Tk 500cr social obligation fund sits idle

Tk 500cr social obligation fund sits idle

The daily star news

 

Rules are yet to be set to use the money collected from telcos
The telecom regulator has so far collected Tk 500 crore from mobile operators for a "social obligation fund", but the government is yet to start spending the money in absence of rules on how to use the fund.

The telecom ministry said it has almost finalised the rules. But analysts and some officials of the ministry termed the proposed rules ambiguous, saying those will create complexities in utilising the fund.

Law binds Bangladesh Telecommuni-cation Regulatory Commission to create the fund "for extending telecommunication facility in the areas deprived of such facility." The law does not mention any other purpose of the fund.

However, six mobile operators now cover 99 percent areas of the country.

In line with the law, the fund was supposed to be formed with contributions from the government, or local, foreign and international organisations, and telecom operators.

Without any specific plan, the regulator has been collecting the amount from the mobile operators since 2011, though the law says the contributions can only be collected when the rules are ready.

The six operators are contributing 1 percent of their gross revenues to the fund on a quarterly basis.

Md Feroz Salah Uddin, additional secretary to the telecom ministry, said: “We are now examining the rules so that the amount is not misused.”

However, another official of the ministry said the rules do not specify how the fund will be spent.

"It is not clear who will approve the budget or who will own the fund," the official said, asking not to be named. "Will the money be disbursed through bidding or given to a firm directly to implement projects?"

The law says: “The maintenance of accounts and operation of the social obligation fund, its administration, procedure for withdrawal of money of the said fund and the rate of subscription for the fund to be realised from the licensed operators, shall be prescribed by rules.”

A provision has recently been incorporated into the rules to spend a portion of the fund on disaster management initiatives, though there is no mention of the types of disaster. Abu Saeed Khan, senior policy fellow at Colombo-based ICT think tank LIRNEasia, said, “The BTRC has been collecting the fund illegally as the government has not created the rules yet.” “The fund collection cannot continue forever. The government must spell out its targeted amount to be raised. Otherwise, it will become a crucible of corruption.”

BTRC Secretary Md Sarwar Alam said a high-profile committee has been formed to deal with the fund, which is deposited in a scheduled bank. The draft rules were sent to the ministry in June 2012.

 

 

 

Home page