Telecom law amendment bill placed

A bill was placed in parliament yesterday for amending the telecommunication law with a provision of stern action against individuals using telecom or radio apparatus for malicious purposes.

If any posting or exchange of message against national harmony appears on the web, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) would ask the telecom service provider to remove it before taking any tough action.

The proposed changes

In defence of the proposed changes, Post and Telecommunications Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu said the amendments are required to materialise the vision to have a digital Bangladesh.

In a brief statement tagged with a copy of the bill, he said the bill contains a provision for legalising VoIP business and issuing VoIP call termination operator licences to generate employment.

The bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications ministry for scrutiny. The committee was asked to turn in a report in the House within 15 days.