ROBI-AIRTEL MERGER
BTRC hands over licence to Robi
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood yesterday handed over the Merged Company Licence to Robi Axiata Limited. The Licence was handed over to Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, Robis Managing Director and CEO, at a programme at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in the capital in presence of Tarana Halim, State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Division.
On September 9, 2015, the merger was announced where Robi, a subsidiary of Malaysian based telecom company Axiata, declared to take over Airtel. After the announcement, the BTRC fixed Tk 427 crore as the merger fee.
On November 20, last year, Robi paid Tk 318.52 crore out of Tk 427 crore. However, the telco was yet to pay the rest of the money in the agreed upon two installments in the stipulated time.
Recently, Robi, the second largest operator agreed upon paying the rest of the amount at a particular date and the date was given to the commission in a written note. The commission latter accepted the offer and decided to issue the Licence.
Speaking at the ceremony yesterday, Tarana Halim said, We are happy to see the biggest ever merger of the country taking place in the telecom sector.
The BTRC chief said, I would like to congratulate the Robi family for completing the biggest ever merger of the country.
After receiving the merger Licence, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said his organisations vision is to become the next generation digital company.
Having successfully merged with Airtel, we believe we are well track to achieve the vision, he added.
Posts and Telecommunications Divisions Secretary-in-Charge, Additional Secretary, Saiful Islam, BTRC Vice-Chairman Brig Gen (retd) Md Ahsan Habib Khan, among others, were present on the occasion.
