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In a notice on August 5, the telecom regulator said that 106 VSPs failed to pay their dues while 18 others did not apply for renewal properly
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has cancelled the licences of 124 VoIP service providers which failed to pay government dues.
In a notice on August 5, the telecom regulator said that 106 VSPs failed to pay their dues while 18 others did not apply for renewal properly.
BTRC also asked the VSPs to clear their dues within one month, otherwise, the regulator would file cases to realize the dues under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act-2001 and Public Demand Recovery Act, 1913, said the notice.
The government in January 2013 issued 844 VSP licences in a bid to discourage illegal VoIP business.
A government evaluation committee, before issuance of VSP licences, had recommended that allowing 250 licences would be standard for the market and not more than 500 licences should be given.
The government, however, approved more than a thousand licences.
BTRC officials said a large number of licences were given under political consideration and many licensees did not have enough technical support to run the business.
Issuing such a huge number of licences created problem in the market competition and the VSPs started losing their business, they said.
Later in May 2013, the BTRC in a directive asked the international gateway services to serve 35 VSP operators under revenue sharing model in a bid to save the VSPs.
(DT)
