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BTTB launches cellphone, legal questions remain

Abu Saeed Khan
The government commercially launches its cell phone service today without a valid licence, which may prompt filing of lawsuit leading to possible suspension of the service.
The telecoms watchdog transferred ownership of the licence to Telelalk Bangladesh Ltd, a stale-owned company, in clear violation of the telecoms law. It had earlier issued the licence to Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) to run the mobile phone service.
"A license and any right acquired ‘ thereunder, wholly or partly, shall not be transferable, and such transfer, if any, shall be void," says Section 37(1) of tiie telecoms act. This legal provision is also incorporated verbatim in clause 28.01 of BTTB's
mobile licence.
The BTTB had planned to launch the mobile service, but donors objected to the state telecom operator’s runningthe service on grounds of its incompetence.
The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) accordingly on September 17, 2002 segregated the proposed cellular mobile from BTTB's portfolio and asked it to be operated by an independent entity.
But a defiant BTTB decided to go on its own and obtained a cellular phone operating licence alongside the radio frequency from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on September 1,2004.
The BTTB also claimed the state-owned mobile network's ownership and signed memoranda of under-
standing for interconnection with the private mobile operators on December 23,2004.
However, the telecoms ministry established Tbletalk Bangladesh Ltd. on December 26, 2004 to run the mobile phone business. Tvo days later, the prime minister spoke to the president using the state-owned mobile phone service, which was publicised as the soft-launch of Teletalk
In reality, Teletalk neither has a licence nor it has frequency. It has also not acquired the assets and liabilities of BTTB' mobile network,' which means the soft-launch is inconsistent with the law, according to Section 35 of the telecoms act
The telecoms ministry failed to convince the outgoing BTRC commissioners to transfer lite KITE’S mobile phone licence to Teletalk. Their tenure ended on January 30, 2005 and the positions remained vacant until the appointment of Reza-E-Rabbi as Vice Chairman and Justice Muhammad Abdus Salam as Commissioner on March 8, 2005. The chairman and two commissioners are yet to be appointed.
Rabbi went for a major cardiac surgery and the telecoms ministry, according to sources, pushed Justice Salam to unilaterally and illegally transfer the BTTB's mobile licence to Teletalk.
BTTB now has lost the licence and the frequency it had acquired from BTRC on September 1,2004. Teletalk is also without a licence it requires to operate the mobile phone service.
Commissioner Justice Salam could not clarify the legality of the licence transferring process when asked by this correspondent. He, however, admitted having done it in his personal capacity.
Justice Salam, who is deemed to be independent, denied having faced external pressure. "The secretary of the telecoms ministry sent necessary documents and we just acted accordingly," admitted the BTRC commissioner unwittingly at one stage.
Legitimacy of Justice Salam's unilateral approval of BTTB's licence transfer is also questionable, which he has not commented on. Section 15(1) of the telecoms law says, "A decision of the
Commission shall be taken in accordance with the majority votes of the Commissioners present in the meeting, and in case of equality of votes, the person presiding shall have a second or casting vote."
When contacted, the secretary of telecoms ministry who is also the ex-officio chairman of Teletalk, refused to comment on any of the issues.