Sort legal disputes before 3G auction: GP chairman

Grameenphone is undecided about its participation in the 3G auction due to outstanding disputes with the government, said the mobile operator’s high official.

“We need to see what the conditions are [for securing 3G licences] and resolve the pending disputes before we take a decision on 3G,” Sigve Brekke, Grameenphone’s chairman, said in an interview.

Bangladeshi mobile operator Grameenphone wants to resolve disputes with the government before making a decision on participating in the upcoming 3G auction. “We need to see what the conditions are [for securing 3G licences] and resolve the pending disputes before we take a decision on 3G,” Sigve Brekke, Grameenphone’s chairman, told the Daily Star in an interview. Grameenphone, along with three other operators, is involved in a dispute with the government over value-added tax (VAT) for the 2G spectrum licence.

The companies were required to pay 15 percent VAT when they renewed their 2G licences last year, which they did not have to pay earlier. Brekke urged the government to reach out-of-court settlements on the issues before holding the 3G auction.
When the operators renewed their 2G spectrum licences in August last year, they had to pay 15 percent as VAT on top of the renewal fee, a pay-out they did not have to bear the first time round.

The licence fee, previously, was inclusive of tax, with the proceeds split as 85 percent to the telecom regulator and 15 percent to the National Board of Revenue.