meeting of the Commission had decided to start process of its licence cancellation unless the operator pays its outstanding dues within the stipulated time of December 18, 2014."
Meanwhile, after the BTRC's warning, the leading telephony firm Grameenphone (GP) also warned the Citycell of taking legal action unless the company pays its dues of Tk 101.6 million soon.
The GP recently served a legal notice addressing the country's lone CDMA operator asking to pay the dues within 14 days of receipt of the legal notice which will expire this week.
"By failing to make the payment and clearing the outstanding amount despite acknowledgment of debt in unequivocal term, you have grossly violated the terms of the agreement," the GP, in its notice, said.
It said, until November 24, 2014, the Citycell owed Tk 101.6 million to the GP including interests as interconnection and other operational charges.
Through the legal notice, GrameenPhone also said despite repeated notices and letters from the GP, the Citycell didn't pay heed over the dues, which is a clear violation of the agreement between the telephony firms.
"Getting the legal notice from the Grameenphone, we've started discussion over the issue," the Citycell official said adding that they are working to settle functional issues through discussion.
The Citycell is currently owned by the Singtel of Singapore with a 45 per cent stake, local Pacific Group holding 45 per cent stake, and Far East Telecom, a Hong Kong-based Japanese company, holding the remaining 10 per cent stake.
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