Kamruzzman Bablu :
No initiative has yet been taken regarding merger of the loss-making state-owned Teletalk and Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL). The Prime Minister’s ICT adviser had last December directed the authorities concerned to take measures to merge the two companies.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s adviser for information and communications technology (ICT), Sajeeb Wazed Joy, in December asked the Posts and Telecommunications Division to take measures to merge the two loss-making state-owned telecom companies to make them profitable.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy suggested KPMG’s name as the management consultant group to recommend how the merger should take place. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing audit, advisory and tax services.
A meeting was held in December 2015 chaired by the State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Division Tarana Halim. It discussed the issue and said initiative would be taken to merge the BTCL and Teletalk.
However, according to the ministry concerned, there was no progress regarding the merger till Saturday.
When asked about the progress to merge the loss-making state-owned two companies after eight months of the directive, a senior official of Post and Telecommunications Division, said if any progress is made, it would let it be known.
According to an internal report of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), prepared in the last week of August, loss-making mobile phone operator Teletalk was involved in illegal VoIP business “in the name of survival”.
The BTCL owes Tk 3,230 crore and 92 lakh to the BTRC, and Teletalk’s dues stand at Tk 1,615 crore 15 lakh and 24 thousand till May 2016, according to the BTRC.
On April 23, 2015, the regulator sent a letter to Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd chairman and Posts and Telecommunications Division secretary, M Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, seeking his intervention in this regard.
No initiative has yet been taken regarding merger of the loss-making state-owned Teletalk and Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL). The Prime Minister’s ICT adviser had last December directed the authorities concerned to take measures to merge the two companies.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s adviser for information and communications technology (ICT), Sajeeb Wazed Joy, in December asked the Posts and Telecommunications Division to take measures to merge the two loss-making state-owned telecom companies to make them profitable.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy suggested KPMG’s name as the management consultant group to recommend how the merger should take place. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing audit, advisory and tax services.
A meeting was held in December 2015 chaired by the State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Division Tarana Halim. It discussed the issue and said initiative would be taken to merge the BTCL and Teletalk.
However, according to the ministry concerned, there was no progress regarding the merger till Saturday.
When asked about the progress to merge the loss-making state-owned two companies after eight months of the directive, a senior official of Post and Telecommunications Division, said if any progress is made, it would let it be known.
According to an internal report of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), prepared in the last week of August, loss-making mobile phone operator Teletalk was involved in illegal VoIP business “in the name of survival”.
The BTCL owes Tk 3,230 crore and 92 lakh to the BTRC, and Teletalk’s dues stand at Tk 1,615 crore 15 lakh and 24 thousand till May 2016, according to the BTRC.
On April 23, 2015, the regulator sent a letter to Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd chairman and Posts and Telecommunications Division secretary, M Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, seeking his intervention in this regard.
