BTRC asks licensed ISPs not to resell bandwidth to illegal ISPs

The Bangladesh Telecommuni-cations Regulatory Commission has asked the internet service providers not to resell their allocated bandwidths to any third parties providing internet connections to individuals without any valid licence.
   BTRC chairman Manzurul Alam at a meeting with the Internet Service Providers’ Association, a platform of the country’s internet service providers, on Thursday instructed the ISPs to follow the guideline strictly to check illegal use of internet.
   Bangladesh has around 207 licensed ISPs, while there are hundreds of small ISPs across the country providing internet services to individuals and households through buying a bulk of bandwidth from the licensed ISPs.
   The number of internet users in the country is around 10 lakh and many of these users have taken internet connections from small ISPs that do not have operating licence.
   Moreover, many of these ISPs had been engaged in illegal voice over internet protocol business. The Rapid Action Battalion in its crackdown on illegal VoIP business busted dozens of such small ISPs linked to the illegal business.
   ‘We need to streamline the internet business to ensure quality of service provided to the customers,’ said a senior official of the BTRC on Thursday.
   At the meeting, following the request of the ISPs, the BTRC, however, allowed the small ISPs to sell internet connections to subscribers on behalf of the licensed ISPs, on the condition that the licensed ISPs would have to strike deals with the small operators in this regard and send copies of the agreements to the BTRC by November 1.
   On the other hand, the existing subscribers to the small ISPs will be switched to the genuine ISPs from whom the small ones bought the connections.
   ‘We have discussed the issues at the meeting and agreed to comply with the guideline,’ said Russell T Ahmed, general secretary of the ISP association.