Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued as many as 34 licenses to some 19 companies, of which seven companies have acquired licenses for operations in four zones.

Most of the PSTN operators have a vision to obtain a nation-wide license but the BTRC could not provide it in the past because of a case pending with the High Court regarding co-exclusivity of WorldTel, which has a license to launch PSTN service in the capital Dhaka.

The BTRC later got the verdict in its favour and now there is no obstacle to converting these licenses into nation-wide licenses. The industry insiders believe that operators without nation-wide licence have no business as there are not sufficient subscribers in the four outlying telecom regions.

More than 70 percent of the country's telephone subscribers are based in the central zone comprising multi exchange area and its suburbs.

Fixed phones are generally used in home and offices while mobile phones serve other needs. Globally, 70 percent of the total telephone subscribers belong to mobile segment while rest 30 percent account for PSTN.

But unfortunately, in Bangladesh PSTN have only 5 percent market share.

The entrepreneurs, most of them local companies, made huge investment in setting up their networks with the legitimate expectation that their zonal licenses would be converted into national ones under legal coverage.

They have already invested millions of dollars and are incurring huge loss for the stalemate resulted from litigation and stay order from the court following the BTRC's move to provide license in the central zone.

Even worse, PSTN operators now don't have enough monetary resources for debt servicing of their equipment, imported with hard-earned foreign currency, which is now collecting dust and rust.

By contrast, Bangladesh has emerged as one of Asia's top 10 mobile phone markets in terms of adding net subscribers. Currently, Bangladesh ranked the 8th top mobile market in Asia, ahead of Thailand and the Philippines.

If one investigates the tremendous growth of cellular industry, he or she will easily understand that there have been substantial growth potential of local PSTN industry as well. But unfortunately, the PSTN industry is yet to witness that type of growth.

Apart from the licensing issue, various other issues have been hindering the growth of private PSTN companies including restriction of using RUIM (Re-Useable Identification Module), lack of local interconnectivity from the BTTB, uneven competition imposed by cellular industry including non-cooperation for increasing interconnectivity.

Private PSTN companies could not make any satisfactory headway in marketing their products due to pre-occupation of the telephone market by a large number of cellular mobile operators.

It is claimed that mobile phone operators have been involved in fixed phone business by offering PCO (Public Call Office) and different other packages which their operating license does not permit.

According to the mobile phone operators' license, they are supposed to offer mobile phone service and not fixed phone service. Moreover, some mobile operators have been offering Fixed Wireless Terminal (FWT), allocated only to private PSTN operators.

Such violation of mobile licensing agreement has ruined the level playing field of the country's telecommunication sector and hindering the growth of the private PSTN sector.

BTRC's step-motherly attitude towards private PSTN companies has crippled the promising sector. BTRC did not even allow PSTN companies to use RUIM in WLL phone sets.

Most of the manufacturers of WLL phone set have stopped production of traditional programmable sets after the RUIM card developed by CDG and 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) approved by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).

RUIM card or Re-Usable Identification Module is a removable ID chip for WLL phone sets made for the CDMA networks and other functions and features same as SIM cards. A RUIM card also holds personal identity information, phone number, phone book, text messages and other subscriber database. It can be used as mini hard disk that automatically activates the phone in which it is inserted.

A RUIM card is very handy and easy for upgradation, there is no hassle involved and the cost is very low.

On the other hand, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) based WLL set is costly and its maintenance is difficult.

If any parts get faulty and the program is erased, a subscriber has to visit Service Provider in order to overcome the problems which are time consuming and also not cost-effective.

SIM Cards and RUIM Cards are interchangeable in phones, allowing the consumer maximum flexibility. They will also be required to meet the same standards, facilitating uniform manufacturing standard.

Mobility function does not depend upon SIM and

RUIM cards. It depends upon switching system function. If Main Switching System has HLR (Home Locator Register) part and Service Provider gives the facilities to roaming option, then a subscriber can have the mobility.

Moreover, the PSTN fixed telephone sets are costly and that's why these sets cannot be outsourced. But, the RUIM sets are cheap so they can be sold out by third parties.

In this way the burden of investment will be less on local PSTN operators and the subscribers will have a choice in purchasing the sets. The number of fixed phone subscribers will be increased with ultimate increase in government revenue.

In addition to the above, the usage of RUIM by PSTN operators for connection of Wireless Fixed Line Telephone Sets (WLL sets) shall reduce the cost of investment on handset which could be diverted for network expansion, subscribers can purchase telephone sets according to their choice and ability and it will bring competition among private PSTN operators.

According to the licensing provision of fixed phone companies, those who have to maintain geographic location thus need to provide local call facilities to its subscribers. But due to absence of adequate interconnectivity of BTTB, private PSTN companies are unable to provide local call facilities to their subscribers.

Many PSTN companies have obtained permission from the BTTB to enable local calls to their subscribers in lieu of huge fees but when PSTN companies went to configure the system, it was found that BTTB's local exchanges were unable to generate bills.

Hossain is a freelance writer