Muhith against making reduced call rate for IGWs permanent
February 2, 2016
The ministry of finance has opposed a proposal aimed at making the existing temporary rates of the international incoming call termination and revenue sharing with the private operators permanent saying those caused losses worth Tk 2.1 crore daily.
Officials said the ministry of post and telecommunications, which had been maintaining the existing rates temporarily since September 2014, made the proposal to the ministry of finance.
The earning from the international call termination was reduced 50 per cent from US 3 cents to 1.5 cents per minute without taking consent of the ministry of finance which is a violation of the rules of business, they said.
The post and telecommunications ministry that introduced the new rate with the consent of the Prime Minister’s Office also lowered the government share in the international call termination earnings with the international gateways from 51.75 per cent to 40 per cent.
The rates were introduced for a period of six months initially, but were extended until September 2015.
Last month, the post and telecommunications ministry requested for the finance ministry’s approval to make the rates permanent despite suffering massive losses of Tk 837 crore in 13 months starting from September 2014.
Quoting Muhith the officials said the ministry of finance had not agreed with the proposal.
Post and telecommunications ministry secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury admitted that they had sought the ministry ministry’s approval to keep the existing rates despite suffering massive losses.
He told New Age that they were yet to receive the finance ministry’s reply.
‘The next step would be taken after getting the reply’, he said.
Post and telecommunications ministry officials said the call termination rates in neighbouring countries were three to eight times higher than Bangladesh.
They said the call charges and revenue sharing rates were lowered mainly to give benefits to the 25 International Gateways which got licences in 2012 because of their strong connections with the ruling Awami League.
IGWs act as intermediaries in international phone calls.
As of 2008, the state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd was the only institution for international call transmission. During the last caretaker government, BTRC liberalised the gateways and issued three IGW licences.
There is an allegation that the IGW operators terminated the call at much higher price but do not share the profit with the government.
The post and telecommunications ministry gave an impression that the revenue from international call termination would rise, if the rate was reduced.
Even there was an assessment by Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission that the government’s earnings would drop to Tk 777 crore from Tk 1,851 crore.
According to BTRC statistics, there is a market of something between 100 million and 200 million minutes of international call terminations in Bangladesh daily.
February 2, 2016
The ministry of finance has opposed a proposal aimed at making the existing temporary rates of the international incoming call termination and revenue sharing with the private operators permanent saying those caused losses worth Tk 2.1 crore daily.
Officials said the ministry of post and telecommunications, which had been maintaining the existing rates temporarily since September 2014, made the proposal to the ministry of finance.
The earning from the international call termination was reduced 50 per cent from US 3 cents to 1.5 cents per minute without taking consent of the ministry of finance which is a violation of the rules of business, they said.
The post and telecommunications ministry that introduced the new rate with the consent of the Prime Minister’s Office also lowered the government share in the international call termination earnings with the international gateways from 51.75 per cent to 40 per cent.
The rates were introduced for a period of six months initially, but were extended until September 2015.
Last month, the post and telecommunications ministry requested for the finance ministry’s approval to make the rates permanent despite suffering massive losses of Tk 837 crore in 13 months starting from September 2014.
Quoting Muhith the officials said the ministry of finance had not agreed with the proposal.
Post and telecommunications ministry secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury admitted that they had sought the ministry ministry’s approval to keep the existing rates despite suffering massive losses.
He told New Age that they were yet to receive the finance ministry’s reply.
‘The next step would be taken after getting the reply’, he said.
Post and telecommunications ministry officials said the call termination rates in neighbouring countries were three to eight times higher than Bangladesh.
They said the call charges and revenue sharing rates were lowered mainly to give benefits to the 25 International Gateways which got licences in 2012 because of their strong connections with the ruling Awami League.
IGWs act as intermediaries in international phone calls.
As of 2008, the state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd was the only institution for international call transmission. During the last caretaker government, BTRC liberalised the gateways and issued three IGW licences.
There is an allegation that the IGW operators terminated the call at much higher price but do not share the profit with the government.
The post and telecommunications ministry gave an impression that the revenue from international call termination would rise, if the rate was reduced.
Even there was an assessment by Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission that the government’s earnings would drop to Tk 777 crore from Tk 1,851 crore.
According to BTRC statistics, there is a market of something between 100 million and 200 million minutes of international call terminations in Bangladesh daily.
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