Dhaka Phone has filed a Tk 4,018.86 crore compensation suit against
the telecom regulator for abruptly shutting down its service.
The land phone operator claimed that Bangladesh Telecommunication
Regulatory Commission's move to shut down the services of the private
company six years back was unlawful.
“My client has been compelled to take the step as it has big term
loans and debts to settle with banks,” said Morsheda Begum, a lawyer for
Dhaka Phone.
Dhaka Telephone Company-owned Dhaka Phone's shuttering was violation
of articles 27, 31, 40 and 41 of the constitution, according to the
details of the case filed by the operator with the joint district
judge's court.
Dhaka Phone made several attempts to get back the licence and return
to operation but the regulator did not respond to their requests, the
lawyer said.
In the last couple of years, Dhaka Phone also urged the regulator to
give them the scope to pay back 20 percent of Tk 2.2 crore that the
operator owes to the BTRC in down-payment and clear the rest in
instalments.
The regulator did not respond to the call as well. Subsequently, the
operator on November 4 last year filed a case and in January this year,
sent the notice to the BTRC.
The BTRC has received the notice about the money suit and it will
fight the legal battle, said a senior official of the telecom watchdog
requesting anonymity.
Dhaka Phone claimed about Tk 2,460 crore as losses to business
opportunities and reputation, according to the petition. The operator,
however, did not elaborate on the losses.
“We have all the calculation and we can submit it to the court,” Morsheda Begum said.
The company also said it lost equipment worth Tk 401.17 crore because
of the closure. At the time of the shutdown, in March 2010, the
operator had five main switch centres in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet,
Bogra and Khulna and around 400 employees, mostly telecom engineers.
Dhaka Phone also claimed Tk 240 crore for the price of their
allocated frequency and Tk 136.39 crore for the loss of its tower and
civil work. In 2010, the BTRC switched off the services of five
operators claiming that they were involved in illegal international call
termination through the voice over internet protocol technology.
Then, Dhaka Phone had 77,000 active connections.
In 2012, the regulator gave back some of the licences, but not Dhaka
Phone's, with several conditions, including the operators' promise that
they would never claim any compensation.
In the petition, the plaintiff said it had taken a syndicated
term-loan from 11 banks for procurement of telecom equipment,
installation and establishment of the company, and the dues are
increasing by the day.
After the shutdown, two mobile operators and two banks filed four
cases against Dhaka Phone demanding dues of about Tk 133.39 crore.
In 2013, National Telecom and World Tel also filed similar money
suits claiming Tk 960 crore and Tk 553.2 crore respectively against the
regulator and the telecom ministry. The cases are still pending.
