New telecom policy to dismantle mafia syndicates: Taiyeb

The government is introducing a new telecom policy aimed at breaking the grip of long-standing syndicates and vested interests in Bangladesh’s telecommunications and internet sectors, said Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser on Telecommunication and Information Technology.

Speaking at an emergency press conference at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka, Taiyeb claimed that the telecom sector has been plagued for years by mafia-style syndicates and cronies of the previous regime, who have exploited outdated and complex licensing systems for personal gain.

“Bangladesh has multiple licensing categories that exist nowhere else in the world. These have been misused to loot hundreds of crores of taka annually,” he said.

He alleged that over 3,400 companies received telecom licenses in the past 15 years, many of them shell entities that invested just Tk 5–10 crore, but extracted profits of up to Tk 400 crore per year. He claimed that the government receives only 50% of revenue from these operators, with the rest being siphoned off.

Taiyeb said the existing licensing process involves 7 to 8 stages, allowing numerous middlemen to act as unofficial toll collectors. The new policy aims to eliminate these bottlenecks and reduce corruption by simplifying the process.

Addressing concerns that domestic operators may be harmed under the new rules, he clarified that no valid licenses will be canceled, but renewals will be assessed under the updated policy framework.

Regarding internet quality, Taiyeb noted that Bangladesh still suffers from poor service. Until recently, 70% of internet bandwidth was sourced from India, and many local providers were illegally importing bandwidth. He announced that internet service providers (ISPs) will now be required to source at least 50% of their bandwidth from the country’s submarine cables.

The government is also working with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to implement a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) system to monitor service quality. Providers failing to meet standards will face penalties.

“We’re asking providers to raise the minimum internet speed from 5 Mbps to at least 12–15 Mbps, because 5 Mbps can no longer be called broadband,” he said.

Taiyeb also revealed that extensive corruption occurred in both the telecom and ICT sectors under the previous administration. To address this, the government has formed two white paper committees to investigate and document past misdeeds.

“There’s no scope for new corruption today because no new projects have been approved. We’re moving toward policy reform through a fully democratic and transparent process,” he concluded.