JS panel asks for details on Warid, Airtel deal

Says govt incurred losses as Warid allowed to sell stake for low price
The parliamentary standing committee on the planning ministry on Sunday asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to submit a report on how 70 per cent of the shares of mobile operator Warid had been sold to India’s Bharti Airtel only for Tk 70 lakh.
The committee chairman, Oli Ahmed, after a meeting, told reporters they had discussed media reports that Warid had been allowed to sell its 70 per cent stake to Airtel only for Tk 70 lakh.
‘The country and the government sustained a loss as Warid was allowed to hand over its share for such a low price,’ he said.
The government lost millions of dollars in transfer fees as the commission allegedly allowed Warid, which invested more than $600 million in the country, to hand over 70 per cent of its stake to Airtel for only Tk 70 lakh in recent times.
The standing committee also suggested that the posts and telecommunications ministry should bring Voice over Internet Protocol under the jurisdiction of law.
It will help to increase revenue earnings of the government as well as provide internet users with better services, the committee observed.
The meeting also recommended making capable the state-run mobile operator Teletalk so that it can survive in the competition with the private mobile operators.
Committee members planning minister AK Khandoker, Nawab Ali Abbas Khan and Azizul Haque Chowdhury attended the meeting.
The meeting discussed in details different projects undertaken by the ministries of land, posts and telecommunications and social welfare.
As for land ministry, it decided that the ministry would inform the committee in three months of the steps it has taken to reclaim illegally occupied government land, how much land has so far been reclaimed and whether any new incident of land occupation has taken places in recent times.
As for social welfare ministry, the meeting decided that proper monitoring should be ensured so that the registered non-governmental organisations properly follow the conditions of registration.