HC extends deadline for Citycell shutdown

“The single bench of Justice Syed Refat Ahmed issued the order extending the deadline on a petition by Citycell,” a court official said.
Under a government directive Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) decided to shutdown the operator’s service at 12 midnight on Tuesday for failure to pay outstanding bills of Tk 477.51 crore.

BTRC earlier advised Citycell subscribers to secure alternative connections.
Earlier on July 31, BTRC served notice on Citycell to explain why it should not face legal action for not paying the dues and asked its subscribers to switch to other phones by August 16.

Later, the posts and telecommunications division (PTD) gave another seven days allowing the subscribers to manage alternative connections by August 23.
The closure of Citycell and merger of Robi and Airtel would reduce the number of operators four.

“It wouldn’t be bad (closure and merger) . . . many countries have four operators and in future more operators may come up,” Mahmood said as asked for comments on the impact of the two developments.

Replying to another question whether any new operators intended to launch business in Bangladesh market he said “we are yet to receive any proposal officially but unofficially few organizations have shown their keenness”.
Citycell which has been offering service using Code division multiple accesses (CDMA) has now 1.50 lakh to 2 lakh subscribers after completion of ownership verification through biometric method.

According to BTRC, the Citycell didn’t pay the second and third installments of Taka 229 crore for 8.82 megahertz spectrum since spectrum renewal in 2012, which has breached the licensing terms.
Besides, it has owed annual spectrum fees (from the year 2013 to 2016) Taka 27.14 crore, revenue sharing (2014 to 2016) Taka 27.84 crore, social obligatory fund (2011 to 2016) Taka 8.92 crore, VAT Taka 39.92 crore and late fee of Taka 135 crore.

Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited under the brand name “Citycell” obtained license in 1989 where SingTel Asia Pacific Investment Limited has 45 percent share while Far East Telecom Limited owns 23.57 percent share and remaining 31.43 percent share hold by Pacific Motor Limited.