Elon Musk lost the status of a trillionaire again, how much is the wealth

Out of the 35 International Internet Gateway (IIG) institutions in the country, the total outstanding dues of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and MUSAC have reached Tk 255 crore 96 lakh. Out of this, Tk 1993.36 crore is regular dues for annual license fee, revenue sharing, late fee and Social Responsibility Fund (SOF). And 56 crores 60 lakhs due for Musak, which has been shown separately as the writ case filed by IIG Association is ongoing. The name of the state-owned company Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) has emerged as the biggest debtor in the list, to which BTRC owes a total of Tk 146 crore 89 lakh in arrears and arrears.

According to the relevant reliable sources, these data prepared according to the calculations till June 2026 were recently presented in a meeting of the commission. According to the minutes of the meeting of the commission, the highest amount in the revenue sharing sector is Tk 138 crore 41 lakh out of the total regular arrears. After that, 45 crore 57 lakh taka is due for late fee, 14 crore 78 lakh taka for SOF and 60 lakh taka for license fee. As revenue sharing and late fees together account for the bulk of the total arrears, it is clear that as there is a trend towards non-payment of revenue on time, the additional financial liability due to delays is also increasing.

In case of BTCL, which tops the list of arrears, Rs 93 crore 41 lakh for revenue sharing and Rs 29 crore 67 lakh for late fees. Regular arrears in these two sectors stood at Tk 123 crore 8 lakh, which reached a total of Tk 131 crore 77 lakh including SOF. Along with this, another 15 crore 12 lakh taka is added for Musak and the total amount owed by the commission to the company stands at 146 crore 89 lakh taka. According to the commission's documents, a letter was written to BTCL on July 16 to clear the dues. Accumulation of such a huge amount due by the regulatory body BTRC to a state-owned enterprise has raised questions about the effectiveness of dues collection.

The second largest debtor in the list is Amra Technologies Limited, which owes Tk 26.92 crore in arrears and another Tk 2.95 crore due to Musak. In December 2023, 100% capping was imposed on the company and its license is in process of being revoked while the case under the Public Demand Recovery (PDR) Act is ongoing to recover government dues. Despite taking so many measures, the minutes of the meeting of the Accounts Commission do not clearly state how much progress has been made in the collection of dues.

The Commission has not taken similar decisions in respect of all institutions on recovery of dues. Companies such as Mango Teleservices, Pyrex Networks, Skytel Communications, Greenmax Technologies, Rego Communications, Exabyte, Coronet Corporation, Virgo Communications, Planet Internet Gateway and Velocity Networks have been given the opportunity to pay their arrears in installments within the stipulated time frame, but the condition of imposing a capping of 25 to 75 percent has been included in case of failure to pay within the stipulated time. On the other hand, it has been decided to send letters to Novocom Limited and Global Fair Communication for payment of all dues within one month. And Coronet Corporation Limited's application for payment in installments has been directly rejected by the commission.

Apart from the IIG sector, the Commission has also taken a strict stand in the case of Nationwide ISP license holder Systems Solutions and Development Limited. On July 21, a letter was sent imposing an administrative penalty of Tk 250,000 against the company. The letter contained instructions to pay the dues by August 2. Not making the payment on time, the company applied on August 17 seeking an opportunity to pay the dues in six equal monthly installments. Also, due to the current financial situation, it is difficult to pay together and requested to pay 50 thousand taka on September 17 and pay the remaining 2 lakh taka in installments. However, the commission meeting did not approve this application and ordered to pay the entire outstanding amount with penalty within 15 days of issuing the letter and in case of failure to do so within the stipulated time, it was decided to impose 25 percent capping.

There is also a picture of complexity in the collection of Musak beyond the dues of IIG institutions. Although Fiber At Home Global Limited does not have regular dues, it owes Tk. 9 crore 84 lakhs due to Musak, regarding which the writ case is ongoing. The list of similar Moosak cases includes - Summit Communication for Tk 3.35 crore, Windstream Communication for Tk. 2.45 crore and Startrek Telecom for Tk. 18 lakh. Level-3 Carrier Limited has Tk 4 crore 39 lakh in regular dues and another Tk 12 crore 57 lakh due to Musak, but the company has kept up-to-date the installments paid earlier, it is mentioned in the commission's comments.

Complexity has also been seen with dues of closed operations or non-productive establishments. Although the license of Bangla Phone Limited was canceled in 2019, the commission decided to reopen it on May 23, and arrears have been created, for which a note has been sent to the E&O department. The commission has decided to send summons to unproductive companies like Maxnet Online, Toron Limited and One Asia Alliance as they have outstanding annual license fees.