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Warid fined Tk6.67cr for missing subscribers target

May face further penalties

Md Hasan
The country's telecom watchdog has fined UAE based Warid Telecom Tk6.67crore for failing to reach a minimum subscribers target, breaching the terms of its license agreement.
Warid gained its license in December 2005, becoming the sixth mobile operator in the Bangladeshi market.
In order to gain the license it had to agree to a Performance Guarantee', in which it committed
to have 500.000 subscribers within a year and 3.15 million subscribers by 20, December 2007.
The conditions were set to ensure that whoever won the sixth license would rapidly roll out services across the country.
However Warid has missed both targets reaching only 2.14 million subscribers by December 25, 2007, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission statistics.
As a result BTRC imposed the fine ofTk6.67 crore for missing 2007 targets. A further fine ofTk6.67 crore for the failure to meet 2006 s target is now the subject of a court dispute.
"Nobody will be spared, if it involves any kind of irregularities," said BTRC Chairman Major General (retd) Manzurul Alam yesterday adding that "BTRC has fined Warid for not meeting the license condition."
Warid officials said due to unavoidable external factors, the company launch was delayed by seven months. This had a domino effect on subsequent landmarks.
Under the terms of the agreement, BTRC can take the 2007 fine from a Tk20 crore performance guarantee already deposited by Warid with BTRC.
An official of Warid Telecom
demanding anonymity yesterday said the company is the only mobile operator in the country, which paid USD 50 million as license fee.
"We've made all necessary investments to ensure Warid had a minimum capacity of 3.5 million subscribers from the very first day of launch. Due to unavoidable external factors, our launch was delayed by seven months. This had a domino effect on subsequent landmarks," he said.
However, Warid is now making healthy progress in terms of gaining market share, the official added.