HC asks BTRC not to hinder Citycell operation till Sept 16 [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

HC asks BTRC not to hinder Citycell operation till Sept 16

Local August 23, 2016

The High Court on Monday asked Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission not to hinder the operation of mobile operator Citycell until September 16, the deadline for the company to respond to a licence cancellation notice.
The bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed issued the directive after hearing an application filed by Citycell to restrain BTRC from taking further action on the Citycell until disposal of a case for its winding up.
The Citycell application was filed in relation to a winding up petition filed by the China Development Bank against the operator to realise Tk 293 crore dues.
The next hearing on CDB’s winding up petition against Citycell is on September 4.
The BTRC on August 17 issued a showcause notice to Citycell, with 30 days response time, asking why the licence of the operator will not be cancelled for failure to pay Tk 477.68 crore dues.
Citycell, however, in a statement on Monday said that BTRC’s latest notice to Citycell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd) was identical to a notice BTRC issued on February 2014 and the operator responded to that duly at that time.
‘PBTL received no further update in this regard and therefore the reply was to the satisfaction of BTRC,’ said the statement.
It said that issuing the same notice again clearly shows the malafide intention of the BTRC, ‘which again we are considering for challenge in the appropriate form,’ it said.
Citycell also assured its subscribers that business will continue as normal until further notice.
The High Court in its observation said as the BTRC gave 30 days time to Citycell to explain its position about licence cancellation, so until that time ends the operation of the company should not be hindered.
Citycell lawyer Rokanuddin Mahmud told the court that the BTRC might suspend the operation of the operator by cancelling the spectrum holding.
The BTRC in a public notice last week said that the commission in principle decided to cancel the spectrum holding and radio equipment use permission of Citycell.
It also asked the subscribers of Citycell to take alternative services or measures
by August 23, extending the initial deadline of August 16.
The state minister for telecom Tarana Halim said that Citycell’s operations would automatically be suspended after August 23.
Lawyer Tanjib Ul Alam was present on behalf of CDB and Khondker Reza E Rakib and Syed Mahsib Hossain was present on behalf of BTRC.
Rakib told the court that BTRC showcause notice was issued against the operating license of Citycell, but not the spectrum.
He also said that BTRC has the exclusive right to cancel and assign spectrum as per the law.
Citycell, after the issuance of the August 1 notice advising users to find alternatives, applied to the regulator for extending time for paying its dues until December.
As the first mobile telecom operator in Bangladesh, Citycell started its operation in 1993 using CDMA technology.
The operator intended to move to the widely-used GSM technology, but the BTRC rejected its proposal on the ground that the company had a huge amount of dues.
According to the company’s web site, Singapore’s SingTel owns 44.54 per cent shares of Citycell while 37.95 per cent belongs to Pacific Motors Ltd and Far East Telecom owns 17.51 per cent stake in the company.