Just before the end of deadline of 30 days, the country’s two largest operators Grameenphone and Robi yesterday sent letters to the Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), explaining their positions on unpaid dues of over Tk 13,446 crore.

BTRC official said they have received the letters submitted against the commission’s show cause notices and they will take decision after analysing the content of the telecom operators’ letters.

GP official said in a statement, “We are grateful to the Hon’ble Minister of Finance, Hon’ble Minister of Post and Telecommunications and the Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) for their assistance in the progress to the process of the disputed and unfounded audit claim by BTRC. The unfounded show-cause notice by BTRC to cancel our licence, has not been withdrawn and hence we have provided our responses."

“Robi has filed a suit challenging the flawed audit findings. Therefore, it is a sub judice matter and any show cause is invalid. Hence, we can't provide further comment on this other than what we have already expressed vehemently, questioning the thinking and the rationale used to arrive at audit findings which are as evidenced, replete with inconsistency and irrationality,” Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer, Robi Axiata Ltd, told The Independent.

“We have urged the Commission to resolve dispute amicably or agree to participate in mediation or ADR as laid down in our civil procedure,” he added.

Earlier, the government, instead of taking a hardline stance planned to settle the dispute over realising audited ‘unpaid dues’ of over Tk 13,000 crore from leading mobile phone operators Grameenphone and Robi through discussion.

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has recently hinted that the ongoing conflict between two mobile phone operators and the BTRC over the unpaid dues would be resolved through discussion within three weeks.

The finance minister said this after holding a high-profile meeting with all stakeholders at the finance ministry in Dhaka. The meeting was also attended by posts and telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar, Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman Jahurul Haque, NBR chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, and Grameenphone CEO Michael Foley.

Before softening the stance, the government had taken a hardline stand against Grameenphone and Robi in order to collect a total of Tk 13,446 crore in fees and taxes that were long overdue. On September 5, the BTRC issued show-cause notices to the operators, asking them to explain within 30 days why their lincences should not be cancelled for not paying the dues.

On July 4, the BTRC slashed Grameenphone’s bandwidth by 30 per cent and Robi’s by 15 per cent for failing to clear the dues. However, they lifted the bandwidth blockade on July 17 considering the inconvenience being caused to subscribers.

On July 22, the BTRC decided not to give any kind of approval to the two mobile phone operators to roll out new packages or services or any import network equipment in order to pressurise them to clear their dues.

Robi and Grameenphone, on August 25 and 26 respectively, filed two cases with a Dhaka court, seeking permanent injunctions against the telecom regulator’s audit claims of Tk. 13,447 crore.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said: “We have been discussing the issue all with stakeholders over the last few days. We need to reach a solution, which must be a win-win situation in which no party will lose.”