DHAKA: International Gateway (IGW) sector has been suffering a lot since 2012 due to unnecessary number of licenses, having licenses by political influence despite lacking technical know-how and sharing no revenue with the government.
Recently, the rate of international incoming calls has been reduced by a half in the name of experimental run for an ‘indefinite’ period. Permission has also been given to form syndicate of the IGW operators. These are seducing the monopoly in this segment, experts said.
In 2012, the very first ‘political licenses’ were given in the telecommunication sector. Licenses were canceled for two and operations were closed for at least 4 companies, because of not sharing the revenue with government and non-payment.
Meanwhile, two IGWs’ licenses have been canceled by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). The authorization of the decision was placed at a commission meeting on May 12. Later, the two IGW license-winning companies stopped there operations.
Every international call arrives in this country through IGW gateway. The gateway relays the call to ICX, which relays to the mobile phone or land phone.
There was only one IGW under Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd before 2008. In 2008, when the caretaker government was in the power, telecommunication regulatory board BTRC issued licenses to three organizations by auction.
After necessary ratification of law, in 2012 the ministry of Post and Telecommunications took over the authority of issuing license from BTRC.
The ministry then took initiative to issue multiple licenses of IGW. BTRC recommended for only 4 licenses. But, government did not take those recommendations seriously and recommended to issue 25 licenses.
The anarchy began after the ministry had issued 25 licenses on 12 April, according to the IT experts and officials. Ministers, Members of Parliament along with some influential parties were then issued the licenses for the companies including K Telecom, Vision Tel, Sigma Engineers Ltd, Hamid Sourcing (now Songbird Telecom Board), Roots Communications, Mos-5, One Asia Alliance, TelexBD, Bangla Tel and First Communications.
Following repeated interests shown by the post and telecommunication ministry and also the initiative of BTRC, the finance ministry reached a flexible stance. Decision was taken to reduce call rate experimentally for six months. Finally on August 28, after prime minister’s approval to the proposal (50% reduction of call rate), BTRC published a notice on 18 September. The six months period (till 17 March) will be calculated from the notice period.
The proportions of revenue sharing with government and other parties was distributed as - BTRC 51.75%, IGW operator 13.25%, ICX (interconnection exchange) 15% and ANS (Access Network Service) 20%.
After the call rate had been reduced to a half (1.5 cent from 3 cent), BTRC brought changes in the revenue sharing structure too. The revised revenue sharing structure was -- BTRC 40%, IGW 20%, ICX 17.5% and related operator ANS of the receiver 22.5%.
AS per the new settlement, the revenue income of BTRC reduced by 11.75%. On the other hand, revenues of IGW, ANS and ICX operators increased by 6.75%, 2.5% and 2.5% respectively.
The expiry date of that experimental call rate was supposed to end on March17. But before that, a directive, signed by Col Mohammad Zulfikar, director of systems and services department of BTRC issued stating, “The experimental international call termination rate and revenue sharing of the relevant stakeholders will be in effect until further order.”
Experts said BTRC provides such favour to IGW, ICX and ANS operators, to help them make profit and establish a strong business ground. They said BTRC itself was responsible for the increase of tenure for the operators. Prime Minister's approval was not taken into consideration in this connection.
Earlier, post and telecommunication ministry official concerned said government will review the experimental call rate. If the review is satisfactory then government will decide the next course of action. The review, however, was scheduled for January last.
He also said that despite reducing the incoming call charge, the outgoing call charge remained the same. This will also be taken into consideration during the review, he added.
While rescheduling the tenure of the call rate to ‘indefinite’, BTRC also permitted IGW operators to form a ‘syndicate’. That is how the 7 operators got the full control of international call market. They are often called as the ‘Big Boss’ of IGW sector.
On March 24, BTRC issued an order to the IGW operators to follow ‘Network Topology’. The IGW, ICX and ANS operators were ordered to bring their incoming and outgoing calls under this topology. Those 7 IGWs are Mir Telecom, Bangla Track, Novo Telecom, Unique Infoway, Roots Communications, Global Voice and Digicon Telecommunications.
A responsible executive of Novo Telecom told the media that, the network topology was not able come into action due to not defining the operational roles and not having the study of the financial efficiency of those companies.
He also said if everything goes smoothly, then the network topology might be operational from June 1 or 15.
There are 29 IGW in Bangladesh (currently 6 were suspended). But those 7 IGWs were given the opportunity to operate international calls. The experts concerned alleged that the situation will encourage illegal VOIP businesses and help seven operators make huge profit.
BTRC also indicated that, first this is to be tested. If it is seemed to be satisfactory then it will get permitted commercially. AKM Samsuddin, Chief Executive of Rankstel said this permission was given for one and half year. After expiration, another 7 operators will be finalized. In that group there will be 4 old and 3 new operators, who will jointly control the international calls.
Samsuddin added, if such plans implemented then small investors (tier-2) can escape huge investment. He explained, to directly bring and forward calls, operators must consider a bank guarantee which is not possible for many companies.
Thus, the small operators can run their business by considering relatively small amount (minimum 55 lac taka) of bank guarantee. He also told media that in the new model, 7 operators must invest Tk 200-crore each. Doing such, the big corporations will carry off the investment-risk on behalf of the small investors.
Sources said the revenue generated by the calls (without the share of BTRC) will be deposited to a certain bank account. That amount will be distributed to Tier-2 operators after a certain period (and after payment of necessary dues).
The profit sharing will maintain the proportion of 1:1.90. In such case, if the small operators get Tk 100 profit, then the big corporations will grab Tk 190, which is almost double in relation with the small investors. If it is implemented, then the small operators will face the risk of extinction.
The income of the ‘Big Boss’ operators will increase manifold by the profit sharing proportion and by the incoming calls. The small IGW operators fear that, in spite of increased income, they might not be able to receive the amount after months or years.
BDST: 2020 HRS, JUN 10, 2015
RR/SMS
