Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) applied to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission-BTRC to get national ISP license in July this year to ensure uninterrupted internet service in government services. After reviewing the application, the green signal has already been given by the ministry.
Confirming the matter, the Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar told DigiBanglatek that, “We have given the final decision on granting the license to BCC. Any time now BTRC will give them license. With that license they can do business as they like”.
Ashish Kumar Kunda, director general of legal and license branch of BTRC, declined to say anything directly about the matter.
However, according to reliable sources, after the application in July, the new application evaluation committee approved the new application after further examination of all the documents and license issue of BCC. They also visited the office. At that time, clarification was sought on several issues related to the license guideline in the context of the application including their quality of service. After further review of the matter, it was decided to issue such ISP license to BCC last October. Recently, after the commission meeting, the BCC has also sent a letter to the Department of Posts and Telecommunications for prior approval along with the recommendation of the nationwide ISP license. At the same time six more new ISP licenses were also recommended but the ministry did not approve it.
Meanwhile, ISPAB president Imdadul Haque expressed his concern about the issue of license to BCC. According to him, this issuance of license will pose threat to destroy the level playing field of business. Because when a government organization does business, the business environment is destroyed; there remains no competitive environment. Taking the example of BTCL, he said, there is a fear of wasting government money in such initiatives.
However, regarding the license application, BCC Executive Director Ranjit Kumar told DigiBangla that they are not taking license to do business. For several important reasons, particularly, the President, Prime Minister, along with the government, applied for this license to implement important video conferencing, important e-services of the state through the National Tier-3 data center, and Connected Bangladesh and Info Government projects.
Referring to the positive aspects of license availability, the BCC chief executive also said that BCC was once a central ISP license holder under a project called ‘Development of Infrastructure for IT Applications’. He said that the license expired in 2013, but it was not renewed because video conferencing and government e-services were not envisaged. BTRC canceled that license for good reasons.
Now, Info Sarkar is providing e-services to 18 thousand 130 government offices across the country through the project. BTRC is working on network expansion in 617 unions with SOF funds. Besides, BCC is also expanding the network in the remote areas of the country.
