Govt gets 3 more weeks to decide on Robi-Airtel merger

The High Court today gave the government three more weeks to submit its recommendations about the proposed merger of two telecom companies Robi and Airtel.

The company bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed passed the order after the telecommunication division sought more time to submit the recommendations.

This is the fifth time the government has got time extension from the HC for submitting its opinions on the proposed merger.

The next hearing on the matter will be on June 6, said Tanjib-ul-Alam, counsellor of the two operators.

Telecom ministry officials said that a set of recommendations about the proposed merger will be sent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the telecom minister, for her approval before submitting those to the court.

They said that ministry is preparing a proposal that suggested that the merged entity of Robi and Airtel pay additional Tk 700 crore fees to adjust the spectrum price of Airtel for completing the merger.

The two companies submitted the merger application to the court and to the government in September 2015.

Malaysia-based Axiatia (Robi), also the third largest mobile operator in the country, and India-based Airtel last year announced their Bangladesh operations would be merged and they signed an agreement on January 29 in this connection.

Upon completion of the proposed merger, Robi’s parent company Axiata will hold 68.3 percent controlling stake in the combined entity, while Bharti Airtel will hold 25 percent and the remaining 6.7 percent will be held by NTT DOCOMO of Japan.