BANGLADESH Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has announced the formation of a technical audit team to detect revenue dodging by mobile phone operators and smaller Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) firms as they are systematically doing it since long. Though the move comes belated, BTRC may rightly claim praise. The government now can expect to plug the loopholes and add substantial revenue to the state exchequer if no other hassle stand on the way. The fear is there because mobile operators and VoIP firms owned by local influential persons and foreign agents have a strong unholy nexus with officials at BTRC and such other bodies to go away with fictitious business data and thereby retain a large portion of income earned from both way calls through the international call gateway. This corruption is already in global headlines however without effective remedial action so far to stop it.
So for any initiative to bear fruit must have honest, sincere and dedicated persons on the audit committee to end the pervasive corruption and end the loot. We have surprising statistics that international calls via Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board Gateway (ITX) are decreasing day-by-day, showing that the bigger part of the income from this ever growing service sector is going to dishonest business people in foreign currency. Reports have it that the technical audit team will work to find out the real call information data and the amount of money the VoIP operators are regularly pocketing evading the notice of the revenue authorities concerned. They will compare data at gateway level and the financial accounting level with the government to find out the extent of mismatch.
As we know the problem is that most VoIP firms are now owned and operated by ruling party bigwigs or persons mostly they have nominated. These people are beyond the reach of the law. Such firms are regularly cheating the revenue authorities at first by reporting lower call numbers and then also refraining from depositing the rightful amount even they agreed to pay. Such frauds and corruption are endemic in the international call gateway. Reports have it that many foreign call operators are even running business here on the strength of forged security guarantees with local banks. It is commonly understood that rats are at work inside BTRC and therefore they are reluctant to verify those guarantee papers.
The question is how this practice can be stopped. Some people say new laws are needed but others say execution of existing laws is enough. What is needed is a strong political will of the government to fight dishonest people within the establishment to make the efforts of the technical team come true.
