Private landline operators get financial concessions

The telecom watchdog yesterday officially announced financial concessions, including a 50 percent reduction in yearly licence fee, for private landline operators. However, the operators expressed their disappointment over the move, as some major decisions what they said were not in line with their demands.The yearlong persuasion for a respite from the financial burden as per the licence agreement has partially been resolved after a meeting between Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and Association of PSTN operators of Bangladesh (APOB).

But, the APOB members said two major agenda, including interconnectivity and fixing up a unique market tariff are yet to be settled.

“We are highly disappointed,” said M A Rouf Chowdhury, president of APOB, after a meeting with BTRC adding: “Our major demands remain on table.”

Interconnection tariff is now a new dilemma for the landline operators. Industry insiders said mobile companies are reluctant to come up with rational revenue sharing. The PSTN operators have to pay Tk 0.40 a minute to the mobile operators and the same amount is charged when mobile operator’s calls enter the PSTN network.

Hard as it seems, it becomes irrational when the volume of calls exchanged between the two is considered. Thousands of calls are generated by the PSTN operators to the mobile network every day. In contrast, a negligible number of calls enter the PSTN (public switched telephony network) network from mobiles.

“So, when we go for revenue sharing, landline operators will have a lot to discuss when it comes to what they get from mobile phone operators,” said Chowdhury, also the chairman of Ranks Telecom.

The benefits BTRC have awarded to local PSTN operators also included a 50 percent reduction in annual customer acquisition target, spectrum charges, and release of 50 percent bank guarantee.

After its entrance in 2005 with a high hope, the 11 private landline operators added only 4.72 lakh customers to their networks by the end of December 2008.

Among the 11 private landline operators, Ranks Telecom Ltd is the market leader with having 1.52lakh customers, followed by Dhaka Phone’s 61.8 lakh and Peoples Telecom’s 61.4 lakh.

Source: The Daily Star