Telcos fined Tk 8.68cr over illegal VoIP SIMs

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) fined four mobile operators a total of Tk 8.68 crore after identifying 8,682 SIM cards used for illegal international call termination through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

The penalties were imposed on Robi Axiata, Banglalink, Teletalk and Grameenphone at Tk 10,000 per SIM found to have been used in illegal VoIP activities, according to a BTRC notice.

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Robi Axiata received the largest penalty, Tk 5.93 crore, for 5,935 SIM cards. Banglalink was fined Tk 1.88 crore for 1,882 SIMs.

State-owned Teletalk was fined Tk 68.10 lakh for 681 SIMs, while Grameenphone received the lowest penalty of Tk 18.40 lakh for 184 SIMs.

BTRC Deputy Director Sharmin Sultana said the operators had failed to implement measures required under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Act, their licence conditions, and commission directives to prevent illegal call termination, allowing customer SIMs to be misused for VoIP.

A BTRC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the SIMs were identified during two joint enforcement drives in Cumilla and Chattogram with the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC).

“A fine of Tk 10,000 is imposed for each SIM card seized. Operators are required to prevent and block illegal VoIP termination under their licensing terms,” the official said, adding that repeated discoveries of such SIMs pointed to continued non-compliance.

Cases have been filed in the jurisdictions where the SIMs were seized, and enforcement will continue, the official said.

BTRC has instructed the operators to pay the fines and submit proof of payment within 10 days, failing which further legal action will follow under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Act, 2001.

Banglalink said it had consistently taken measures to prevent SIM misuse and that most of the flagged SIMs were already detected and deactivated through its own systems before any regulatory action, calling the penalty “unwarranted.”

Grameenphone said it followed BTRC’s self-regulation measures and biometric verification rules, and called on the regulator to hold accountable customers who misuse biometrically registered connections for illegal activities.

Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi Axiata, said they had not received any official notice, adding that over 95 percent of the SIMs referred to in the media had already been barred through their self-regulatory mechanism.