US Court dismisses PSTN operator WorldTel’s suit against BTRC

On 30 March 2022, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has been successful in dismissing a lawsuit against it for $2.39 billion filed by a plaintiff, Nayeem A. Chowdhury, before the United States District Court, Southern District of New York. On 19 March 2021, Chowdhury, a resident of New York, filed a suit against BTRC and VEON (the parent company of Banglalink). Chowdhury claims to be a shareholder of WorldTel Bangladesh Limited and sought a judgment against BTRC and VEON for damages allegedly suffered by him due to BTRC’s spectrum auction held on 8 March 2021 by which rights to the 1800 MHz spectrum band were granted to VEON and other telecom operators. The case was moved to the U.S. federal court on 21 April 2021. On 1 October 2021 BTRC filed a Motion to Dismiss on the primary ground that sovereign immunity bars Chowdhury’s claims against BTRC.  The U.S. legislation, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”), provides that a foreign state shall be immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States unless an exception to sovereign immunity in FSIA applies. In an order issued on 30 March 2022, the federal court, presided over by the Hon’ble John P. Cronan, United States District Judge, granted BTRC’s motion and dismissed the case due to the court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Court has ruled that BTRC, as an agency or instrumentality of the state of Bangladesh, has sovereign immunity before the federal court in the United States. The Court noted that BTRC successfully established a prima facie case that BTRC is a foreign sovereign under the FSIA. Because BTRC is immune from suit, the plaintiff Chowdhury is not allowed to amend the complaint as to BTRC. The case for BTRC has thus been completely dismissed. As to VEON, the other defendant, if Chowdhury wishes to file an amended complaint and pursue the case further, the plaintiff will have to do so by 29 April 2022. In the event plaintiff fails to amend the complaint by that date, the Court will dismiss the case for VEON as well and enter judgment. This is a very positive result for BTRC and establishes a precedent that it is to be treated as a sovereign under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of the United States. BTRC had appointed Barrister Moin Ghani of Alliance Laws in Bangladesh and Foley Hoag LLP, of New York, U.S.A as legal counsel in this case. It may be mentioned here that, Worldtel had also filed several cases against BTRC in different courts of Bangladesh in which they have completely defeated.