Neutral panel to evaluate BTRC’s audit findings

The government has proposed forming a committee comprising neutral and subject-related experts to evaluate the audit findings of Grameenphone and Robi that have led to fiercely contested claims of Tk 13,446 crore. 

The development comes after a meeting on Thursday involving Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar, BTRC Chairman Md Jahurul Haque, NBR Chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan on the premises of the Planning Commission.

Yasir Azman, deputy chief executive officer and chief marketing officer of Grameenphone; Ole Bjorn Sjulstad, its chief corporate affairs officer; Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer at Robi; and Roni Tohme, its chief commercial officer, were also present in the meeting.

The meeting has decided on five points and formation of a committee is one of them. The committee would have members approved by the two operators and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

The committee will also fix the methodology for evaluation and the operators will have to accept the report, said a top-placed source of the meeting. And before the committee gets to work, the mobile operators will have to put in certain deposits.

The development can be viewed as a compromise of sorts from the telecom regulator, which was dogmatic about going for arbitration as per the mobile operators’ request and was insistent on having the sum put forward by the auditors.

“Now the ball is in the mobile operators’ court, and they can play as they want,” Jabbar said.

The committee also decided that the mobile operators will withdraw the cases that they have filed in the lower court and the telecom regulator will also withdraw the show-cause notice.

“Both the parties grudgingly agreed to this,” said the meeting attendant who sought anonymity.

Grameenphone thanked the authorities for finding a solution to the disputed and unfounded audit claims.

“Building on recent constructive discussions we proposed a set of principles to guide the discussion towards an amicable and transparent conclusion,” said Hossain Sadat, head of regulatory and acting head of communication at Grameenphone.

This framework has been under consideration of the government, and in a meeting last Thursday both the operators received a counter proposal that they are currently reviewing, he said.

“Unfortunately, the unfounded show-cause notice by BTRC to cancel our licence has not been withdrawn and hence we have provided our response within the timeline,” Sadat added.

Meanwhile, both Grameenphone and Robi have challenged the legality of the telecom regulator’s show-cause notice on them asking to reply within 30 days why their licences would not be cancelled for their failure to pay Tk 13,446 crore of dues.

The show-cause notice was sent on September 5.

Robi declined to comment on the matter, saying the situation is changing so frequently that it will be tough for them to comment accurately.

Before accepting the meeting’s proposals, Grameenphone and Robi were asked to get approval from their respective authorities.

A senior executive officer of one of the two mobile operators said their board will accept the proposals.

The BTRC has demanded Tk 12,579.95 crore from Grameenphone and Tk 867.24 crore from Robi in unpaid dues after audits into the two operators’ books from their inception.

The two operators, which have 12.36 crore, or 76 percent of total active mobile connections between them, have not been getting any approval from the BTRC since July 22 for new services and packages and have been barred from importing equipment to maintain their network.