CityCell wins back spectrum through court order

Bangladesh’s CityCell has won a reprieve from the recent cancellation of its mobile license and revocation of its spectrum.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had decided late on Monday to cancel CityCell’s license due to non-payment of fees.

But after petitioning the Supreme Court, CityCell has managed to receive a court order temporarily suspending the license cancellation while a dispute over the outstanding fees is before the courts.

CityCell’s service was suspended on non-payment grounds in October. The block was later lifted although the operator was not able to resume operations.

At the time of the block the company had around 125,000 customers. The government was meanwhile demanding 4.77 billion taka ($58.6 million) in unpaid fees.

The report cites an unnamed senior CityCell executive as stating that management is seeking to sell off the company to a foreign buyer, and believes that restoration of its spectrum rights will aid negotiations.

As of 2015, CityCell was 44.5% owned by Singtel, 37.9% owned by Pacific Motors and 17.5% owned by Far East Telecom.