Staff Reporter:
Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant on Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb has slammed the fascist Awami League regime for the tattered condition of state-own mobile phone network operator Teletalk, saying they have left the company in a state of near-collapse due to the negligence.
“It’s now become a serious stumbling block for us,” lamented Taiyeb, mentioning that with just one-fifth the number of 2G towers and a mere tenth in 4G compared to private operators, Teletalk’s skeletal infrastructure has crippled its ability to deliver quality voice and internet services.
The special assistant elaborated the dilapidated condition of the Teletalk via his verified Facebook page in early hours yesterday, saying the lone mobile phone operator has been operating with less spectrum allocation than its competitors across the country.
Since its inception, he said, the operator has sought spectrum according to its needs at various times. However, considering the overall subscriber base and network infrastructure of the country, Teletalk has not received proportionate allocation in any spectrum band compared to other operators. “Rather, it received significantly less and insufficient spectrum.”
Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb said that despite a high public demand for Teletalk SIMs in the early days, the operator failed to acquire a significant number of subscribers over one and a half decades, which he attributed to its own weak management.
He added that the previous Awami League government had left Teletalk in a completely non-functional state, now which has appeared as a thorn in their throat.
He continued that providing a quality voice and internet service with such minimal number of towers is nearly impossible. Additionally, new problems have arisen in rural areas where Teletalk has no investment, leading to wastage of spectrum.
Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb said, “After we took charge, we found that Teletalk had no low-band spectrum for providing quality 4G service, only a small amount in mid-band, and no investment for utilizing upper mid-band spectrum.”
He mentioned that while the Awami League had secured some funds through G2G (government-to-government) agreements, those were wasted and looted through corruption.
Due to a lack of visionary planning and sufficient investment during the tenure of the previous government, he said, the number of existing BTS (base transceiver station) sites remained inadequate, and thus the allocated spectrum could not be fully utilized.
However, in remote areas such as Sundarbans, haor (wetland) regions, and hilly areas, Teletalk’s network coverage is relatively better, and the allocated spectrum is being used effectively, though spectrum shortages still exist in those areas, he noted.
In exchange for Teletalk’s spectrum allocation, Taiyeb said, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission’s (BTRC) outstanding dues have previously been proposed by the Posts and Telecommunications Division to the Ministry of Finance for conversion into equity.
If this matter is resolved, the outstanding dues can be transferred from one government account to another, he said, adding that if the proposal is approved, it may be possible to settle Teletalk’s outstanding liabilities related to spectrum.
However, in this context, consideration could also be given to whether, similar to neighboring countries, spectrum can be allocated to the state-owned Teletalk’s favor through an executive order. This approach could help avoiding such complications in the future, he opined.
The Special Assistant said that since Teletalk is a state-owned company, the capital required for spectrum acquisition essentially depends on government-allocated funds. There have been longstanding issues of dues and amount owed among various ministries and their internal agencies.
Outstanding payments and transactions exist both between ministries and among departments and agencies within the same ministry, he said, adding that in the case of government institutions, such outstanding dues are a common scenario.
