Clean chit from intelligence agencies must for telecom licences now

The telecom regulator has decided to seek more involvement of the intelligence agencies for its licensing, spectrum allocation and share transfer processes to ensure adequate due diligence.

In October, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission decided in a meeting to go for security vetting from the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence before authorising licences, spectrums and share transfers.

The move comes after the telecom regulator observed some loopholes in its different verification processes.

There were instances in the past when politically powerful entities took out licences using fake addresses; they now owe the BTRC hundreds of crores of taka, said an official of the regulatory body.

The BTRC is owed around Tk 1,000 crore by different international gateway operators, most of which are politically backed. They are currently blocked and facing legal actions.

“Some of the companies even used fake addresses and transferred shares to the other people's names,” said another official of the BTRC's legal and licensing division. 

The telecom watchdog also halted its auction on mobile number portability, which was scheduled for the last week of September, after intelligence agencies' report on the owners of the aspirants companies, officials also said.