Shah Alam Nur :
Illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business has increased drastically in recent time. As a result, the government has been depriving of millions of taka every year.
Mobile phone SIM, land phones and high-speed internet connections are being used for running the illegal VoIP businesses. With the advent of new technology, termination of illegal international calls is increasing rapidly in the country.
Thousands of unauthorised operators are active in doing illegal VoIP business across the country where internet connectivity is available.
According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), due to international call termination through illegal VoIP the government has been losing around Tk 120 billion revenue every year.
The BTRC data also showed that every day more than Tk 30 million international calls are entering.
Of the calls, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) terminate some Tk 14 million calls and the rest Tk 16 million calls are dealt by the VoIP traders.
Recently, the BTRC has found most of the cell phone operators in the country are involved in illegal VoIP trade.
Some 29 International Gateway (IGW) operators are authorised for terminating international calls at a rate of US cents 3.0. However, the rate is lower than 2.5 cents in ‘gray market’ which encourages the illegal VoIP business.
The IGW operators are terminating international voice traffic from around the world and delivering those to the desired telephone numbers. But a vested quarter is terminating a large number of calls in illegal way.
“Huge amount of money is being lost through illegal VoIP business. On an average, we’re losing some $3 cent in revenue per call,” an official of BTRC told The New Nation on Thursday.
He said “We are worried about the falling number of legal VoIP calls as a big portion is terminating VoIP calls bypassing the legal route.” With local people a number of foreign people have been involving with illegal VoIP business.
Several times the RAB had arrested both foreign and local people who are found involved with the illegal VoIP business.
M Raihan Akhter, Senior Assistant Secretary to Posts and Telecommunications Division, in a statement on Thursday said that the government would reward people for information leading to the busting of illegal VoIP gangs.
He said the government has announced a Tk 1 lakh reward for such information.
As per the Bangladesh Telecommunications ACT-2001, it is punishable offence to transmit international calls bypassing the proper channel, he said adding: “The government is conducting continuous drives to check the crime.”
He said a Tk 1 lakh reward will be given to those who will assist the government proving with the identities and addresses of the illegal VoIP traders after verifying their information.
The information can directly be sent to the posts and telecommunications secretary and the chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
The identity of the informants will not be disclosed, he added.
Mentionable that in December, 2013, the RAB arrested 37 foreigners and two Bangladeshis with a huge quantity of illegal VoIP equipment from a house in the capital’s Uttara.
Of the foreigners, five are Chinese and 32 Taiwanese. The other two arrestees are their driver Habib and security guard Kamrul.
