Awami League digital terrorism

[idune]

Awami League regime came to power with one of its trade mark slogan of "digital Bangladesh". With span of few months of assuming power people of Bangladesh realized that "digital Bangladesh" was just a "digital deception". Electricity and gas supply has reached such a dismal state that people don’t even get electricity for even 6 hours a day. Now Awami League made a complete reverse turn and unleashed a digital terrorism against local telephone (PSTN) companies who made more than 2200 crore taka investment. In span of one month time Awami League regime has closed 3 private PSTN and arrested top officials of these companies. Not only that Awami regime even shut down operation of these telephone companies causing untold sufferings to millions of telephone subscribers. All the while Awami League regime rolled red carpet for Indian telecom companies and venture.

 

[idune]

RanksTel closed, 3 officials held

STAFF REPORTER

The private land phone company Ranks Telecom Ltd was closed by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) yesterday for its suspected involvement in illegal VoIP business.
BTRC officials said that they stopped the operation of RanksTel after they had seized illegal VoIP equipment from its office in the city's Tejgaon area during an overnight drive conducted jointly by BTRC and RAB. Three top officials of the company were also arrested in connection with the matter.

The arrested are Karim Iqbal Bhuiyan, deputy general manager (sales and customer services), Kamruzzaman, general manager (technical) and Mominur Rahman, deputy manager.

BTRC chairman Maj Gen (retd) Zia Ahmed said yesterday that BTRC officials seized devices used for making VoIP calls from RanksTel's office in Tejgaon Industrial Area.

"We stopped the operation of RanksTel following seizure of VoIP equipment," he added. At least 58 drives against illegal VoIP were carried out after he took charge as the chairman, Ahmed said.
The number of PSTN phone subscribers reached 16,92,7,77 at the end of January this year while RanksTel has 2,88,272 subscribers across the country. The subscribers of RanksTel suffered a lot after it was closed by BTRC.

Earlier on Sunday night, a team of BTRC and RAB arrested five top officials of the private land phone operator 'Dhaka Phone' from its head office at Mohakhali for running VoIP business illegally.
They raided the office housed on the 18th floor of Rupayan Tower and found evidences of VoIP operation and a mobile switching centre (MSC), the sources said. They also seized VoIP equipment from the Dhaka Phone office.

The arrested are TM Hayatuzzaman Khan, chairman, Harun-al-Atahar, director general (engineering), KM Shahidullah, director, Ikramuzzaman, senior manager (engineering), and Hari Podder, manager (billing).

They were produced before the metropolitan magistrate's court that later sent them to the jail.

:: The Daily Independent Bangladesh :.. Internet Edition

 

[idune]

PeoplesTel: 4th hit in BTRC drive

Mon, Mar 22nd, 2010 2:14 am BdST

Dhaka, Mar 21 (bdnews24.com)—BTRC shut down phone company PeoplesTel on Sunday "on charges" of illegal VoIP operations, the fourth action of its kind in a week.

Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission and a Rapid Action Battalion team jointly raided the company's Banani office at midnight on Sunday.

"The switch room has been shut down on charges of involvement in the illegal VoIP trade," director of RAB intelligence wing Lt Col Ziaul Hassan told bdnews24.com.

He did not say whether any evidence of involvement in VoIP operations was found.

No one was arrested in the raid. "There was no one in the office during the time of the raid," the RAB official said.

The joint team also raided the chairman's residence at Baridhara, but did not find him there.

Peoples Telecommunication & Information Services Ltd. (PeoplesTel) is the successor of Bangladesh Rural Telecom Authority (BRTA) Pvt Ltd, which started its operations in 1989.

BTRC began the current drive against the illegal VoIP trade on March 14 with a raid on Dhaka Phone, in which its top executives were arrested.

The telecoms regulator moved against WorldTel on March 17 and shut down RanksTel on Mar 19.


PeoplesTel: 4th hit in BTRC drive | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

 

[idune]

Dhaka Phone execs sent to jail

Bdnews24.com . Dhaka

A Dhaka court sent five top executives of private land phone operator Dhaka Phone to jail on Monday following their arrests Sunday night in an illegal VoIP case.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court sent company chairman Hayatuzzaman, director general (engineering) Harun-al-Atahar, director KM Shahidullah, senior manager (engineering) Ikramuzzaman and manager (billing) Hari Podder after refusing them bail.

A team of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission and the Rapid Action Battalion had raided the Mohakhali offices of the company on Sunday, Kawser Ahmed, a junior consultant at BTRC told bdnews24.com.

They searched the offices located on the 18th floor of Rupayan Tower from around 5:00pm to midnight. Evidence of VoIP operations, a mobile switching centre, was found, Kawser said.

Front Page

 

[idune]

23 National Phone executives sued

Staff Correspondent

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on Thursday filed a case against 23 National Phone Ltd executives for their suspected involvement in illegal call termination through the voice over internet protocol. The commission on Tuesday shut down all operations of the public switched telephone network operator, which has 1,38,266 subscribers.

A BTRC official filed the case in the afternoon against the 23 National Phone executives and asked the police not to disclose the names in the interest of investigation, Gulshan police subinspector Kamrul Islam told New Age.

In 11 days, the telecoms regulatory commission shut down the operation of five companies.

The BTRC shut down the operation of PSTN operator Dhaka Phone on March 15, WorldTel on March 17, RanksTel on March 19 and People’s Telecom on March 21.

On Tuesday, the commission allowed Dhaka Phone and RangsTel to resume operation on condition but on Wednesday sealed off the switch rooms of private landline operators for their failure to provide the commission with lists of their subscribers.

Five of the 13 PSTN operators in Bangladesh had more than 5.5 lakh, out of the total 17,18,675, subscribers by the end of February. RanksTel had 3,00,782 subscribers, People’s Telecom 16,163, Dhaka Telephone Company Ltd which is brand-named Dhaka Phone 77,765 and WorldTel 14,261.

Thousands of subscribers of the PSTN operators faced problems because of the commission move. The commission chairman, Zia Ahmed, said legal battle against the operators would continue. ‘If the operators fail to explain their deeds, action will be taken in keeping with law.’

According to the Telecom Act 2001, imprisonment or penalty up to Tk 10 lakh or both, may be awarded if anyone is found involved in such practice.The commission earlier formed a six-member committee, led by its commissioner Aliwardy Khandaker, to further investigate the operator’s involvement in illegal VoIP business.

The commission chairman said after the recent drives, international call termination through legal channels jumped to more than 5.1 crore minutes a day from three crore minutes before March 14.

The commission filed a case under the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001 against 12 of the company, including the RanksTel president.On March 15, the law enforcers arrested five officials of Dhaka Phone in this connection.

BTRC official Kawsar Amed on December 25 filed a case with the Badda police and the Dhaka Phone executives were shown arrested in the case.On Tuesday, the commission also filed a case against seven executives of the Peoples Telecommunication and Information Services Ltd with the Gulshan police.

National

 

[idune]

BTRC shuts down PeoplesTel
Bdnews24.com . Dhaka

BTRC shut down phone company PeoplesTel on Sunday ‘on charges’ of illegal VoIP operations, the fourth action of its kind in a week.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission and a Rapid Action Battalion team jointly raided the company’s Banani office at midnight on Sunday.

‘The switch room has been shut down on charges of involvement in the illegal VoIP trade,’ the director of RAB intelligence wing, Lieutenant Colonel Ziaul Hassan told bdnews24.com.He did not say whether any evidence of involvement in VoIP operations was found.

No one was arrested in the raid. ‘There was no one in the office during the time of the raid,’ the RAB official said. The joint team also raided the chairman’s residence at Baridhara, but did not find him there.

Peoples Telecommunica-tion & Information Services Ltd (PeoplesTel) is the successor of Bangladesh Rural Telecom Authority Pvt Ltd, which started its operations in 1989. BTRC began the current drive against the illegal VoIP trade on March 14 with a raid on Dhaka Phone, in which its top executives were arrested.

The telecoms regulator moved against WorldTel on March 17 and shut down RanksTel on March 19.

National

 

[TopCat]

These companies were given license to operate PSTN services in the country not to run illegal VOIP business. They need to be closed down and let the BTCL to take care of our PSTN need.

cheers...

 

[eastwatch]

Why stealing money indirectly from govt coffer by doing illegal VoIP businesses is not DIGITAL TERRORISM, but, it becomes an AL terrorism when the govt catches the thieves and sends them to jail for interrogations? Why people should support the thieves?

 

[idune]

These companies were given license to operate PSTN services in the country not to run illegal VOIP business. They need to be closed down and let the BTCL to take care of our PSTN need.

cheers...

If these companies ran VOIP then there is law, court and regulation to fine and prosecute them. Not shutting down company that serves people. These companies were shut down and execs were arrested based on allegation that has not been proven in any court . In similar VOIP case interim regime did finned Grameen, AKtel and others. Did they arrested Grameen phone chief or shut down the company????

Applying facist application of law; punishement before proven guilty is worst form of terrorism a regime can unleash. All the while king pin of these VOIP business Sheikh Hasina's son Shajeeb Wajed Joy is at large under protection of law enforcement. As soon as information about Sajeeb Wajed Joy involvement in illegal VOIP business and money laundering information came out Awami regime unleashed terror.

 

[TopCat]

If these companies ran VOIP then there is law, court and regulation to fine and prosecute them. Not shutting down company that serves people. These companies were shut down and execs were arrested based on allegation that has not been proven in any court . In similar VOIP case interim regime did finned Grameen, AKtel and others. Did they arrested Grameen phone chief or shut down the company????

Applying facist application of law; punishement before proven guilty is worst form of terrorism a regime can unleash. All the while king pin of these VOIP business Sheikh Hasina's son Shajeeb Wajed Joy is at large under protection of law enforcement. As soon as information about Sajeeb Wajed Joy involvement in illegal VOIP business and money laundering information came out Awami regime unleashed terror.

They were not punished yet but case has been filed against them.
Those companies were asked to provide with subscriber list but failed to do so and that makes them non compliant and BTRC has every right to shut down their operation.

Case study :
National Phone terminated 2.4 million minutes call per day, 2 days prior to crackdown. Those number came down to 70,000 to 80,000 minutes when BTRC was monitoring their call record sitting at their switch room. The rest of the calls were simply VOIP calls. When a phone operator does this kind of blunder and 90% of their call are just illegal VOIP then what kind of attitude you should expect from BTRC. I am glad that they shutdown their operation.

 

[TopCat]

Even a 120 port PABX can terminated more than 100,000 minutes per day. National phones subscriber base did not even cross that PABX barrier.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

The AL is still blocking my blog DeshCalling in 'Digital' Bangladesh.

 

[idune]

Police Closes Down DRIK Gallery to Stop “Crossfire” Exhibition

By Zahurul Alam
Dhaka, 22-March-2010

On Monday, police closed down the DRIK Gallery in Dhaka, one of the capital’s most prominent art galleries, after it refused to stop the exhibition “crossfire” that focused on the deaths caused by elite force Rapid Action Battalion or RAB’s extra-judicial killings.

Earlier the police had ordered DRIK Gallery to stop the show carrying this controversial series of images. Shahidul Alam, the photographer and managing director of DRIK refused to do so. Many believe that this action taken by the police is unlawful.

The exhibition was supposed to open at 4 PM. But at 3:30 PM, police took their position in front of the gallery and stopped people from entering or exiting.

VOA News - Police Closes Down DRIK Gallery to Stop ?Crossfire? Exhibition

 

[idune]

In sweltering heat
Govt bars AC use in peak hours

Tue, Mar 30th, 2010 6:52 pm

Dhaka, Mar 30 (bdnews24.com)—The government has barred use of air conditioners from 6 pm to 11 pm daily until further notice for all residences, private and public offices, businesses and shops.

The bar, however, will not apply to hospitals, restaurants and hotels.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, in an order issued Tuesday, also said that AC temperatures cannot be set below 25 degrees Centigrade during off-peak hours.

The BERC order comes just a day after the government decided to shut down all the fertiliser factories to divert gas to power plants. The decision underscores the critical situation now prevailing in the power sector.

It also instructed related authorities and persons to take required steps immediately and stated that the order will be in force with immediate effect until further notice.

The energy regulator said its order, issued under the Energy Act 2003, is intended to tackle the crippling power outages, ensure uninterrupted power supply to farmers for irrigation and ease sufferings of Higher Secondary Certification examinees.

But questions were immediately raised on whether the regulatory body has the power to enforce the order.

BERC chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain, questioned by reporters in a press briefing after announcing the measure, said, "If DESCO, DPDC and Petrobangla report to us then we will take measures."

When asked what measures would be taken to punish violators, he said that the commission does not want to take any extreme measures like imposing fines or worse, but was rather appealing to the consumers.

"We can only ask the consumers to obey the order and if they do not comply we'll disconnect their services", he said.

According to the Energy Act 2003, if anyone violates the commission's orders it can penalise the consumer with a fine of up to Tk. 2000 or imprisonment for three months.

Salim Mahmud, BERC member told bdnews24.com that the order is only applicable for consumers from the national grid and not for those who run ACs on other power sources like generators.

Govt bars AC use in peak hours | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

 

[zagahaga]

You are nobody to tell me to shut up, just nobody. Do u get it.

And as a Neighbor of Bangladesh we have right to get worried about the brother Bangladesh.

But, main kaun tu kham kka.

Bangladesh has struggeled from you so that they can progress or you can't interfera in their matters.

And now you are supporting this BS and propaganda which will ham Bangladesh.

And calling the innocent and hard working Bangladesh as terrorist.

YES JUSTIN .. they are just trying to help by takeing out the home grown buisness and bringing in indian phone companies which will only profit india not bangladesh ... but what could i say throught an indians mind set almost every thing that you do is projected as innocence and helping