Court order today on IGW petition

A court order may come today for the writ petition filed by three international gateway operators on May 4 challenging the legality of the government's new topology for handling international telephone calls.

According to the topology, IGW operators will be divided into two groups: tier 1 and tier 2. Tier 2 operators will transmit international incoming calls to telecom operators through interconnection exchanges, while tier 1 gateways will only send their entire calls to tier 2.

The tier 1 IGWs can bring calls from international market but they cannot terminate those. Only tier 2 operators will terminate calls and enjoy almost double the revenue tier 1 operators will get. 

The three IGWs—Bangla Tel Ltd, DBL Telecom Ltd and BG Tel Ltd—said the new topology has violated the telecom act and the respective guideline.

They placed their arguments before the bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam on Tuesday.

According to the petition, the telecom regulator is moving forward to form a cartel of IGW operators -- a move that would allow some selective companies to form a two-tier clearing exchange for gaining control over the international calls.

Nineteen out of the 29 IGWs in Bangladesh have already set up necessary infrastructure for a common switch, forming IGW Operators Forum (IOF). 

The BTRC has accepted the idea of the common switch and seven IGWs have been selected for the tier 2.

The petition said the common switch styled IGW Operators Switch (IOS) needs to take licence for adopting the new topology, and it is a crime under the telecom act to offer telecom services without any licence. 

Legal consultant of BTRC Barrister Khandaker Reza-e Raquib denied the petitioner's claim and said the regulator has not violated any rule.

The BTRC is trying to earn more revenue through the process, he said.

The regulator issued a directive without any approval from the government, the petitioner said, which was denied by the BTRC lawyer.

Before filing the writ, the three IGWs sent a letter to the government. In the letter they said: “We found a vested group is trying to earn a huge amount of money within a short time; that's why we didn't join the forum.” 

According to the guideline, no IGW can bypass interconnection exchange while transmitting international incoming voice calls; but the BTRC is introducing IOS, which, according to the petitioner, is a violation of the guideline. 

Ziaul Hasan Siddiq, chief executive officer of the IOF, said they are ready to run the IOS, which will be effective by this month. “The BTRC will see the legal issues.”