Telenor serves legal notice to Bangladesh president
Grameenphone’s major investor Telenor has served a legal notice to the Bangladesh president, said posts and telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar while addressing the newsmen at his office.
He said the global telecommunication company sought arbitration regarding the dues of Tk 125.79 billion of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to Grameenphone.
Telenor, he added, threatened Bangladesh of filing a case at the International Court.
“The highest level of the government has been informed about the legal notice. Others including foreign ministry is also aware of the matter. We’re discussing the matter with our legal experts. We have no point to be worried about the legal notice. They want arbitration and we are open to arbitration," Mustafa Jabbar said.
Earlier on 24 November, the Supreme Court asked mobile phone operator Grameenphone to pay within three months Tk 20 billion of the dues of over Tk 125.79 billion to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
Otherwise, the court warned that the two-month injunction on realisation of Tk 125.79 billion dues from the mobile phone company will be withdrawn.
On 24 October, the apex court wanted to know from the telecom operator how much of the amount claimed by BTRC it can pay and asked it to come up with the reply within a week.
On 14 November, the mobile phone company told the court that it could pay Tk 2 billion of over Tk 125.79 billion dues.
On 17 October, the High Court imposed a two-month injunction on realisation of Tk 12,579.95 crore dues from the mobile phone company.
The BTRC then moved to the Appellate Division against the HC order.
The BTRC claims dues of Tk 12,579.95 crore in 27 sectors from GP. Having failed to recover the money, on 2 April BTRC sent a notice to GP threatening to revoke its licence.
Later, GP moved to a lower court seeking a temporary injunction on the BTRC’s notice which was turned down on 28 August. Later, it filed an appeal with the High Court.