Selling VoIP Services and Calling Minutes in Bangladesh: Licensing, Numbering and Tariffs

VoIP licence Bangladesh: the authority needed to sell telephone services

A VoIP licence Bangladesh regulators will recognise is the price of entry for any business that wants to sell telephone calls, phone numbers or calling credit directly to the public. Selling voice is a licensed telecommunication service, and providing it without the right authorisation is an offence under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act 2001.[1] Today that authorisation is the Internet Protocol Telephony Service Provider (IPTSP) licence; under the 2025 reform it is being folded into the new Fixed Telecom Service Provider (FTSP) licence.[2]

This guide answers one question: what authority does a company need to sell telephone services directly? It covers eligibility, domestic and international voice permissions, telephone numbers, interconnection, tariff approval, prepaid credit, billing, and the fees, guarantees and revenue shares that come with a voice licence. It also draws the line that matters most for outsourcing businesses: charging for telephone connectivity is regulated; charging for call-centre staff time is not the same thing. The wider migration timetable is explained in our guide to telecom licensing reform in Bangladesh.

Summary: To sell telephone service to subscribers in Bangladesh, a company needs a licence that includes voice: today an IPTSP licence, which is available only to ISP licensees, or a PSTN or mobile licence. The 2025 policy merges IPTSP into the ISP licence on migration to the FTSP, which may offer domestic and international voice, while the District FTSP may not. Every voice licensee must use numbers assigned by the BTRC, interconnect on approved terms, charge only approved tariffs, bill transparently and pay fees, bank guarantees and a share of gross revenue.

Key point: The IPTSP licence cannot stand alone. It is issued only to ISP licensees and is cancelled when the ISP licence is lost, as four IPTSPs discovered in 2023. Under the 2025 policy the IPTSP permission is merged into the ISP licence during migration to the FTSP, so a voice business must manage its data licence, its voice permission and its migration application as a single asset.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

VoIP licence Bangladesh: when selling calls becomes a licensed service

The Telecommunication Act makes the establishment or operation of a telecommunication system and the provision of telecommunication services without a licence an offence punishable with imprisonment, a fine or both.[1] Voice is the clearest example. A business that gives subscribers a telephone number, routes their calls to the public network and charges for the calls is providing a telecommunication service, whatever technology sits underneath. Our guide to telecommunications law in Bangladesh explains the statute; this guide concerns the voice licence itself.

Which licences carry voice

Under the legacy framework, voice to end users is carried by mobile operators, PSTN operators and IPTSP licensees. An ordinary ISP licence does not include voice: the ISP licence application requires an undertaking that the applicant and its owners and directors will not take any activity over VoIP business.[4] For most new entrants, the realistic VoIP licence Bangladesh route is therefore an ISP licence plus an IPTSP licence, or, once the new regime is in place, an FTSP licence.

What sits outside the licence

The IPTSP guidelines exclude PC-to-PC non-business voice traffic from the scope of licensing, subject to limits set by the BTRC.[1] Software that only lets users call each other over the internet raises separate questions, analysed in our guide to launching a voice calling app in Bangladesh. Once a service reaches ordinary telephone numbers or is sold as telephony to subscribers, it needs a licence.

The IPTSP licence: scope, eligibility and term

The current framework is the Amended Regulatory and Licensing Guidelines for the IPTSP licence dated 4 June 2009, which the BTRC lists with a later amendment of 28 March 2022.[1] [12] We have not been able to review the 2022 amendment, so check it against the points below before relying on them.

What an IPTSP may provide

An IPTSP licensee provides international and domestic voice calls over the internet or managed IP networks, including PC-to-phone, phone-to-PC and phone-to-phone services, and continues to provide internet services under its ISP licence. It may not provide any service outside those two licences.[1] Service must start within six months of the licence, the licensee may not refuse connection within its area unless legally untenable or technically unfeasible, and it must give three months' notice to the BTRC and subscribers before ceasing service.[1]

Who may apply

The IPTSP licence is issued only to ISP licensees, excluding PSTN and mobile operators that hold ISP licences. There are two types: nationwide, open to nationwide ISPs, and zonal, open to zonal ISPs in their zone, issued through an open and non-exclusive licensing procedure.[1] A nationwide applicant must show at least 1,000 ISP subscribers and a central-zone applicant 500, and the BTRC also weighs rural coverage, network, investment and a five-year rollout plan.[1]

The disqualifications mirror the Act's general grounds and add one specific to voice: a pending prosecution of the applicant, its owners, directors or partners for illegal call termination using VoIP.[1] The BTRC application form states that an ISP found involved with illegal VoIP business at any time is not eligible for any type of IPTSP licence, and requires a notarised undertaking not to bypass the international gateway or interconnection exchange and not to use VSAT for voice.[5]

Term and dependency on the ISP licence

The IPTSP licence is valid for fifteen years, renewable for five-year terms, but only while the underlying ISP licence remains valid.[1] That dependency has teeth. In September 2023 the BTRC cancelled the IPTSP licences of four providers after they lost their ISP licences, ordered them to surrender the licences within ten days and declared their activities illegal.[7] Separately, in August 2019 the BTRC cancelled 124 VoIP Service Provider (VSP) licences for failure to renew and ordered the holders to stop all VoIP-related services.[8]

The IPTSP market has always been small. The BTRC told reporters in 2021 that 38 IPTSP licences had been issued since 2009, of which four operators ran app-based calling and most of the rest served call centres, including the 999 national emergency service.[6]

From IPTSP to FTSP: voice permission under the 2025 reform

The Telecommunications Network and Licensing Policy 2025 places voice to end users in the access layer. The FTSP licence authorises wired, fibre or fixed-wireless networks for all types of services, including domestic and international voice, data, internet and value-added services. Existing nationwide and divisional ISPs and PSTN licensees may migrate to it, and IPTSP licences are to be merged with the corresponding ISP licence during migration.[2]

Two limits shape the voice market. The District FTSP licence covers internet and data services within one district only, so it carries no voice. And a Cellular Mobile Service Provider licensee may not hold an FTSP licence.[2] The BTRC's consultation draft for the FTSP licence lists fixed voice, domestic and international, and IP telephony among its services, and would allow one entity only one FTSP or District FTSP licence, extending that bar to owners, directors and shareholders.[3] [10]

The categories may be renamed. A revised draft sent to the ministry on 24 May 2026 would split the FTSP into Internet Service Provider (Nationwide) and Internet Service Provider (District) licences.[11] Reporting on that draft does not say how voice is allocated between them, so a VoIP licence Bangladesh applicant should confirm which category carries voice in the guideline in force when it files.

Domestic and international voice permissions

A voice licence is also a routing licence: it tells the operator which networks its calls may and may not use. The IPTSP guidelines draw the lines precisely.[1]

Domestic calls

Calls between an IPTSP's own subscribers are routed directly on its network. Domestic calls to other IPTSPs are routed through the National Internet Exchange, and domestic calls to mobile and other access operators through an Interconnection Exchange (ICX).[1] Under the FTSP draft's interim framework, all domestic off-net calls continue to go through the ICX until existing ICX licences expire, after which they move to a new domestic interconnection arrangement directed by the BTRC.[3]

International calls

All international IP telephony calls into and out of Bangladesh must be routed through licensed ICXs and international gateways; the licensee may not bypass them and may not carry voice over VSAT or an international internet gateway.[1] Under the FTSP draft, an FTSP must buy all international connectivity, including voice, from licensed International Connectivity Service Providers, and may make its own carrier and voice arrangements only through that connectivity.[3] Gateway routing, overseas carriers and bypass are covered in our guide to international voice services in Bangladesh.

Telephone numbers: allocation and control

Numbers are a regulated resource, not a commercial asset. Under the IPTSP guidelines, voice service is provided on a separate numbering plan assigned by the BTRC; the licensee must comply with the national numbering plan and the BTRC's rules on allocation, justify its use of numbers on request and use them efficiently.[1]

Who owns the number

Any numbering plan assigned to a licensee is the property of the BTRC, and neither the licensee nor its subscribers have proprietary rights in the numbers. The BTRC may amend or reallocate a numbering plan on written notice, at the licensee's cost.[1] The licensee must report its arrangements for allocating and reallocating numbers and comply with the BTRC's number portability framework.[1]

The FTSP consultation draft carries these rules forward almost word for word, and states that they do not apply to District FTSPs, which have no voice service.[3] The wider plan is also under pressure: the BTRC has described the 13-digit mobile format under the National Numbering Plan 2017 as nearing exhaustion of the 01 prefix and has proposed a separate 06 series for IoT and M2M devices.[9]

Practical consequences

Because numbers belong to the regulator, a customer contract cannot promise a subscriber permanent ownership of a number, and a business sale cannot transfer numbers as an asset independently of the licence. A VoIP licence Bangladesh business that resells numbers to enterprises should keep allocation records that it can justify to the BTRC at any time.

Interconnection with other operators

A voice service is only useful if it reaches every other network. The IPTSP guidelines require interoperability with PSTN, mobile and other voice providers, service level agreements with the relevant licensees, filing of every concluded interconnection agreement with the BTRC within fifteen days of signing, and no technical or other conditions that hamper access or interconnection.[1]

The FTSP draft adds fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, redundant interconnection paths, periodic failover testing, and mandatory participation in the domestic voice interconnection arrangement that the BTRC will direct before ICX licences expire, which may be run by an operator consortium or a qualified entity chosen competitively.[3] Interconnection charges are set by the BTRC, not negotiated freely, and IPTSPs pay the ICX and inter-operator charges in force.[1]

Tariff approval and the price of a call

No voice tariff may be charged until the BTRC has approved it. Before providing any service, an IPTSP must file a tariff chart with maximum and minimum charges and their justification, the service description and terms it proposes to publish, and its subscriber application forms; it may not start service before approval and needs written approval for any change.[1] The FTSP draft repeats this, adds that tariffs must be non-discriminatory and cost-based with a reasonable return, and reserves the BTRC's power to set fixed-service tariffs itself.[3]

Regulated floors

In practice the BTRC also sets floors. In May 2021 it fixed the minimum price of off-net calls through IPTSP apps at Tk 0.40 per minute, against Tk 0.45 for mobile calls; of that, the IPTSP paid Tk 0.10 per minute in interconnection to mobile operators and Tk 0.04 to ICX operators.[6] Those are the last figures we have been able to verify from a reliable source. Rates are revised by directive, so treat the BTRC's current tariff schedule as controlling and confirm it before pricing a product.

The statutory tariff procedure under the 2026 amendment, including when government approval is needed, is summarised in our telecommunications law guide.

Prepaid calling credit and billing

Prepaid voice is common, but the guidelines regulate the service rather than the payment model. Any prepaid product must therefore fit within the approved tariff, the published terms and the billing rules. The IPTSP guidelines require clear and timely statements of charges, prohibit billing for anything not disclosed in the published tariff or for services not requested, require reliable and accurate metering, and entitle subscribers to itemised billing on request, free of charge for international calls.[1]

Records behind every call

The licensee must keep metering records in the form the BTRC specifies, maintain separate call detail records for calls through the NIX and the ICX, and keep a subscriber register with each subscriber's name, address, national ID or business registration number, telephone number or IP address, activation date and device MAC address or IMEI.[1] Tampering with billing systems attracts penalties. These records also underpin revenue-share audits, so the billing platform is a regulatory system, not only a commercial one. Retention and privacy duties for call records are covered in our guide to call recording law in Bangladesh.

Who may sell credit

An IPTSP may appoint agents or contractors to provide services that help it discharge its licence duties, but may not subcontract any part of the service without the BTRC's written permission, and remains liable for its agents.[1] The 2025 policy preserves existing permits for the international payment recharge system (IPRS), relevant to diaspora top-ups.[2] Distribution and resale models are analysed in our guide to white-label VoIP in Bangladesh.

VoIP licence Bangladesh fees, bank guarantees and revenue share

A voice licence costs more than its acquisition fee. Fee schedules for every category are summarised in our BTRC licence guide; the points below are those specific to voice.

Under the IPTSP guidelines

An IPTSP pays a Tk 5,000 application fee and a licence acquisition fee of Tk 10 lakh nationwide, Tk 8 lakh for the central zone and Tk 2 lakh for other zones, with annual fees from the second year of Tk 5 lakh, Tk 4 lakh and Tk 1 lakh, on top of all ISP licence fees.[1] Half the acquisition fee is due within thirty days of the award notice and the balance within ninety days of issue. Revenue share is nil for two years and then 2% of annual audited gross revenue, paid quarterly and reconciled annually.[1]

A performance bank guarantee equal to the acquisition fee must be lodged within thirty days, valid for five years. It is reduced by 20% a year as subscriber rollout targets are met and encashed at the same rate if they are missed.[1] Late payment of annual fees or revenue share carries a 15% annual late fee, and failure to pay within sixty days of the due date may lead to cancellation.[1]

Under the FTSP consultation draft

The October 2025 FTSP draft proposed a Tk 50,000 processing fee, a Tk 25 lakh acquisition fee for new licensees or a Tk 15 lakh migration fee for migrating ones, a Tk 10 lakh annual fee and a Tk 25 lakh bank guarantee split into six instruments.[3] Revenue share would rise to 5.5% of annual audited gross revenue and a 1% Social Obligation Fund contribution would be added, both from the second year, with gross revenue expressly including voice income.[3] [10] These are draft figures; check the BTRC's current schedule.

Charging for connectivity versus charging for staff time

The distinction that matters most for outsourcing businesses is between selling telephone service and selling people. A call centre that invoices a client for agent hours, seats, handled contacts or outcomes is selling a business service. A business that invoices for minutes of telephone connectivity, calls to public numbers, phone numbers or calling credit is selling telecommunication service, and needs a voice licence or must buy that service from a licensee in its own name.[1]

How the line is drawn in practice

The policy deregulates call centre registration on expiry of current terms, but deregulation removes the registration, not the need for licensed connectivity: access licensees remain responsible for facilitating and monitoring these services.[2] The FTSP draft treats a call centre as an end user that a licensee may serve after notifying the BTRC.[3] The safe structure is for the call centre to buy voice from a licensed operator as a customer and to price its own services by time or output, not by the call minute.

Where a contract bundles staff time with telephony, the invoice should separate the two, and the telephony line should be a documented pass-through of a licensed operator's charges rather than the call centre's own tariff. Without that separation, a client contract can look like an unlicensed VoIP licence Bangladesh business in disguise. Registration and operating requirements for call centres are covered in our guide to the call centre licence in Bangladesh, and hosted platforms that cross into telephony in our guide to cloud PBX in Bangladesh.

Ownership, transfer and changes of control

A VoIP licence Bangladesh operators hold cannot be traded. Under the IPTSP guidelines, the licence and any right under it may not be transferred, wholly or partly, and any transfer is void; the licence may not be pledged as security, and loans need the BTRC's prior written permission.[1] Any change of ownership or shareholding, any share transfer and any new share issue needs the BTRC's prior written approval, and a breach may lead to cancellation.[1] Investors buying into a VoIP licence Bangladesh holder should build BTRC consent into transaction documents as a condition precedent. Ongoing obligations after launch are covered in our guide to BTRC compliance in Bangladesh.

Comparing VoIP licence Bangladesh options

The table below compares the authorisations through which a business can sell voice directly, under the legacy guideline and the 2025 policy and drafts. On a phone, scroll it sideways.

Launching a licensed voice service

The sequence below assumes a company that does not yet hold a voice licence and wants to sell telephone service directly.

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Mistakes to avoid

The most common mistakes are selling minutes under an ISP licence alone, which the ISP undertaking forbids; letting the ISP licence lapse and with it the IPTSP; launching a tariff before written approval; and routing international traffic outside the licensed path.[1] [4] For a VoIP licence Bangladesh application in 2026, add a fifth: filing in a legacy category without a plan to migrate. For licence strategy, applications and disputes, see our corporate and commercial advisory practice.

Frequently asked questions

Can an ISP sell voice calls under its ISP licence alone?

No. ISP applicants undertake not to take any activity over VoIP business, and voice to subscribers requires an IPTSP licence or another licence that includes voice.[4] [1]

Who is eligible for an IPTSP licence?

Only ISP licensees, other than PSTN and mobile operators holding ISP licences. Nationwide ISPs apply for nationwide IPTSP licences and zonal ISPs for their zone.[1]

What happens to an IPTSP licence if the ISP licence is cancelled?

It falls with it. The IPTSP licence is valid only while the ISP licence is valid, and the BTRC cancelled four IPTSP licences on that ground in 2023.[1] [7]

Can a District FTSP licensee offer telephone calls?

No. The District FTSP licence covers internet and data services within a single district; voice sits with the nationwide FTSP licence.[2]

Does a voice operator own the telephone numbers it issues?

No. Numbering plans assigned by the BTRC remain its property, and the BTRC may reallocate them on written notice.[1]

Can I change my call rates without BTRC approval?

No. Any change to an approved tariff needs the BTRC's prior written approval, and no service may be charged before the initial tariff is approved.[1]

What revenue share does an IPTSP pay?

Nothing for the first two years, then 2% of annual audited gross revenue, paid quarterly. The FTSP draft proposed 5.5% plus 1% to the Social Obligation Fund.[1] [3]

Must interconnection agreements be filed with the BTRC?

Yes. Concluded interconnection and related agreements must be submitted to the BTRC within fifteen days of signing.[1]

Does a BPO that bills clients per agent hour need a voice licence?

Not for billing staff time, provided it buys telephony from a licensed operator. Billing clients for call minutes or calling credit as its own product is selling telecom service.[1] [3]

Can shares in an IPTSP licensee be sold freely?

No. Any change in ownership or shareholding, share transfer or new issue needs the BTRC's prior written approval, and the licence itself is not transferable.[1]