Dhaka: Appellate division of the Supreme Court issued order to reinstate the frequency allocation for mobilephone operator Citycell on condition.

The court also asked the first mobile operator of Bangladesh to pay Tk 100crore by 19 November; otherwise, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will suspend the spectrum allocation.

A five-member Appellate division bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha issued the order on Thursday.

The apex court asked BTRC to relax the owing amount from Tk 477crore to Tk 80crore and formed a three-member probe body led by Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury to resolve the matter.

Earlier, on 1 November, the Appellate Division bench of SK Sinha fixed 2 November after hearing the petition.

On 25 October, the Supreme Court chamber judge fixed November 1 for hearing the petition filed by Citycell with the regular SC bench, headed by the Chief Justice.

The Citycell authorities filed the petition with the Appellate Division on 24 October seeking a stay on the decision of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) that suspended its spectrum for the non-payment of dues.

Barrister Rokonuddin Mahmud and Barrister Mostafizur Rahman Khan stood for the telecom company while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state and Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Barrister Reza-e-Rakib argued for the BTRC.

On 20 October, the BTRC suspended the spectrum of Citycell as it failed to pay the outstanding payment of Tk 477.63 crore.

On 29 August, the Appellate Division ordered Citycell to pay its Tk 477.51 crore dues to the BTRC in two installments to continue its operation.

The apex court had asked the mobile phone operator to pay the first slot of Tk 318.42 crore, two-thirds of the total outstanding payment, within 19 October.

As Citycell failed to pay the two-thirds of the total amount within the stipulated time, the BTRC took the decision to suspend the operations of the mobile phone operator as per the law.