UK firm loses exclusive investment rights in BD: Landline telephone operation
By Our Correspondent
DHAKA, Aug 23: The appellate division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Tuesday upheld a high court verdict cancelling the four-year exclusive rights of UK-based Telco WorldTel, permitting the government to allow more private sector landline operators in the central zone.
A full bench of the appellate division comprising Chief Justice Syed JR Mudasir Husain, Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim and Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury rejected the petition filed by WorldTel Bangladesh Ltd, seeking a leave to appeal against the high court verdict.
The high court division on April 23 rejected the WorldTel’s petition challenging a government move to cancel a clause in the agreement that stopped it from opening up the area to other operators before four years have elapsed.
Welcoming the Supreme Court’s judgement, officials of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said the verdict had enabled the commission to invite applications for the central zone or Dhaka Multi-Exchange for other private sector operators.
The multi-exchange area covers Dhaka city and its adjacent districts and sub-districts, which accounts for, according to the commission, about 60 per cent of the total telecom demands of Bangladesh.
“There is a demand for around 2,500,000 landline phones in the central zone right now,” said a BTRC official, adding that at least 10 companies could easily be given licences to operate in the zone because of the huge demand.
The officials said that the BTRC would start the process to invite applications as soon as possible to meet the huge demand for landline connectivity. They said most of the companies, which obtained licences for other zones, were waiting for Dhaka city to be opened up to the private operators.
WorldTel obtained a licence in July 2001 from the government to provide 300,000 landlines in Dhaka city at an investment of about $300 million on a build-own-operate basis with a four-year exclusive right.
The commission invited bids for the private landline operation on February 17 under the open licence system in four zones, out of the five zones segmented by the commission, and has so far awarded about 35 licences to 19 companies for operation in northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest zones.
But Dhaka city has been left out of the open licence system as WorldTel issued a legal notice to the ministry of posts and telecommunications in January 2004, preventing any move to open up the area to other operators.
But in May 2004, the BTRC cancelled the exclusive rights of WorldTel, terming the clause anti-competitive and violation of the Telecommunications Act-2001, which stipulated opening up the telecom sector to more private sector operators.
However, following the cancellation of exclusive rights, WorldTel filed a writ in the high court challenging the BTRC’s decision, which was rejected by the court on April 23 this year.
The full bench of the appellate division of the Supreme Court on April 27 ruled on a status quo and stayed the high court’s ruling after WorldTel’s appeal against the high court’s verdict, and also directed the BTRC not to issue licences to any other private operators.
Meanwhile, WorldTel is likely to begin commercial operation by November to provide about 300,000 landline connections in phases.
In April this year, WorldTel signed a $120 million agreement with Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer, ZTE Corporation, for the installation of CDMA technology to operate according to the wireless local loop system.
The commission earlier fixed the licence fee for Dhaka at Tk50 million and renewal fees at Tk20 million.
