Billing Bridge: BTCL Clears Course for College Connectivity
Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) is owed BDT 261,64,021 for internet connection installation and billing services provided to 121 technical colleges and three madrasas nationwide from August 2021 to September 2024. To recover the dues, the state-run telecom company has approached the Technical and Madrasa Education Division of the Ministry of Education.
Following this, on August 18 and 19, two separate memoranda were issued by the ICT branch of the Technical and Madrasa Education Division and Branch-2 of the Directorate of Technical Education (Coordination, AP, and ICT), respectively. A five-member committee was formed to provide five recommendations on recovering the pending payments.
According to the committee’s decisions, bills for institutions outside the Technical and Madrasa Education Division will be sent by BTCL to the respective departments, while bills for private educational institutions will be sent directly to them. Additionally, if the connection remains active, institutions will pay bills at existing rates from the 2025-26 fiscal year. The committee also recommended providing bandwidth through the institution’s router or local network instead of the AP system.
During inspections of 12 institutions across Dhaka, Narsingdi, Habiganj, and Moulvibazar, the committee recommended that each institution maintain two broadband connections to ensure uninterrupted service. As a BTCL alternative, an additional government or private connection should be available. It was also decided that up-to-date information on how many days internet services were operational at each institution until June of the current year should be sent by the Directorate of Technical Education and Madrasa Education Division. Future decisions regarding outstanding bills will be based on this data.
The five-member committee was initially formed in December of last year to verify pending bills. During a meeting on August 7, chaired by then Secretary of the Technical and Madrasa Education Division Dr. K. M. Kabirul Islam, BTCL Managing Director and other officials stated, “If our connections remain active, institutions can receive quality internet service at minimal cost.” However, final decisions regarding bill settlement require approval from BTCL’s Board of Directors.
Notably, under a 2020 project by the Posts and Telecommunications Division, BTCL initiated optical fiber connections, necessary equipment, and Wi-Fi services for 121 technical colleges and three madrasas. According to the memorandum of understanding, each institution was to receive 20 Mbps bandwidth connectivity.
