(Sitting from left) Md Giashuddin Ahmed, Shahara Khatun, Michael Kuehner and Abubakar Siddique and, standing from left, TIM Nurul Kabir, Mehboob Chowdhury, Ziad Shatara, Md Mujibur Rahman, Vivek Sood and Chris Tobit at an installation ceremony of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh in the capital's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel yesterday. Photo: Courtesy

The government will take all decisions regarding the mobile industry after discussion with the operators to enhance the sector's services, said top officials of the telecommunications ministry and regulatory commission yesterday.
In an installation ceremony of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) at a hotel in the capital, Abubakar Siddique, telecommunications secretary, said the government is enthusiastic about the cooperation between the two parties regarding decision to get best output from the sector.
Earlier, a number of arbitrary decisions regarding policy and regulatory issues taken by the government hampered growth of the mobile industry, said industry insiders.
However, Abubakar said he is working for finalising the 3G (3rd generation) licencing guideline. The guideline will be sent to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) soon.
Micheal Kuehner, chief executive officer of Robi, took charge of the association as the new AMTOB chairman from outgoing chairman Mehboob Chowdhury, CEO of Citycell.
Acknowledging the contribution of the sector as the largest tax payer, Post and Telecommunications Minister Shahara Khatun said the mobile industry is one of the few private sectors with foreign direct investment, which heavily contributes to the country's economic development.
CEOs and managing directors of other mobile operators -- Vivek Sood of Grameenphone, Ziad Shatara of Banglalink, Chris Tobit of Airtel and Md Mujibur Rahman of Teletalk -- were present at the event.