Banglalink’s audit has 8 takers
Eight accounting firms are vying to audit Banglalink, an exercise that has thus far turned out to be a challenging mission for the telecom watchdog.
This is the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regularity Commission (BTRC)'s third attempt to pour over the books of the operator, which was founded in 1996 under the name of Sheba.
The telecom regulator's first initiative to inspect Banglalink's accounts and network was in 2011. But a few months into the inspection the auditor quit.
The BTRC then asked another auditor to complete the study, but the firm eventually backed out.
Two year ago, the BTRC attempted to audit Banglalink once again but that too went in vain, leaving industry stakeholders surprised by the outcome.
The applications, which came in response of the telecom regulator's invitation for expression of interest on January 5, will now be sent to the evaluation committee for shortlisting, said a senior BTRC official requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak with the media.
"The process would be completed as soon as possible," he added.
The audit firm that will clinch the job must be a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and have prior experience of auditing multinational telecom or IT companies, according to the EOI.
Joint venture audit firms with technical knowledge in the relevant field were particularly encouraged to apply.
Banglalink's audit will be conducted under categories such as regulatory, legal, technical and financial matters and other related issues.
In response to the EOI, Banglalink urged the government to also audit two other mobile network operators, Airtel and Teletalk, to level the playing field.
The decision to conduct a fresh audit on Banglalink was taken during a commission meeting last December, which also elected to audit Airtel that merged with Robi around two-and-a-half years ago.
The BTRC has remained embroiled in a longstanding legal battle with Grameenphone and Robi over the settlement of huge audit discrepancies amounting to Tk 13, 445 crore.
Therefore, the decision to audit yet another mobile carrier may create further instability and fear within the industry.
Following a court order, Robi paid Tk 27.60 crore in January as their first instalment to the BTRC against its Tk 867.23 crore claim.
The country's largest mobile network operator, Grameenphone, is also tussling with the BTRC over Tk 12,579.95 crore dues.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in November asked Grameenphone to pay Tk 2,000 crore within three months. However, Grameephone filed a review petition, saying the company can only pay Tk 570 crore for now.
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