Staff Reporter :The government has cancelled the license of country’s first mobile phone operator Citycell and asked its subscribers to select new operators within seven days. The network of the operator will be shutdown after seven days counting from yesterday.”As the company failed to pay taxes for an amount of Tk 477.51 crore despite several reminders, the government took the decision of cancelling the license,” said, Post and Telecommunications State Minister Tarana Halim in a press briefing at her office on Tuesday.The State Minister said, the process will begin today (Wednesday) adding that the subscribers of the operator can use the network for seven more days. The deadline expiring, the network will be switched off automatically, she added. On July 31, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said in a press release that they would close the Citycell soon. BTRC then advised the Citycell clients to choose any other operator by 16th August (yesterday). The BTRC officials also said in the press release that they had decided to cancel the permission for use of spectrums and radio equipments of the Citycell for non-payment of taxes.BTRC officials said that the Commission took the decision as Citycell failed to pay taxes for an amount of Tk 477.51 crore despite several reminders.BTRC officials said that after the biometric re-registration the operator found around two lakh subscribers.’As Citycell could not pay its taxes even after several reminders, we had to take the decision.” BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood told journalists on July 31.The BTRC, earlier in April, filed a certificate case against Citycell to realise the taxes under the Public Demand Recovery Act 1913.
