Foreign Ownership Fears: Telecom Giants Urge Chief Advisor Rethink on Proposed Licensing Cap
Telenor, Axiata, and VEON—parent companies of Bangladesh’s top three private mobile operators—have jointly expressed concerns over the draft "Telecommunications Network and Licensing Framework Reform Policy 2025" proposed by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). The draft includes a clause limiting foreign ownership in mobile operators to 80%, mandating a minimum of 20% local ownership.
In a letter addressed to Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus on July 3, Telenor Asia Head Jørn Omund Revhaug, Axiata Group CEO Vivek Sood, and VEON Group CEO Kaan Terzioğlu raised their objections, warning that such restrictions could undermine investor confidence and deter future foreign investment.
While the letter acknowledged and welcomed the government’s broader reform initiative, it raised alarm over the new ownership ceiling for mobile operators and proposed changes to existing limits for other digital infrastructure providers, currently capped at 55%.
“The proposal to impose an 80% cap on foreign ownership for mobile operators, and its retroactive application to current license holders, is of serious concern,” the letter stated. “The telecommunications sector in Bangladesh has long benefited from an open and investor-friendly foreign ownership regime, which has fostered confidence among investors.”
The companies warned that enforcing ownership caps contradicts the interim government’s stated efforts to attract global investment. “Any restrictions on foreign ownership at any level would undermine the sector’s growth potential,” they added.
Furthermore, the letter noted that the revised licensing structure appears to curtail the scope of mobile operators, stripping them of previously held rights such as fiber connectivity and international SMS services, now reassigned to third parties. “This signals an overly restrictive and interventionist regulatory stance, which could increase unproductive costs for mobile operators and significantly impact the broader digital ecosystem,” the companies cautioned.
Telenor, Axiata, and VEON urged inclusive dialogue with all stakeholders to reassess the long-term implications of the proposed policy. “If implemented incorrectly, the policy may not only hamper foreign investment but also jeopardize the country’s broader social and economic development goals,” they warned.
The reform effort follows the formation of the interim government in August last year. As part of the initiative, the decade-old International Long-Distance Telecommunications Services (ILDTS) policy of 2010 is under revision. The first draft of the new reform framework was released in April 2025, with a revised version prepared on June 30 by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, which includes the proposed ownership cap.
