Impact on proposed merger of Robi, Airtel
BTRC to conduct survey
STAFF REPORTER
Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is going to conduct a survey to assess the possible impact on the proposed merger of two cellular phone operators Robi and Airtel Bangladesh.
BTRC has sent letters to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of University of Dhaka and engineering faculty of American International University seeking financial proposals for conducting the survey. Both the institutions have to submit report to the BTRC within eight weeks.
BTRC Secretary Sarwar Alam told the independent ---two big companies for the first time are going to merge in countrys telecom sector.
To assess the possible impact, weve decided to conduct a survey, and urged IBA and American International University to do it, he added.
The survey would be conducted underlining eight issues and goals for the proposed merger of countrys third and fourth operators in terms of subscribers base, according to the letter obtained by Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
The study would scrutinise socioeconomic aspects of the merger, and find out the strategy for way-out if there is any impact. Possible impact on the employment situation especially job cut or new job opportunities and voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for the employees who will not be interested to join the merged company.
Besides, the survey would also focus on the mobile market especially overall completion and set a policy to overcome any negative impact. In addition, it would also analyse customer service, consumer rights, and share and capital.
Through the survey, BTRC also wants to know the post-merger scenario for spectrum auction roadmap especially possible impact on revenue collection, existing licenses, networking, numbering and services. The BTRC roadmap has planned to sell unused 10.6 MHz airwave at 800 MHz band and 15 MHz airwave at 2100 MHz band.
The two operators submitted applications in last September to the regulator seeking permission for merger.
