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4 lakh PSTN users to lose links to mobile networks

Star Business Report
Over four lakh private landline customers will be disconnected today from mobile phone networks, as six mobile operators have decided not to carry calls generated from and to PSTN operators because of a delay in payment of arrears by the PSTN operators to cellphone companies.
The PSTN operators owe Tk 48 crore to the mobile phone operators as Interconnection charges.
TheTk 48 crore dues, which were accumulated by the landline operators for not paying interconnection charges, have been remaining unsettled for the last two years. Neither the telecom regulator nor the operators themselves solved it.
The 11 private landline operators have 5.45 lakh customers. The customers of Peoples Telecom and Onetel will be exempted from the call blocking as they cleared their payments. These two operators have 1.24 lakh customers.
"PSTN operators should comply with the interconnectivity agreements. They earn from the customers but are reluctant to pay mobile operators in time. This should not be continued anymore," said Zakirul Islam, president of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators in Bangladesh (AMTOB).
A Rouf Chowdhury, president of Association of PSTN Operators of Bangladesh, said: "Mobile operators did not send any notice to us about the issue. We will fight against the decision."
He said: "The last meeting between the two associations decided to solve the issue later. But without any discussion, the mobile operators have now decided to block the calls, which is unexpected."
In Bangladesh, a total of 46 million people are now enjoying mobile phone services, whereas only 1.4 million are linked with landlines. PSTN (public switched telephone network) customers' maximum calls are generated for mobile, while calls from mobile to PSTN are very nominal.
So PSTN operators have to pay a huge amount to mobile companies compared to what they get from cellphone operators as interconnection charge.
The interconnection charge was Tk 0.40 per minute until 2008. Then Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) reduced it to Tk 0.18 in March 2009.
Since February 2007 the land phone operators have not been paying their dues to mobile operators up to first quarter of2009.
The mobile operators had taken some initiatives to fix a roadmap for payment of these dues in easy instalments, said the AMTOB president.
BTRC also set some time limits for payment of these dues. But every time fixed phone operators reportedly refrained from paying the dues, said Islam.
BTRC finally requested mobile operators to give the PSTN operators time up to June 30, 2009. But most of the fixed phone operators did not pay the dues within the time.
However mobile operators said they would restore the interconnection service as soon as the dues are cleared.