Bangladesh based mobile operator, Grameenphone has agreed to pay an administrative fine of BDT 2500 million (US$37.3 million) to the telecoms regulator, the BTRC for providing E1 connectivity to third parties, enabling the use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology which is unlawful and illegal.
“We deeply regret that such unlawful practices were carried out and not disclosed earlier by Grameenphone,” said Anders Jensen, CEO of Grameenphone. “We have cooperated with BTRC in the investigations and the Grameenphone Board also mandated an investigation by an external auditor to look into all aspects of our operations to ensure that we fully comply with all laws and regulations.”
The allegations mentioned in the BTRC case dates back prior to February 2007. International call termination to Bangladesh is a licensed service and only the Government-owned landline operator was authorized to generate and terminate international VOIP calls.
Back in January, the regulator had threatened to shut down the company if it didn't stop providing VoIP services.
A raid by the regulator on offices of Grameenphone last December allegedly found direct connections from its switches to the internet service provider, AccessTel designed to route international calls over a VoIP carrier and bypass the national landline operator. International call termination to Bangladesh is a licensed service and is currently provided only by the state-owned landline telephone operator BTTB.
Malaysia based Digi Telecommunications has also been accused of using VoIP to terminate international traffic with Bangladesh, although Grameenphone denies any collusion. Norway's Telenor is a shareholder in both Digi and Grameenphone.
Last October, Grameenphone made a payment of US$25 million to the government after it was accused of not clamping down sufficiently on users who used GSM SIM cards to bypass the landline operator for terminating international traffic.
Posted to the site on 14th August 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
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