News Title : Telecoms regulator more concerned about debt collection

News Date : 2016-01-02

-Tareque MM Hasan
Teletalk –BTCL merger The telecoms regulator does not wish to be involved in the merger of the loss-making state-owned Teletalk and Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), and is more concerned about collecting the debts of these two companies.“Teletalk and BTCL will have to repay their debts. We'll officially inform the Posts and Telecommunications Division in this respect,” Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood told The Independent yesterday. “We'll not be involved in the merger of Teletalk and BTCL. The relevant ministry will deal it,” the BTRC chairman said. When asked about the BTRC’s involvement in the merger of Robi and Airtel, Mahmood said, “According to a recent meeting of the Posts and Telecommunications Division, the BTRC will not have any involvement in implementing the merger between Teletalk and BTCL.” Recently, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s adviser for information and communications technology (ICT), Sajeeb Wazed Joy, asked the Posts and Telecommunications Division to take measures to merge the two loss-making state-owned telecom companies—BTCL and Teletalk—in an effort to make them profitable. Joy suggested KPMG’s name as the management consultant group to recommend how the merger should take place. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing audit, advisory and tax services. “The merger of BTCL and Teletalk should be carried out, considering the present telecom market statute, and KPMG can be involved as adviser,” he said. A meeting was recently held at the Posts and Telecommunications Division, with the State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications Division, Tarana Halim, in the chair. According to the meeting’s Decision No. 14, the Posts and Telecommunications Division was given the responsibility of the merger. At the meeting, Joy directed officials to initiate the project after considering the factors of eligibility, possibility and business success. He emphasised the need to improve Teletalk’s overall quality of services and pick another operator for the “roaming agreement”. The ICT adviser also asked the officials to chalk out a post-merger plan. The merger of the two loss-making state-owned telecom companies—BTCL and Teletalk—should have taken place earlier, opined telecom expert Sumon Ahmed Sabir. “We require a state-owned company that can be sustained with professionalism in a competitive market,” he observed. According to the BTRC, BTCL and Teletalk owe the government a total amount of about Tk. 3,230 crore. The BTCL has been a loss-making concern for the last couple of years. The revenue of the country’s major telecom infrastructure service provider was Tk. 1,075.06 crore in 2013–14 and Tk. 1,056 crore the previous year. The revenue of Teletalk, which has never been a profitable company for the government, reached Tk. 969 crore in 2014–15, up from Tk. 753.69 crore in 2013–14. It incurred losses of Tk. 20.86 crore in 2013–14. Teletalk currently has 3,750 base stations, of which only 1,562 are 3G sites. It has covered 476 upazilas with 2G technology, but 3G coverage is available in only 91 upazilas. It is also working to set up 1,000 new base stations across the country, officials said. The BTCL has greater service coverage up to the union parishad level, covering 481 out of 486 upazilas. The landphone operator has more than 5,000km of optical fibre network connectivity, covering 126 upazilas and 108 union parishads, according to the company profile. In 1971, after the Independence of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Department was set up under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. This was converted into a corporate body—‘Telegraph and Telephone Board’—by promulgation of the Telegraph and Telephone Board Ordinance, 1975. In accordance with an ordinance of 1979, the Telegraph and Telephone Board was converted into the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB). From July 1, 2008, as per the telecommunications policy of 1998, the BTTB was converted into a public limited company—the Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited—through another ordinance.

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