GP, Robi face audits

The telecom regulator is in the last stage of appointing financial and technical auditors to mobile operators Grameenphone and Robi as it has selected the audit firms. 

The audits will cost Grameenphone Tk 8 crore and Robi Tk 7.5 crore, which will have to be borne by the companies in a departure from the previous decision. 

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had originally agreed to pay for the financial audits of the two operators, but the government decided otherwise and later added the technical audit to the initiative. 

The BTRC has selected Toha Khan Zaman & Co Chartered Accountants for Grameenphone and Masih Muhith Haque & Co Chartered Accountants for Robi.

Both the telecom operators have welcomed the audits, but questioned why other operators are not being assessed.

"The BTRC has the authority to audit any operator and we welcome it. However, proper norms and processes must be followed," said Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, the nation's largest telecom operator.

"The BTRC can also audit all six mobile operators simultaneously."

Ekram Kabir, vice president of communications and corporate responsibility at Robi, said: "The regulator could discuss the terms and conditions with us before the audit." 

The BTRC had Grameenphone audited in 2011 by a firm that claimed the telecom company owed Tk 3,034 crore to the government. The GP later took the matter to court on the basis of the assessor's lack of capability, and won as the audit was declared illegal.  

An attempt to inspect Banglalink at the same time failed as the appointed auditor, Ahmed Zaker & Co, could not finish the job.

After these twin fiascos, the BTRC decided to appoint new audit firms, a senior official said.

Some 26 companies applied, and the BTRC sought approval for selected candidates in August. 

The BTRC had intended to inspect operators' lifetime transactions but the companies said that would not be possible under the current law. 

"We are not bound to submit any document older than six years," a senior executive of a mobile operator said.

The operators also urged the regulator to properly outline procedural parameters before the actual audits.