For the first time since the student-led public uprising, the leaders of the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) faced their general members. On Sunday, the Executive Committee members attended a special general meeting held at the RAOWA Convention Center in Dhaka.
According to sources, over 200 of ISPAB’s more than 400 general members attended the meeting to discuss critical issues. In line with the movement for reform in the new Bangladesh, members at the meeting demanded changes to the organization’s constitution to ensure that no member could serve as president or general secretary for more than two consecutive terms. The members were vocal in preventing a monopoly of leadership, comparing it to the one-party system of BAKSAL.
As part of the reform agenda, the special general meeting decided that the associate member category would be abolished, and all members would now be considered general members. However, when forming the Executive Committee, in accordance with the licensing policies, the 13-member committee would include four representatives from national-level ISPs and three each from divisional, district, and thana-level ISPs. Each layer of members will elect their own representatives, and the constitution can only be amended with the agreement of two-thirds of the members from each layer. The hope expressed at the meeting was that these changes would ensure the protection of the organization’s constitution.
Regarding the decisions made at the meeting, General Secretary Nazmul Karim Bhuiyan stated, “From now on, all members will be general members. However, in elections, thana ISPs will vote for thana representatives, district ISPs will vote for district representatives, division ISPs will vote for division representatives, and national ISPs will vote for national representatives. The Executive Committee will consist of four members from national ISPs, three from divisional ISPs, three from district ISPs, and three from thana ISPs, making a total of 13 representatives. This structure will be followed for elections going forward. In any future extraordinary general meetings (EGMs), all ISPs will be able to attend and cast their votes, which was not possible previously.”
The meeting, chaired by Emdadul Haque, was attended by all members of the Executive Committee except for Senior Vice President SM Zakir Hossain, who had recently resigned. Among the general members present were former president Aminul Hakim, Mohammad Abdul Salam of Agni Systems, Rezaul Karim of ExessTel, Zobayer Al Mahmud of Banglanet Technologies, Sohel Islam of Brix Systems, Azhar Chowdhury Jewel of ADN, Emdadul Haque Kafi of Talmuri Broadband, Niamul Haque of Mazeda Networks, Raisul Badal of FRC Communications, Mir Mosharraf Hossain of IT Base, Moinuddin Ahmed of Red Data, Shahriar Rubens of FNF, and Kazi Sajjad Hossain Ratan of Millennium Computers, among others.
