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Govt collecting 'social obligation fund' from telcos without specific plan

Abdullah Mamun
The government is collecting crores of taka from mobile operators in the name of a social obligation fund for which it does not have any specific plan yet.
According to the telecommunication law, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulator}' Commission will create Social Obligation Fund (SOF) to extend telecommunication facilities to underprivileged areas.
The fund is supposed to be created with contributions from the government, or local, foreign and international organisations, and telecom operators, said the law.
The government has so far collected Tk 330 crore from the mobile operators alone; in every quarter, the operators contribute 1 percent oftheir gross revenue to this fund.
The commission is collecting the amount, even before the rule has been formed. It does not know how the fund will be utilised or for how many projects. A BTRC official, on condition of anonymity, said they do not know how much money is required for the fund.
According to the telecom law, "The maintenance of accounts and operation of the SOF, its administration, procedure for withdrawal of money of the said fund and the rate of subscription for the fund to be realised from the licensed operators, shall be prescribed by rules."
As the rule has not yet been formed, the government or BTRC could not utilise the fund even though they have been collecting it since 2011. Abu Saeed Khan, senior policy fellow at Colombo-based ICT think tank LIRNEasia, said, "BTRC has been collecting SOF illegally as the government has not created the rule yet."
"SOF collection cannot continue forever. The government must spell out its targeted amount to be raised. Otherwise, it will become a crucible of corruption like LR (local resource) fund in Deputy Commissioner's offices across the districts."
The LR funds are heavily criticised as those are a means of corruption and collected from different business entities in the districts. Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of BTRC, said the regulator will create projects and utilise the fund following the global best practices.
There are some areas in Bangladesh where the telecom operators do not develop their networks due to a lack of business prospects; the SOF projects will be implemented in those places. A draft SOF rule was prepared by BTRC in March 2010 and it is at the law ministry now for approval.
TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary' general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, said the regulator was supposed to consult the mobile operators before creating the rules as they are the main contributors to the fund, but that did not happen. "We have requested the government to review the rules in consultation with the mobile operators."