GP moves to court to challenge SMP regulations
GP challenges the significant market power guidelines for the third time while the previous two court orders went in its favour
Grameenphone (GP) has filed a writ petition at the High Court challenging a June 21 directive of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
Grameenphone's lawyer Barrister Mustafizur Rahman Khan on Monday told the press that GP filed the writ Sunday and the hearing might be held this week at a virtual bench. The lawyer said concerned officials including the BTRC chairman have been made respondent in the writ.
According to the rules imposed by the telecom regulator on June 21, the lock-in period for a Grameenphone number portability (MNP) will be 60 days instead of 90 days. This means mobile phone users will be able to leave GP easily without changing their phone number.
According to the second restriction, Grameenphone will not be able to initiate any new service, package or offer without the approval of BTRC.
GP in the writ sought a stay on the telecom watchdog's rules to be effective from July 1.
BTRC Lawyer Barrister Khandaker Reza-E-Rakib said they have received a copy of the writ and would respond to that approach by legal measures.
BTRC declared Grameenphone a significant market power (SMP) in February 2019 and slapped some restrictions on the company, including its advertisement campaigns, at the time.
According to the SMP guideline, BTRC can label a carrier an SMP operator if it holds more than 40 percent share of any parameter.
GP controls 45.64 percent share of the subscriber base and more than 50 percent share of the revenue generated. The number of active subscribers at GP stood at 7.65 crore, earning them Tk14,366 crore at the end of 2019. It posted a record Tk3,452 crore profit last year, the highest to date.
With the June 21 BTRC move, GP legally challenged different points of the SMP guidelines for the third time. The first two court orders in this regard went in favour of the leading mobile network service provider.