The social obligation fund of around Tk 13.80 billion, contributed by the telecom operators, has remained unutilised under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) largely because of indecision on how to make the best use of the money.
The telecom regulator has been collecting 1.0 per cent of gross revenue of the operators for the fund on a quarterly basis.
Of the amount, Tk 11.9 billion came from six mobile operators in the last six years and around Tk 1.9 billion has been added to the fund as bank interest as of December 2017.
BTRC sources, however, said the telecom ministry will take a decision on the fund very soon, as it got a full minister recently after a long time.
In 2014, the government formed a high-profile committee headed by then telecom minister to decide how to use the fund.
Different agencies sought money from the fund, but the committee could not make any decision in this regard, the sources said.
The telecom regulator introduced the fund in November 2011 when four mobile operators renewed their licences.
"BTRC does not use this fund, they just collect it on behalf of the government," BTRC Secretary Md Sarwar Alam told the FE.
A rule regarding the fund was finalised in 2015. The fund was supposed to be collected after the framing of the rule, but BTRC started collecting money in 2011, sources said.
Moreover, the telecom regulator has been collecting money only from the mobile operators, although the government also put international gateway operators and other service providers on the list of contributors in 2015, they added.
The ICT division has recently sought financial support from the fund to provide 772 unions with internet connectivity through fibre optic cables by the end of 2018.
But the proposal did not get positive response as the telecom division opposed it.
Earlier, the state-run National Telecom Monitoring Cell, administered by an intelligence agency, had also sought an allocation from the fund to maintain discipline in the sector.
Ekram Kabir, vice-president for communications and corporate responsibility at Robi, said the government should use the money for the development of telecoms and ICT sector.
"This sector will benefit greatly from the use of the fund," he added.
