Robi Axiata Limited, the country's second-largest mobile phone operator, has paid the first installment money to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) following a court order to deposit its dues in five installments, confirmed BTRC chairman Jahurul Haque yesterday. “We got the first installment money of Tk. 276 million,” he said. Telecom minister Mustafa Jabbar yesterday said from his verified Facebook account: "Today is a day of historic achievement for us. As per the directions of the High Court, Robi deposited the first of five installment. Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu! Let the people of Bangladesh win (sic)."
When asked whether Grameenphone would also pay up, Jabbar said: "The timeframe given to that telecom operator is not over yet." When contacted, Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi Axiata Ltd said, “We have made the deposit of the first installment to BTRC today honouring the ad-interim ruling of the High Court. Considering the suffering endured by our customers, we have decided to make this deposit payment well ahead of the stipulated deadline for first the installment”.
“We strongly believe this abundantly shows that we are a
compliant company that operates following the rules and regulation of the country. However, we still maintain that the audit report is devoid of even the semblance of rationality. Therefore, we are determined to exhaust the legal recourse available to us and hope that we will be able to reclaim the deposit we are making today in due course,” he added.
Alam also said, “Furthermore, our shareholders may independently explore other legal options available to them to seek justice in this regard. While we honour the High Court ruling, it is undeniable that the manner in which the entire process has been handled has severely eroded our shareholders’ confidence”.
On January 5, The High Court had asked Robi to pay Tk. 138 crore, out of its dues of Tk 867.23 crore, to the BTRC.
Khandakar Reza-e-Rakib told the media the HC passed the order in line with the Supreme Court (SC) directive that asked Grameenphone to pay Tk 2,000 crore out of Tk. 12,580 crore.
Referring to the court order, Rakib said if Robi violated the order of the High Court, the telecom regulator could appoint an administrator or take any action according to the law.
Earlier, on July 31 last year, the BTRC had hit Robi Axiata Ltd with an audit claim of Tk. 867.23 crores. Robi, then, filed a case at a lower court on August 25, seeking its directive on the BTRC to refrain from collecting dues from the mobile operator and halt any harassment until the issue was resolved. But the lower court rejected the application, following which Robi filed an appeal at the HC which was accepted for a hearing on October 20.