Reinstate Citycell's spectrum within 24 hrs: SC

Staff Correspondent: The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) authority to reinstate the spectrum of Citycell, the country's oldest mobile phone operator, within 24 hours.

A three-member Appellate Division bench headed by the Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order on Tuesday morning, a day after BTRC suspended the spectrum.

Earlier, BTRC finalized to suspend the Citycell's spectrum in a meeting on Monday, according to a BTRC official.

He said BTRC took the decision as the government approved to put the final nail in the coffin of Citycell.

Earlier last week, BTRC received the document approved by the Prime Minister over cancelling Citycell license.

On July 31 last year, BTRC issued an advertisement requesting Citycell subscribers to accept alternative service within two weeks.

But, the mobile operator filed an appeal petition before the Supreme Court (SC) in this regard.

Later the Appellate Division gave the operator two months to pay 477 crore and 51 lakh due money to run the service. Citycell then paid 144 crore.

Later, the SC ordered the operator to pay another 100 crore within November 19, 2016. As Citycell failed to pay the amount, BTRC finally decided to put the nail in the coffin of Citycell.


risingbd/Dhaka/July 25, 2017/Mehadi/A K Azad