Citycell switched off

Citycell's operations came to an end yesterday after the telecom regulator cancelled the spectrum of Bangladesh's first mobile operator that served users for more than two decades. 

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission came to the decision, as the operator failed to pay its dues in time.

“We have taken the decision in line with a High Court verdict. The spectrum suspension is permanent and there is no scope to change it,” Tarana Halim, state minister for telecom, told reporters at a press meet at BTRC office.

Citycell owed Tk 477.69 crore to the regulator; the court ruled that two-thirds of the amount or Tk 318.42 crore would have to be paid within four weeks of the judgment. The deadline ended on Wednesday. Citycell paid Tk 130 crore on Wednesday, including Tk 14 crore in taxes to avoid the closure.

Once BTRC took the decision to suspend the operator's spectrum, a technical team of the regulator rushed to the head office of Citycell in Mohakhali in Dhaka to shut down the networking switch.

Members of the police and Rapid Action Battalion cordoned off the head office in the afternoon to avert any unwarranted situation.

None from Citycell was available for comments. 

Earlier on July 31, the regulator asked the Citycell customers to switch to other operators by August 16, as it had decided to suspend its operations.

The dues include spectrum renewal fee at Tk 229 crore, annual licence fee of Tk 10 crore, annual spectrum fee of Tk 27.14 crore, VAT Tk 39.92 crore and late fees of Tk 135 crore, according to a BTRC notice.

Citycell said BTRC never allocated it the full 10 megahertz spectrum after renewing the licence in 2011. The operator said it only got 6.3 MHz spectrum in Dhaka and 8.5 MHz spectrum outside Dhaka, and they have paid all the fees for that.

On the issue, Tarana said, “After the court's judgment, there is no scope to come up with a different interpretation.”

BTRC had been asking Citycell to pay its dues for several years now, but the operator did not raise the spectrum issue earlier, she added.

BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood said enough time was given to the operator's 1.5 lakh subscribers to switch. “So, the subscribers will not be affected. I am quite sure the serious subscribers have already shifted to other operators.”

Even if the spectrum was cancelled, Citycell has to pay the dues, he added.

Citycell also owes several thousand crores of taka to financial institutions, vendors and other mobile phone operators.