No progress in solution of GP SIM crisis: CEO

There is no progress in solution of SIM cards shortage of the Grameenphone (GP) that resulted from its dispute with BTRC over dues, said the mobile phone operator's top executive on Sunday.

GP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Yasir Azman said this at a press conference in city's Gulshan.

Earlier on February 3, the CEO said the telecom operator has no SIM but some are in the hands of retailers. If these are finished, there will be no SIM at all.

The company does not get permission of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to recycle SIM. Besides, no SIM will be available for replacement if these are damaged, Yasir said at that time, adding that about 30 lakh SIMs exist for replacement.   

Asked about this, GP CEO today said they will face difficulty in case of selling new SIM to the customers as there has been no progress in resolving the crisis.

"There is no progress in solution of the crisis (SIMs shortage). We will not be able to sell new SIM and lose about 50,000 new customers everyday if cannot solve the same," he said. 

But existing GP SIM users will not face any problem and there will be no trouble in case of SIM replacement, he added.

On April 2, last year BTRC claimed Tk 12,579.95 crore dues from Grameenphone, country's largest cellphone operator. Since then dispute between the telecom regulator, and telecom operator began and also is on. Later, the matter was moved to court. 

In this situation, Grameenphone in January this year announced 130 percent dividend for year 2019, about a half lower than that of previous year (2018). 

A speculation spread in share market that the telecom operator reduced amount of dividend because of paying dues to the government.

Asked in this regard, CEO Yasir said there is no link of dividend with payment of BRTC's owing.