Coruption in Bangladesh ICT Sector-BTRC chief quits

[Sayeed Rahman]

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Maj Gen (Retd) Manzurul Alam resigned yesterday following a controversy on handling of the licencing process and alleged failure to follow guidelines in awarding lucrative licenses.

 

Alam came into the limelight by conducting a massive drive against illegal international call terminations conducted by local and foreign operators.

During his around 22-month tenure, Alam was a little criticised for his approach to make BTRC a revenue earner rather than a regulator. Introducing too many technologies in a very short time and his intention to make BTRC an extraordinary regulator by amending laws also sparked criticism.

Another issue that questioned the commission as a whole was taking Tk 10 crore reward from the government for the commission's performance in 2007-08 fiscal year. The BTRC later distributed the money among its officials. No other commission in the country took such rewards.

A team of Rapid Action Battalion played a vital role in the drive against illegal international calls. However, the members of the law enforcement agency did not get the reward.

Alam was given the responsibility by the military backed immediate past caretaker government in April 2007. The tough-talking former army Signals officer courted controversy through his handling of the licencing process, and many alleged he failed to follow his own guidelines in awarding lucrative licenses.

Alam, then a brigadier, also served as a director at the spy outfit DGFI in the mid-1990s.

The former BTRC chief was apparently asked to quit for his 'unfair dealings' about award of International Internet Gateway (IIG) and WiMAX licences to avoid further controversy surrounding the key regulatory agency.

 

• There have been controversies for a few months over the issues including the commission's appointment of consultants.
• Allocation of Tk 10 crore to commission officials in incentive allowances.
• Award of International Internet Gateway (IIG) and WiMAX licences.
  

Reference:

Corruption in Bangladesh ICT Sector-WiMAX licence deal and BTRC-BTCL

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bangla_ict/message/5811

 

BTRC gets Tk 10 crore bonus and Transparency

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bangla_ict/message/5685

 

BTRC fined the companies only Tk 834 crore although allegations are there that the companies had terminated calls worth hundreds of crores of takas.

 

 

Mango Teleservices, the sole private licencee to run the lucrative International Internet Gateway (IIG), will now get an extra 40 days to pay up the fees for the third WiMAX licence. "The deadline for Mango is March 2," BTRC chief retired major general Manzurul Alam told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

The WiMAX licence was given away to the state-run Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) as a special case.
As an IIG licensee, Mango would not even qualify to bid for the WiMAX licence if the regulators followed the original guidelines.
Mango is enjoying a 60 per cent discount from BSCCL (formerly part of BTTB) on internet rates that any other ISP doesn't get, and thus making a huge profit," says an ISP CEO, refusing to be named.
"BTRC should not try to guarantee profit for one particular company, instead, it should create a level playing field for other operators."
Mohammad Monwar Hossain, managing director of BSCCL or Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd, confirmed the 60 per cent discount was being given at the instruction of BTRC.
Industry sources say this request came from BTRC and was later approved by the telecommunications ministry.
"Currently, Mango, without making any value addition to the Internet business is enjoying almost a profit of Tk 50 lakh every month," said a BTCL official, who asked not to be named.
The problem is the cost is eventually passed on to the poor customers, who end up paying more for the Internet.
"Big bandwidth customers of ISPs such as grameenphone and Aktel were also asked to disconnect their service with ISPs and move to Mango," said another ISP official
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Sayeed Rahman
Founder BANGLA IT
http://www.banglait.org
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sayeedrahman

[Sayeed Rahman]

[Sayeed Rahman]

Dear Colleagues, You are all cordially invited to a Seminar, organized by BRAC University on "Management of Technology & Strategy". It will be held on Thursday February 12th 2009 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at the Video Conference Center, Room: AH-1802 on the 18th Floor of Aarong House, the topic will be presented by Mr. Anwar Siddiqui (Short Biography mentioned below). This open invitation is sent to all faculty members of BRAC University for their kind attendance and anyone interested about the above mentioned topic are requested to attend the Seminar. Looking forward to see you at the Venue on 12th Fubruary. Best Regards, ALI SALMAN BRAC University 66 Mohakhali C/A Room AH 504 Dhaka 1212 Mobile: +88-01911-365208 ****************** Short Bio of Mr. Anwar Siddiqui ****************** Mr. Anwar Siddiqui is currently a Technical Director of the Avaya Chief Technology Office (CTO) in Lincroft, New Jersey. Mr. Anwar is responsible for identifying emerging technologies that are strategic to the implementation of Avaya's converged communication vision. Mr. Anwar's areas of interest include call processing in IP networks, communication support for distributed systems, and communication protocols for the Internet, such as SIP/H.323, Enterprise Applications in Wi-Fi Networks, IP/IEEE/3G network agnostic applications, Presence Aware networks, Network Monitoring & Fault Tolerance, QOS, Network Security and Privacy, and OA&M. Mr. Anwar joined Lucent Technologies - Bell Laboratories in 1998 and conducted research on the first generation of Voice over IP call processing systems. In 2000, he joined Avaya Labs Converged Systems Division where he was awarded Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff for his contribution in development of Avaya's Enterprise Class VoIP Systems and various other Real-Time Communication Systems widely used by Fortune 500 companies worldwide. Mr. Anwar Siddiqui holds a Masters degree from Columbia University in the City of New York in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He holds numerous patents in the field of computer communication, network security and privacy, QoS etc. He is an active contributor to Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and author of various IETF standard specifications. He is also a frequently invited speaker in a variety of venues across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, including prominent technology events and conferences. ************************************************************************ __,_._,___

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