Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has clamped an additional set

of restrictions on Grameenphone in an effort to further curtail the dominance of the

country's top telecom carrier.

Senior Correspondent and Staff Correspondent,

The new rule was announced after Grameenphone challenged in court the regulator's
decision to declare it a Significant Market Power, or SMP, citing competition policy.

Grameenphone, however, said on Tuesday that it intends to withdraw the writ petition in the
High Court and work on resolving the matter through 'constructive' and 'meaningful'
dialogue with BTRC.

The latest curbs will shrink Grameenphone's slice of earnings as a terminating operator, or
the network at the receiving end of a call, effective from July 16.

The condition stipulates that Grameenphone, as an SMP, will get 7 paisa per minute from
the original operator when a customer on its network receives a voice call.

As a general rule, the terminating operator gets 10 paisa per minute from the originating
operator. But under the new rule, other operators such as Robi, Banglalink and Teletalk will
pay 3 paisa less to Grameenphone when a voice call is made from their networks.

The non-SMP operators will then deposit the 3 paisa to separate accounts held at local
banks with the BTRC regulating its expenditure. The money cannot be spent or transferred
without the approval of the regulator.

This is the third condition set by BTRC after it declared Grameenphone an SMP in February
2019,

At the time, it  slapped some restrictions on the company, including its advertisement
campaigns.

A year later, on Jun 21, it announced two new rules to clip Grameenphone’s wings, and
protect consumer interest by 'preventing a monopoly' in the telecom sector.

GP is the largest mobile telecom operator in Bangladesh in terms of subscriber base.

The first rule stipulates that the lock-in period for mobile number portability, or MNP, will be
60 days instead of 90 days.

BTRC has made the rule effective from Jul 1, allowing customers to leave the
Grameenphone network for another carrier sooner than before.
The other rule states that as the SMP operator, Grameenphone will not be able to initiate
any new service, package or offer without the approval of BTRC. This rule also takes effect
from Jul 1.

Grameenphone, however, contended that the new guidelines go against the competitive
environment in the market and the interests of consumers.

It subsequently filed a writ petition in the High Court on Jun 28, seeking a stay on the
BTRC's restrictions which are set to take effect on July 1.

But in a statement on Tuesday, the telecom carrier said that it has taken steps to implement
the two SMP impositions 'under protest'.

"The Bangladesh mobile telecom market is competitive and Grameenphone has grown
through timely investments, innovations and operational efficiency. International SMP best
practices prescribe that remedies should only be introduced after conducting a proper
analysis to ascertain that market failures exist."

"However, the company remains hopeful that the prevailing gap in understanding between
GP and BTRC can be resolved through constructive and meaningful dialogue. As a part of
this process Grameenphone intends to withdraw the writ petition that was filed on June 28,
2020," it added.