Thousands of prospective subscribers will have to wait for an indefinite period as the telecom watchdog, which works at snail's pace because of inadequate manpower, has become busy granting mobile phone licence to another company on a priority basis, sources said.

The BTRC is yet to chalk out any plan for awarding land phone licences to the Public Switched Telecom Network (PSTN) private operators in Dhaka zone, officially called Dhaka Multi-Exchange Area.

The demand for fixed phones in the capital is estimated to be around 10 lakh while the demand registered with Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) is about two lakh. The BTTB lacks the capability to meet the growing demand for land phones due to infrastructural inadequacy, the sources mentioned.

"The BTRC has very limited manpower. It is not possible for it to start formalities for land phone licences before completing necessary work for the mobile phone licence. So, opening of the Dhaka zone may be delayed by a couple of months," said one source.

On October 5, the BTRC floated a bid to award GSM (globalised system for mobile communication) operating licence to a private operator. Some 10 local and international companies have so far participated in the bid to become the sixth cell phone operator, and the last date for submitting offer is November 17.

A recent board meeting of the watchdog decided to amend the existing BTRC (licensing procedure) Regulations 2004 to adopt a competitive bidding procedure instead of the open licensing system to award PSTN licences, commonly known as land phone licences.

The private operators who got licences for other zones termed the BTRC decision unfair and frustrating. It can make the procedure of opening of the Dhaka zone more complicated if the regulator fails to protect the interest of those who have already started operations outside Dhaka and are waiting for long for the opening of this zone, they said .

"Business prospects in Dhaka zone are bright and we were expecting that it would be opened up for private operators shortly. We will have no option but to go to court if the commission shifts from its previous position on the procedure of awarding licences," said a high official of a private land phone operator.

The BTRC has so far awarded 35 licences to 19 PSTN private operators in the north-east, south-east, north-west and south-west zones but could not grant licences for Dhaka zone due to legal battle with the WorldTel.

WorldTel obtained a licence in July 2001 to provide 3,00,000 land phones in Dhaka at an investment of about $300 million on a build-operate-own basis with four years of exclusive right. It went to court after the telecom regulator cancelled its exclusive rights terming those anti-competitive and violative of Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on August 23 this year dismissed WorldTel's petition for retaining its exclusive rights to provide land phone lines in Dhaka for private operators.

Dhaka zone covers the city, Jinjira, Savar, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Tongi, and it accounts for about 60 per cent of the total demand for fixed phones in the country.