VoIP equipment seized from Aktel office
Tk 180cr can be earned a year using the devices, Rab says
Staff Correspondent
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday seized sophisticated equipment used for running voice over internet protocol (VoIP) business illegally from the head office of private mobile phone operator Aktel.The Rab said Tk 180 crore can be earned annually, depriving the government of the huge revenue, by using the equipment seized from the Aktel office at Uday Tower in Gulshan. The equipment seized and sealed includes four STMs, four soft switches, gateways, and two racks that shelved the STMs. The Rab found the VoIP equipment on the 14th and 19th floors of the building. The law enforcers, however, did not arrest any Aktel official. They were supposed to file a first information report (FIR) with the Gulshan Police Station last night. The intelligence wing of the elite force conducted the daylong raid at the Aktel office from 9:00am and disclosed its findings at midnight. Engineers and officials of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) accompanied the Rab during the raid. Talking to journalists, Major Joha of the Rab intelligence wing said the Aktel provides the VoIP facilities to five companies--Future Data Network, Brothers International, Orbitar Technologies, Sun Trading, and Islam and Brothers--for running the illegal business. "We also found some suspicious documents. We shall analyse them," he added. "No individual alone in Aktel is responsible for the illegal business, but the whole company. So, we shall file the case against the company," Major Joha said. "What matters is not the price of the equipment but the revenue the government has been deprived of so far," he said. Major Joha said they raided the Aktel office as part of their ongoing drive against the VoIP business that goes against the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001. The Rab started busting VoIP centres in the capital in December last year. BTRC Assistant Director Anamika Bakta told reporters that they will see if the government could be given back the revenue it was deprived of from the money the mobile phone operator has earned so far from the illegal business. The operation against the illegal VoIP business will continue and none will be spared, the Rab said. It said the BTRC formed a committee comprising officials of the BTTB, BTRC, Rab, and the state-owned mobile phone operator TeleTalk. The government also invited representation from the private mobile phone operators but they did not join the committee, Rab officials said.
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