ISPs await fresh guidelines
The federal government will soon revise guidelines for internet companies and bring down licensing categories in a bid to streamline broadband online business in the country.
Licence fees and gross annual charges will be hiked, while users should be able to set parental controls to lessen the chance of children encountering inappropriate contents online.
Currently ISP licences are awarded in six categories, but under the new guidelines, you will see four types of licences.
Both government and the ISP operators have agreed to increase the licence fees and charges, Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said.
"We were observing that there is too little regulations in broadband online business and that's why we've taken this initiative to frame new guidelines which is passed within a short time," Jabbar said.
The parental control features can help contain crimes and permit children to use the internet in the most productive ways, he added.
The licensing jurisdiction had not been specific in the last guidelines but it will be particularly mentioned this time around, Jabbar said.
"I've already told the telecom regulator that the ISP licences will be awarded and renewed under the new guidelines from now," he added.
The six types of licences being provided now are: nationwide, central zone, zonal, category A, category B and category C. The licences will be nationwide, divisional, district and local as per the new guidelines.
The ISPs with the nationwide licences now pay Tk 1 lakh each year which will be raised to Tk 2.50 lakh after the proposed guidelines come into effect.
The central zone and zonal licence service fees were Tk 50,000 which will rise to Tk 1.50 lakh under the divisional category.
ISPs are actually paying Tk 5,000 in gross annual service fees for category A licences for providing online connections in urban centers. The cost will be Tk 1 lakh in the district level, according to the new guidelines.
The categories B and C offering connectivity in rural areas will be renamed as local ISPs and their service fees will rise to Tk 25,000 from Tk 2,500.
The Internet PROVIDERS Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) said these were on the same page with the federal government over the brand new guidelines but needed steps to rein in the amount of licences as the sector is oversaturated.
As of January this season, there have been 57.43 lakh active fixed online connections in the united states, up from 57.30 lakh at the end of January last year, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
The amount of licences is rising every month however the number of customers remains almost the same which explains why there is an unhealthy competition among the ISPs to rope in customers, said Imdadul Haque, general secretary of the ISPAB.
"We are okay with the upcoming guidelines but the government must also stop issuing way too many licences," Haque said.
As of February, the quantity of total ISP licences was 1,985, a jump from 1,218 in June 2018.
The BTRC has about 30 types of telecom licences and by the end of February the quantity of its total licences ran into 3,468.
BTRC Chairman Md Jahurul Haque acknowledged that the quantity is pretty high and said the federal government should take the matter into consideration.
"We have the technical know-how to monitor this large numbers of licences however the only challenge is a dearth of manpower," Haque told The Daily Star recently.
The telecom minister said the federal government was keen on increasing broadband internet connections and that was why so many licences were awarded.
"The licence number appears huge nonetheless it is logical when you see there are about ten crore active internet connections in the country & most them want fixed broadband at home and offices," Jabbar added.
The federal government has scrapped a huge number of licences as the ISPs weren't in business, he said, adding that the government will monitor the operators strictly in the coming days.
