Telecoms regulator creating IGW monopoly in Bangladesh

BTRC's circular late on Tuesday is seeking a new call termination arrangement controlled by a cartel of seven powerful IGW operators.

This cartel will manage the common network switch for interconnection -- now on a test basis and later on a regular basis if the BTRC finalises the arrangement.

bdnews24.com last year had detailed the contours of the conspiracy by some ruling party leaders to create a monopoly cartel for IGW business.

The BTRC order indicates that the conspiracy has exactly worked out the way bdnews24.com had anticipated.

Scores of other mobile and interconnection operators, now forced to change their operational model on a test basis, apprehend they may go out of business if the BTRC has its way.

The International Gateway Operators Forum or IOF consists of  29 IGW operators.

But the seven top IGWs -- Unique Infoway, Digicon Telecommunication, Mirtel Ltd, Bangla Trac Communications, NovoTel, Roots Communication and Global Voice telecom -- will now be controlling the common network switch for interconnection and call termination.

The other parties, involved with the international call termination like mobile operators, interconnection exchange (ICX) operators and bandwidth providers, will only connect with the common network platform controlled by these  top seven IOF members.

The seven operators, who will run the IOS system switch, will get a much higher revenue share than other IGWs, all members of the IOF.

The mobile-phone companies during Tuesday's meeting with the BTRC chairman demanded bank guarantee from the IOF to secure their payment in case operators were denied payment at any point.

Four companies — Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel — lost Tk 1.4 billion last year when some IGWs failed to pay the mobile operators their share of revenue.

"The new system will land us into much difficulty,” a top mobile phone company manager told bdnews24.com.

“We had options to shift our business from one to another because we had a huge choice of 29 IGWs. Now we have to deal with the seven powerful operators."

He said the BTRC’s new directive on Tuesday left the mobile operators with no option of an agreement with the IGWs other than the top seven of the IOF.

Another point of concern is that the IGW operators are enjoying a reduced call rate of 1.5 cents from previous 3 cents as the lower ceiling of call termination.

There is no upper limit specified.

Now if they bring more calls, the IOF will only be bound to share revenue at 1.5 cent rate, the mobile phone company manager said.

He also said the illegal VoIP calls could increase if the IOF increased the call termination rate since there was no upper limit.

Both the mobile-phone operators and the government will suffer losses if that happened.

The BTRC directive asked the mobile operators and ICX operators to launch the new operation model within 30 days.

Thereafter, the  telecom regulator will examine the result of the trial before it allows the IOF to start commercial operation.

According to the BTRC order, the IGWs will distribute the entire call volume equally among the IOS which will distribute those calls to the ICX operators in the same manner.

The ICX and IOS operators will have to provide bank guarantee to the government before starting the operation under new arrangement, it said.

In case the ICX and the IOS operators failed to pay the government revenue, the IOF will block 99 percent of the calls of the defaulting operator.

The IOF would have to establish VoIP monitoring system on the common platform and provide the BTRC with the access link, the order said.

The IOF has to pay up the commission every month.

The bilateral agreements among the different operators needed to be vetted by the BTRC, the order said.

"The concept of two-tier operation is also discriminatory. The entire IGW business will be run without any competition," a senior BTRC official said on condition of anonymity.

“So the BTRC’s motto to allow fair competition in the telecom sector is ruined by this latest business model,” he added.