Banglalink drags on for 3yrs to refund Tk100cr UNAUTHORISED PROMOTIONAL PACKAGE | Despite repeated orders by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Banglalink, Bangladesh’s second largest telecom operator, has been dilly-dallying for three years to refund more than Tk 100 crore earned through an unauthorised promotional package in 2011. The amount of money includes Tk 92.33 crore in revenue realised unlawfully from subscribers through Banglalink’s ‘Daily Flat Tariff’ promotional service, Tk 5.98 crore in subscription fees from active customers for the service, Tk 3.36 crore from ‘churn’ subscribers and Tk 10 lakh in fine for launching the package without seeking permission from the telecom regulator. Churn subscriber refers to the proportion of contractual customers or subscribers who leave a supplier during a given time period. When contacted, a senior BTRC official told The Independent that the commission could not realise the amount from Banglalink despite issuing letters repeatedly between 2011 and 2014. Banglalink violated Section-48 (1) of the Telecommunications Act-2001 through ‘illegally’ realising the money from customers by overstepping the tariff directives stipulated by the regulatory body, according to a meeting minute of BTRC. Under Section-64 of the telecom act, the regulator has the authority to slap Tk 100 crore in fine on Banglalink for violating the tariff directives, the meeting minute added. The 2001 telecom act also states, “An operator shall, before providing service, submit to the Commission a tariff containing the maximum and minimum charges that may be realised for such service, and until the tariff is approved by the Commission, the operator shall not start providing the service or realising charges for the service.” In the last three Commission meetings, held in December, the BTRC did not discuss the issue of realising the money from Banglalink, sources said. A high BTRC official said the commission is likely to take a decision on the matter at its next meeting tomorrow (Thursday). Banglalink illegally introduced ‘Daily Flat Tariff’ to its subscribers and charged them Tk 4 a day as registration fee. Under the promotional service, the operator facilitated customers to make voice calls at a flat rate of 65 paisa per minute. The BTRC sent a letter to Banglalink on August 23, 2012, asking the operator to pay Tk 10 lakh in fine to the regulator. The letter also directed the telecom operator to reimburse Tk 92.33 crore to its post-paid and pre-paid customers through bill adjustment and ‘i-top-up’, Banglalink’s recharge system. However, Banglalink defied the BTRC directive and did not refund the money. The commission sent another notice to Banglalink on June 20, 2013, asking the operator to notify the commission about the amount Banglalink took from its clients illegally through the promotional service. Banglalink this time submitted a statement of its income from the ‘Daily Flat Tariff’ promotion to the commission in 2013. On receiving Banglalink’s statement, BTRC directed the operator to refund Tk 92.33 crore to its customers and around Tk 10 crore as security deposit to the regulator by July 20, 2013. When asked for comments, Banglalink Chief Commercial Officer Shihab Ahmad told The Independent that the matter is currently pending with the BTRC for a final decision. “Banglalink solely designed this campaign for the benefit of those customers who usually converse for longer durations. There was no intention on deceiving the valued customers or the regulator,” Ahmad said. “The customers had full freedom to avail this offer as per their own choice. We designed this offer based on daily fixed fee since no guideline indicated a restriction on daily fixed charges and, therefore, we believe that there was no violation against the BTRC directives,” added the senior Banglalink official. Banglalink Digital Communications Limited is fully owned by Telecom Ventures Ltd, which is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding. Following a business tie-up in April 2011 between Wind Telecom SPA and Vimpelcom Ltd, the latter now owns 51.92 per cent shares of Global Telecom Holding. Norwegian telecom giant Telenor has an economic share of 33 per cent and a voting interest of 42.95 per cent in VimpelCom Ltd. Telenor also owns 55.80 per cent shares of Bangladesh’s largest mobile operator, Grameenphone. In Bangladesh, six mobile operators are providing services to a total 119.623 million subscribers. Among them, Grameenphone Ltd has 51.112 million subscribers, Banglalink 30.681 million, Robi Axiata 25.251 million, Airtel Bangladesh 7.468 million, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (Citycell) 1.306 million and Teletalk Bangladesh 3.805 million. See More at:
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 09:41:35 +0000
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