HC asks Robi to pay BTRC Tk 138cr
The High Court yesterday ordered Robi to pay Tk 138 crore to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to pave the way for the operator to avoid a raft of restrictions and thus rejuvenate business growth.
The second largest mobile phone operator in the country has been directed to pay the money in five equal instalments in as many months, which is around 16 percent of the telecom regulator’s claim of Tk 867.23 crore.
Robi will have to pay Tk 27.60 crore in the first instalment by January 31 and once paid, the regulator can withdraw all the restrictions it has imposed on the operator since July last year, said Khandaker Reza-E-Raquib, a legal counsellor of the BTRC.
A High Court bench of Justice Mamnoon Rahman and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order after hearing an appeal filed by Robi seeking an injunction on the commission’s audit claim.
The HC passed the order in line with a Supreme Court directive that asked Grameenphone to pay Tk 2,000 crore out of the Tk 12,579 crore claimed by the commission, Raquib said.
“We are grateful to the High Court for granting an injunction against the BTRC from taking any further action with regard to the utterly baseless claim in pursuance of an audit report,” Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi, said in a statement yesterday.
He, however, called having to make payment for an interim order is unprecedented and justifiably dispiriting.
The BTRC is in talks with Robi and is very positive that the telecom operator will pay in line with the court’s order, a senior official of the commission said.
“Even after payment of the instalments, the legal procedure will continue,” Raquib said.
Following an audit in 2016, the commission claimed the money from Robi accumulated for unpaid revenue share, taxes and late fees since its inception in 1997 to December 2014.
From the beginning, Robi called the claim unfounded, saying the commission did not follow audit rules properly.
In order to realise the amount, the BTRC put pressure on the operators by cutting internet bandwidth usage and stopping issuance of any approval on packages and services and network equipment import.
The BTRC also served notices on them, threatening to revoke licences. What is more, the government gave the green light to the regulator to prepare to appoint administrator at the operators.
Robi had filed an appeal with a lower court in Dhaka seeking an injunction against the realisation of the money by the BTRC, but the court turned down the petition. In September, it filed the writ with the HC, challenging the BTRC move.
Robi has about 4.87 crore active connections as of November 2019.
