GP, AKTEL IPO plans deadline extended

Two leading cell phone operators, Grameenphone and AKTEL, are yet to submit detailed proposals on their initial public offerings (IPOs) to the telecoms regulator, as the BTRC has extended the submission deadline to next week, sources said.
At the end of November the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) asked the mobile phone companies to submit IPO proposals to the commission by yesterday.
In the proposals the cell phone operators are supposed to draw a roadmap, which will include eight conditions, for their IPOs. According to sources, the conditions include the valuation method, the IPO timeframe and bank statements.
Grameenphone and AKTEL sources said the timeframe given by the BTRC is too short to fulfill the regulator's conditions. Moreover the BTRC is itself preoccupied organising the ninth conference of South Asian Telecommunications Regulators' Council that began in Dhaka yesterday.