[Paltan Laskar]

Private cell phone operators owe Tk 58 crore to BTTB

Tk 58 crore worth of revenue of Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone
Board (BTTB) remained outstanding with the four private cell phone
operators.
This was disclosed at a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Posts and Telecommunication Ministry Monday.
Of the Tk 58 crore, nearly Tk 27.62 crore is due from the Pacific
Bangladesh Telecom, Tk 24.65 crore from the GrameeenPhone, Tk 5.53
crore from TM International and Tk 18.42 lakh from Sheba Telecom.
GM Fazlul Haque chaired the meeting held at the parliament. The
discussants expressed disappointment at the delays in payment of the
taxes.
It was resolved at the meeting that the current call charge of the
state-run TeleTalk be reduced from the present level in the near
future. Besides, BTTB will extend its network to some 187 thanas by
July this year.
Inter-connectivity contract will also be signed with private cell
phone operators within this stipulated period, the meeting noted.
The private cell phone operators agreed to sign contract with BTTB but
denied to do that with TeleTalk on the ground that BTTB has no
contract with the TeleTalk.
The meeting said the ministry of law is drafting a proposal for
signing a contract with BTTB in this regard.
The discussants regretted the fraudulent practices in the purchase of
the automatic sorting machines for postal department. The government
will have to pay some crores for this irregularity, they said.
Fazlul Haque, President of the committee, told BDNEWS that PBTL was
not paying its revenue to the government although the company realised
the amount from the subscribers.
Barrister Aminul Haque, Minister for Posts and Telecommunication, and
MPs Kazi Golam Morshed, Syed Mehdi Rumi, Abul Matin Talukder, Abul
Hossain Khan, Mohannad Ali Kadr, Farid Uddin Chowdhury and Abdul Hai
were present at the meeting.

Best Regards,

Paltan Laskar.
News Source--BDNEWS