More licences soon for int'l call routing

The government has taken an initiative to award more licences for international voice call routing business just before the 11th general election and is scheduled to issue a public notice today.

According to senior officials, the BTRC will receive applications up to October 10. All resident and non-resident Bangladeshis can file applications through firms registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.

Insiders say the industry has already been facing challenges as there are way too many licences in context to the total call volume and the new move would make the sector even more crowded.

Currently there are 25 active licences running the International Gateway (IGW) business. Four licences have already been cancelled for improperly sharing revenues, a violation of the rules.

Some six companies with about Tk 1,000 crore in dues—involving licence fees and revenue sharing with the telecom regulator—have gone traceless after transferring shares to some unidentified people.

Senior officials of Bangladesh Tele-communication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) yesterday said the government asked them to launch the licencing procedure as an influential group has shown interest in this business.

The government wants to award more licences and that is why applications have been invited, said Md Jahurul Haque, acting chairman of the telecom regulator.

“There are already an adequate number of licences in the market and awarding of new licences might shrink business opportunities for existing players,” apprehended Haque, a commissioner of the BTRC's legal and licencing division. 

The BTRC will not fix the number of licences that will finally exist as only the government could do so, he said, adding, “The government will have to think about the future of the business.”

The government first introduced the IGW licences through an open auction in 2008 and awarded four licences, including one to a state-owned entity, for Tk 15 crore each.

At that time it was decided that each of the four would share 51.75 percent of earnings with government.

In 2012, the government launched a second phase of awarding licences following high political pressure and gave out 25 licences.

The increase in the total number of licences reduced the viability of the business, for which the government reduced its share of the revenue to 40 percent.

Later the licencees created a cartel and increased the incoming international call routing rate to 2 cents per minute. However, they continued sharing revenue with the government at the previous rate of 1.5 cents per minute.

Amidst this unlawful practice, the average number of international calls coming in through the legal channel every day declined by 20 percent or by 1.1 crore minutes in the last six month.

Currently calls of about 4.5 crore minutes are coming in to the country every day. It was about 11 crore minutes on an average every day in September 2014.

The second phase of awarding licences also led to the government sacrificing its earnings.

Even in 2012-13, the government's earning from the IGWs was over Tk 1,600 crore, which has come down to about Tk 500 crore a year now.