BTRC to scrap licence of central zone ISP

FT ONLINE

The telecom regulator has moved to terminate the operations of the central zone Internet service provider (ISP) for providing bandwidth to illegal entities.

Thus the ISP, Media and Multimedia, broke the licensing rules.

The state-owned Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission ordered the IIG (International Internet Gateway) operators not to provide upstream capacity or bandwidth in favour of the Media and Multimedia.

The BTRC served a show-cause notice upon the ISP, asking it to explain its position within seven days, officials said.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Media and Multimedia was providing bandwidth to an illegal entity -- BD CyberNet.

But it did not seek prior permission from the BTRC for doing this.

Consequently, BD CyberNet was carrying out illegal ISP business without any licence from BTRC.

"Our probe revealed that BD CyberNet was providing Internet services to around 250 customers by acquiring 60 Mbps internet and 150 Mbps Internet bandwidth from the Media and Multimedia," said MA Taleb Hossain, director for licensing at BTRC.

"It has also been proved that the Media and Multimedia was concealing the name of BD CyberNet in its monthly report submitted to BTRC," he added.

The Media and Multimedia was concealing the actual amount of bandwidth allotted to them.

It also failed to maintain any log as per the rules, officials said.

"In this context, we have moved to terminate the operations of Media and Multimedia and has handed them a show-cause notice," Mr Taleb said.

According to the latest statistics of BTRC, the number of internet subscribers in the country stands at 85.91 million.

Of the total, only around 5.6 million subscribers are accessing the Internet through ISPs as the overwhelming majority of Bangladeshis use it through mobile phones, the BTRC data shows.