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Published : 08 Nov 2025, 10:26 PM
Local entrepreneurs have raised alarm over the interim government’s draft telecom policy, warning that it could hand the sector almost entirely to foreign companies.
They say the plan risks sidelining thousands of domestic ISPs and mid-tier telecom operators while empowering the three major international players already in Bangladesh.
Several thousand local companies will lose their businesses, the entrepreneurs said on Saturday while attending a meeting aimed at exchanging views at a hotel in Dhaka, organised by the Telecom and Technology Reporters' Network, Bangladesh.
The meeting was attended by representatives from mid-tier telecom companies like NTTN, IGW, ICX, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Telecom analysts and journalists also spoke at the event.
Local entrepreneurs recently discussed in programmes the idea of mobilising to oppose the policy. Some entrepreneurs have even tossed in the idea of taking the matter to court.
TRNB Vice-President Rashed Mehedi presented the keynote paper at the meeting.
“A US-based ISP, Starlink, has newly entered Bangladesh via satellite. The government charged them a license acquisition fee of $10,000, roughly Tk 1.2 million, whereas a local ISP has to pay Tk 2.5 million to get the same license.
“The question is which one is a bigger company: Starlink or the local ISP? What’s this all about?” asked Rashed.
Rashed also commented that the new law is effectively rendering the telecom regulator, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), powerless, turning it into a “rubber stamp” institution.
“According to Section 33 of the draft Telecommunications Ordinance, BTRC cannot make decisions alone regarding telecom sector licenses that are nationally important.
“A committee comprising five secretaries will be supervised by five ministers (to grant the license). This means the five ministers will have full control. What makes a license ‘nationally important’ is not clearly defined in the policy,” said Rashed.
LEGAL RECOURSE
Aminul Hakim, president of ISPA-B, said there are around 2,500 small and large entrepreneurs employing about 600,000 to 700,000 people, with 2.5 to 3 million people depending on them.
He added, “The guideline defines mobile operators as Cellular Mobile Service Providers (CMSPs) and ISPs as Fixed Telecom Service Providers (FTSPs). The name limits our activities to fixed service, while the others will provide mobility.
“But the guidelines also allow them to bring fiber to homes and provide fixed lines. How will we compete?
“Reforms involve catchy words that sound good.”
Aminul shared his suspicion that four guidelines would be approved by Nov 13.
“If there’s no safeguard, what will we do? We will have no alternative but to opt for legal recourse,” he said.
OFF COURSE
A local fibre provider, Sumon Ahmed Sabir, deputy managing director of Fiber@Home, said: “If you are a foreign company, you can invest in any layer of Bangladesh’s telecom sector. But a local entrepreneur does not have the opportunity.”
Sitting across from him, Sumon said Aminul, who is trying for a submarine cable licence, will have to choose between running an ISP business and operating a submarine cable company.
“If you look at the rules for foreign investors, mobile operators can bring fiber all the way to homes. Then what will local ISPs do? Can small licensees, numbering two to three thousand, survive such a huge financial power? If this is the blueprint, let’s shut our business down, leaving it all to foreign investors,” he said.
“The policy allows one group to play at all levels. Our local entrepreneurs will not survive unless it can be stopped,” Sumon warned.
Sabir said the new policy looks exactly the opposite of the previous one, which aimed to encourage local entrepreneurs.
He added, “What’s happening now is the reverse. From a global perspective, there’s also the issue of cyber warfare. The government needs to have control. So, will we hand over this sector completely to foreigners, or gradually try to bring it under our control?
“There was a time when the telecom sector wouldn’t have existed without foreign involvement. But times have changed. There are companies in the country that can fully operate telecom services. We have achieved that capability.”
Sumon continued, “Mobile operators face challenges as well. Their revenue and costs are such that only one or two are making huge profits while others are failing. Now the government has to decide what needs to be done to save them. But it should not happen at the cost of local entrepreneurs.”
Regarding internet monitoring, Sumon cited the closure of bdnews24.com.
He said, “There was a time when the DoT and NTMC were oppressive, aiming to remove dissenting voices from the internet. One evening, I saw an order to shut down bdnews24.com. When I checked [the report], it had included [a part] the brother of a former Army chief.
“The site was immediately shut. bdnews24.com reopened two hours later when the report was changed.”
He added that DoT and NTMC did not fulfil any responsibilities other than oppressing media, whereas they should have been monitoring internet misuse.
“In the new reality, we had the expectation the government would share some information. Issues like cybersecurity and financial security are not being covered in any policy,” Sumon said. “We are seeing old wine in new bottles. We did not expect anything like this from the post-July government.”
PURPOSE
Nurul Alam, a representative of ICX companies, said the four layers -- ICX, IGDW, IIG, and NIX -- would be abolished under the current draft law.
He added, “No other sector -- whether fuel, education, or healthcare --has undergone so much reform. Think about why there is so much reform in this sector.”
Technology policy analyst Abu Nazam Md Tanveer Hossain described the situation over the past six months as “confusing,” noting that the introduction of multiple new policies has left stakeholders struggling to keep up.
On the draft policy clause prohibiting internet shutdowns, Abu Nazam called it a “stunt.”
He argued, “The internet has been shut down in the past without anyone taking responsibility. There should be a proper protocol allowing the state to restrict internet access in specific areas only with permission from the president or prime minister.”
GOVT ON A SPECIAL MISSION?
Journalist Masood Kamal said the current government appears intent on handing key sectors to foreign companies.
He added, “This government has come with the character that allows giving away to foreigners as much as possible, and shamelessly so. Foreigners are being introduced one after another to profitable sectors. They won’t take any risk; they will just lift the cream.
“Think about the Chattogram Port,” he added. “They say they are giving it to the world’s best company. There is a procurement law in Bangladesh, but it hasn’t been followed. No tender was floated. He thought it was the best, so they will give it to them,” he said.
He also doubted that the February election will be held.
POLICIS IN REVERSE
Mushfique Manzoor, COO of the IGDW Forum, recalled Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical market in the 1980s, when foreign companies dominated and local firms produced medicines such as Histacin and cough syrup.
He said the government’s drug policy of that era enabled local entrepreneurs to step forward, and within 20 years foreign companies had exited the market.
“Government policies should support the growth of domestic industries,” he added.
“If we were able to replace multinational companies in pharmaceuticals, why can’t the same happen in the telecom sector?” he asked.
