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PVT LAND TELEPHONY

Capital kept off-limits for WorlTel suit

MUSTAK HOSSAIN
The telecoms watchdog is keeping Dhaka city off-limits to landline telephony of private operators due to a legal battle with the UK-based WorldTel that seeks a monopoly in the capital.
WorldTel obtained licence in July 2001 to run a 300,000 fixed phone-line network in the capital on a build-operate-own basis. It has served a legal notice on the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications asking it to
explain why it (WorldTel) should not be the only licensee to operate solely in the capital, as the agreement with the ministry stipulates.
Its lawyers say it was licensed to run fixed phone network in the capital in a monopolistic environment but the BTRC is planning to allow more operators.
WorldTel could not start operation, as its move to reach an interconnection agreement with the state monopoly in fixed phone, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), fell
through.
"We want an amicable solution to the issue without further delay," a WorldTel solicitor told The Daily Star last night. WorldTel's licence is still legally valid and the government should respect it, said the lawyer seeking anonymity.
WorldTel obtained licence at the fag end of the Awami League government and planned to invest $300 million in the project. But the incumbent BNP-led government after coming to office branded the deal a 'black deal' in its white paper on "corruption" of the past AL government.
WorldTel, however, claimed that there was no corruption in the process of the deal. Controversy overcastted the project, as the BNP after assuming the power, has filed separate case against the immediate past telecoms minister Mohammad Nasim charging him with corruption in the project.
The Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC) filed a case with Ramna police station alleging that in order to illegally award the contract to the WorldTel, Nasim had appointed a private consultancy Consosietes Limited without any competitive bidding.
The BTRC will split the country into five regions and forms will be available at BTRC's licensing section from February 14.
The BTRC will make formal announcement on Saturday inviting interested parties to make bids for the fixed phone operations, BTRC Chairman Syed Marghub Murshed told The Daily Star yesterday.
He said allowing fixed phone operation in the private sector will greatly reduce the telephone scar-
city. The immediate telecoms market for new entrants in Bangladesh is about 1.2 million fixed lines, which can be fed by the private sector, says a recent study.
Considering the scarcity of land phone links, the government has taken up a programme, equally funded by the BTTB and private operators, to add about 3.5 million additional telephones by 2005, officials said.
This will put Bangladesh on a par with its neighbours in terms of teledensity, which will be around 4 percent.