UNB, Dhaka :Despite sending repeated notices, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) cannot collect its various fees, including revenue arrears, from different government and private companies in due time, heaping up their outstanding payments.According to the BRTC, different government and private companies owe the Commission Tk 4 279.10 crore as revenue arrears till September last.The commission could not collect the dues for various reasons, including legal tussles, although the BTRC had given the companies disclaimers several times for clearing their dues.Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) owes the commission Tk 1645.29 crore for revenue sharing, licenses fee and wave fee since 2008, sources at the BTRC said.Teletalk Bangladesh Limited, a GSM-based state-owned mobile telecom operator, owes the commission Tk 1585.13 crore, excepting the charges of the 3G license, but the company has not paid the due.Meanwhile, the BRTC filed 14 cases against five companies, who were given IGW license, as they did not repay their arrears for revenue sharing, licenses fee, VAT and late fee.The BRTC will get Tk 1,04,74,57,598.61 from Telex Limited, Tk 191, 63,47,071.70 from Vision Tel Ltd, Tk 102,23,25, 000 from Ratul Telecom Ltd, Tk 103,10,00,322.64 from Kay Telecommunications Ltd, and Tk 130,14,46,905.78 from Bestec Telecom Limited as revenue arrears.Citycell, the first mobile telecom operator of Bangladesh, has an outstanding payment of revenue arrears worth Tk 274.67 crore in four sectors-Tk 246.27 crore for wave fee, Tk 16.47 crore for revenue sharing, Tk 6.93 crore for social safety fund and Tk 5 crore for license fee.Besides, the BTRC will get Tk 46.72 crore from Banglalion and Tk 38.66 crore from Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Citycell was given time till December this year to repay the arrears. On the other hand, the BTRC has issued a notice on BTCL and Teletalk asking them to repay the dues within a short time.BTRC secretary Sarwar Alam told UNB that they have sent a letter to the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry over the arrears of BTCL and Teletalk as the two companies are state-owned ones. They will recover the money through legal process if the dues are not recovered after the ministry’s intervention, he said.As the cases were filed against the five companies in a bid to recover arrears, they will be able to recover the dues through court order, added the BTRC secretary.”We are not getting any logical answer from Citycell as to when they will repay their arrears, although the company sought for extension of the deadline on several occasions earlier for paying the money.”The BTRC has decided that it will file case against Citycell and recover the due seizing the wealth of the company through legal action, if it is necessary, he said.State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said, “I’ ve asked the BTRC to recover all the arrears from the all companies through discussions by 90 days after I’ve taken over the charge.” The junior minister said BTRC must file cases against the two companies-BTCL and Teletalk-as the regularity commission if it does not has legal bar.
