Pacific Bangladesh Telecom, the first mobile phone operator in the country, seeks to relaunch Citycell.
The company has recently applied to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to reclaim its licence and spectrum.
In 2016, the BTRC shut down Citycell's operations on the grounds of a decline in subscribers and failure to pay outstanding dues. Later, in October 2023, the regulatory body officially cancelled Citycell's licence and spectrum. At the time of its closure, Citycell, the country's only CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology operator, had around 15,000 subscribers.
However, in its recent review application letter, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom stated that BTRC's order to cancel Citycell's licence was illegal.
Pacific Bangladesh Telecom in the application, signed by its head of regulatory and corporate affairs Nishat Ali Khan, argued that Citycell was excluded from various technological upgrades, including spectrum allocation, due to political decisions by the then government.
Despite paying all fees, new claims of outstanding dues were raised unjustifiably, it said. Ultimately, the operation was shut down citing a decrease in subscribers, even though Citycell had an annual turnover of over Tk200 crore before the closure, said the company.
