International Voice Services in Bangladesh: ICSP Licensing, Call Routing and Gateway Compliance

International voice services Bangladesh: the licensed route for cross-border traffic

International voice services Bangladesh businesses depend on have always been a gated business. For fifteen years every lawful call into or out of the country had to pass through a licensed international gateway and an interconnection exchange, and anything else was treated as illegal VoIP.[3] The Telecommunications Network and Licensing Policy 2025 replaces that chain with a single International Connectivity Service Provider (ICSP) layer, but it keeps the central rule: cross-border traffic must travel through a licensed international route.[1]

This guide answers one question: who may carry international traffic, and through which routes? It explains the international connectivity business, the scope of the ICSP licence, what happens to legacy IGW, IIG and ICX arrangements, overseas carrier contracts, call origination and termination, foreign SIP suppliers, caller identification and the bypass arrangements that attract enforcement. Above all it separates buying international connectivity, which any business may do from a licensee, from operating an international connectivity business, which needs a licence of its own. The migration timetable for legacy licences is covered in our guide to telecom licensing reform in Bangladesh.

Summary: Only licensed operators may carry voice, data and internet traffic across Bangladesh's borders. Under the legacy framework that meant international gateways (IGW) for voice, international internet gateways (IIG) for data and interconnection exchanges (ICX) between them and access networks. Under the 2025 policy, ICSP licensees carry all international connectivity for access operators, IGW, IIG and ICX licences end on expiry, and access operators may sign their own carrier contracts only over ICSP connectivity. Routing calls around the licensed path, through SIM boxes, VSAT or unlicensed internet links, remains illegal.

Key point: Buying international voice from a licensed operator is a customer relationship that needs no international licence. Carrying other people's international traffic, selling termination, transit or carrier interconnection, or routing calls through your own overseas links is an international connectivity business, and under the 2025 policy that business belongs to ICSP licensees, capped at 49% foreign ownership.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

International voice services Bangladesh: who may carry cross-border traffic

The starting point is the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act 2001, under which operating a telecommunication system or providing a telecommunication service without a licence is an offence.[3] International traffic adds a second layer: the licence must be one that authorises cross-border carriage, and the traffic must use the route that licence prescribes. Our guide to telecommunications law in Bangladesh explains the statute and the BTRC; this guide concerns the international layer.

The legacy chain

Under the ILDTS Policy 2010 framework, an international call passed through three licensed layers. The access operator, whether mobile, PSTN or IPTSP, handed the call to an ICX; the ICX connected to an IGW; and the IGW connected to overseas carriers over international cable capacity.[2] [3] International internet bandwidth flowed separately through IIG licensees. When the 2025 policy was approved, Bangladesh had about 20 IGWs, more than 30 IIGs and more than 20 ICXs.[6]

The new layer

The 2025 policy collapses those layers. ICSP licensees are responsible for international voice, internet and data connectivity to access network service providers, and for all forms of international connectivity.[1] Access operators must connect to an ICSP for all international connectivity, and IP layer interconnection, routing and voice and data traffic management may be handled through unified channels rather than physically separate exchanges.[1]

The legacy IGW, IIG and ICX arrangements

Because most legacy licences remain valid until they expire, the IGW rules still govern international voice in late 2026. The BTRC's guidelines for issuing IGW licences, dated 19 September 2018, show how tightly the gateway layer was controlled.[2]

How the IGW licence works

All international telecommunication services terminating in or originating from Bangladesh must be routed through licensed ICXs and IGWs. IGWs reach subscribers only through ICXs and access networks, are located primarily in Dhaka, take primary international connectivity through licensed international long-distance cable operators, and may use satellite or VSAT only as back-up with the BTRC's prior approval.[2] To keep traffic balanced, each IGW must route 90% of its incoming international traffic equally through every ICX, and each ICX must spread 90% of outgoing international traffic equally across the IGWs.[2]

Who could hold an IGW licence

IGW licences were reserved for Bangladeshi entities: foreign citizens and companies may not be owners, directors, shareholders, investors or partners, all directors and shareholders must be resident Bangladeshi citizens, one entity may hold only one IGW licence, and VoIP Service Provider (VSP) licensees are excluded.[2] A pending proceeding for illegal call termination disqualifies an applicant, and the licence runs for fifteen years, renewable for five-year terms.[2]

The IOF period and the case for reform

The IGW Operators Forum, formed in 2013, ran a joint arrangement for international call termination. In July 2025 the government's telecom adviser described it as a cartel of seven IGW operators and said BTRC estimates put lost government revenue above Tk 8,000 crore, figures that remain allegations rather than findings of a court.[7] Reporting on the policy's approval also referred to Tk 631 crore in market development expenses under the arrangement, which the BTRC referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission.[6] That history explains why the reform removes intermediary layers rather than adjusting them.

Legacy gateways under the 2025 policy

The policy treats the international layer more drastically than any other. ICX, IIG and IGW licences, associated with discontinued network layers, are phased out when their existing terms expire, and the policy's migration table marks all three as discontinued.[1] In July 2025 the government's telecom adviser said the regulator had announced that ICX and IGW licences expiring in 2027 would not be renewed.[7] Submarine cable and international terrestrial cable licences, by contrast, migrate into the ICSP licence.[1]

What fills the gap

Before ICX licences expire, the BTRC must issue guidelines on voice interconnection, including traffic monitoring and revenue sharing, and domestic interconnection may then be provided through an operator consortium or a qualified infrastructure licensee selected competitively.[1] The BTRC's draft FTSP guideline adds that existing IGW and IIG services continue to operate under their current guidelines until those licences expire.[4] Holders of discontinued licences may apply for new-category licences if eligible; the migration mechanics, asset transfers and cut-off dates are explained in our licensing reform guide.

The ICSP licence: scope, ownership and eligibility

The ICSP licence is the home for international voice services Bangladesh will license from now on. ICSP licensees act as facility-based or non-facility-based providers of all international cross-border connectivity, connect access operators to international leased circuits for voice, data and internet, and may offer IP transit, carrier interconnection, international voice and SMS routing and international peering.[1]

Facility-based and non-facility-based

An applicant may seek an ICSP licence to provide IP transit, carrier contracts, voice call and SMS termination and related services without owning submarine or terrestrial cables. The non-facility-based licence is issued under an open licensing framework, while the licensing model for facility-based licences is left for the BTRC to determine.[1] The BTRC's revised draft of May 2026 would formally split the ICSP into facility-based and non-facility-based licences and require non-facility-based operators, who would pay lower fees, to buy a minimum amount of bandwidth from domestic submarine cable operators.[9]

Ownership and separation

Foreign investors may hold up to 49% of an ICSP licensee through direct and transparent foreign direct investment, and holders of access or national infrastructure licences may not obtain an ICSP licence.[1] The May 2026 draft would allow up to 80% foreign ownership of facility-based ICSPs, although the BTRC reportedly favours majority local ownership, and would make people found holding multiple telecom licences, which section 36 of the amended Act prohibits, ineligible for new ICSP licences.[9]

Operating conditions

All ICSPs must establish mandatory domestic peering among themselves so that domestic traffic does not leave the country, operate international connectivity through local gateways in line with national security requirements, cooperate with competent authorities on lawful interception and cyber incidents, and report transparently to prevent revenue leakage. Any monitoring or traffic filtering must be limited to what is necessary and proportionate.[1] ICSPs must also disclose bandwidth availability and pricing transparently, and hoarding or unjustified price discrimination in international capacity is to be penalised.[1]

Buying international connectivity versus operating an international connectivity business

Most businesses that ask about international voice services Bangladesh rules do not need an international licence at all. A company that makes or receives international calls, or buys international bandwidth, is a customer. It needs a contract with a licensed provider, not a licence of its own. The regulatory line is crossed when the business starts carrying traffic for others, or routing its own traffic over links that bypass the licensed path.

Buying

A bank, exporter, software house or contact centre that buys international calling or bandwidth from a licensed access operator is buying a service. The licensed operator remains responsible for routing it through the licensed international layer.[1] Under the FTSP consultation draft, fixed operators must obtain all international bandwidth, including voice, exclusively from licensed ICSPs.[4]

Arranging carrier services as an access operator

The policy gives access operators a middle position. They may independently arrange international services, including IP transit, carrier contracts and voice and SMS termination, but those services must be accessed through ICSP connectivity, with monitoring mechanisms such as firewalls to secure compliance and revenue sharing.[1] The FTSP draft requires a fixed operator to establish monitoring and compliance mechanisms directed by the BTRC before starting such services.[4]

Operating

A business that terminates incoming international traffic for overseas carriers, sells international transit or carrier interconnection, routes international voice or SMS for other operators, or operates cross-border links is in the international connectivity business. Under the policy that activity requires an ICSP licence.[1] Selling calls to end users, as distinct from carrying them across the border, is governed by the access licences discussed in our guide to the VoIP licence in Bangladesh.

Overseas carrier contracts

International voice depends on contracts with foreign carriers, and the regulator reviews them. An IGW must enter end-to-end service level agreements with foreign carriers and negotiate origination and termination fees itself, within any BTRC directives, but the agreed fees and SLAs are vetted by the BTRC, and copies of agreements with foreign carriers and ICXs, with a detailed breakdown of the tariff arrangement, must be submitted to it.[2] No international service may begin before written tariff approval, and every financial transaction relating to the licence must pass through scheduled banks in Bangladesh, with monthly account statements to the BTRC.[2]

Drafting points for carrier agreements

Whatever the licence category, carrier contracts should track the regulatory floor and the reporting regime. In practice that means rate schedules that respect the BTRC's minimum termination rate, CDR-based reconciliation in the format the BTRC approves, warranties that traffic is not generated by SIM boxes or other bypass, the right to block fraudulent routes, and termination and repricing rights if a licence lapses or a category is discontinued. Contracts signed by IGWs now should expressly address what happens at licence expiry.

Under the IGW framework, IGWs also handled carrier traffic for VSP licensees through tripartite agreements with the overseas carrier and the VSP, collected termination charges from the carrier and paid the VSP, ICX, access operator and BTRC their shares within forty-five days of month end.[2] Wholesale and resale structures are analysed in our guide to white-label VoIP in Bangladesh.

Call origination and termination in international voice services Bangladesh

Incoming international calls are the commercial core of the gateway business, and their price has been regulated for years. In February 2020 the BTRC cut the minimum international incoming termination rate by a third to US$0.006, or about Tk 0.50, per minute, with revenue then shared 40% to the BTRC, 20% to IGWs, 17.5% to ICXs and 22.5% to access operators.[8] We have not found a published later rate decision, so treat the BTRC's current directive as controlling and confirm it before pricing.

What the call record must show

Every international call must generate a call detail record; no call may be allowed without one. For outgoing calls the record must show at least the national number of the calling party, the international number of the called party, start and end times, duration, call category, route identifiers and charging status; for incoming calls, the international number of the calling party and the national number of the called party, among other fields. Charging starts on the answer signal and stops when either party hangs up.[2] IGWs must also file monthly reports of calls and paid minutes by carrier, destination, ICX and access operator, including transit calls between two overseas carriers.[2]

Transit traffic

Transit, carrying a call between two foreign carriers through Bangladesh, is a recognised international service with its own reporting format under the IGW guidelines, and under the 2025 policy it falls within the ICSP's carrier interconnection and routing services.[2] [1]

Foreign SIP suppliers and cloud telephony

Foreign SIP trunk providers are where many international voice services Bangladesh problems begin. A foreign supplier can sell a Bangladeshi business SIP trunks that deliver calls to Bangladeshi numbers or carry outbound calls abroad over the public internet. Commercially this looks like ordinary cloud telephony; regulatorily it can be a route that bypasses the licensed international layer.

Why the route matters

The IPTSP guidelines prohibit voice licensees from bypassing licensed IGWs and ICXs for international calls and from carrying IP telephony over VSAT or an IIG.[3] ISPs undertake not to engage in VoIP business, and must report to the BTRC if traffic analysis shows international voice or IP transit traffic, encrypted or not, passing through their systems.[5] Under the 2025 policy, carrier contracts and termination are lawful only when accessed through ICSP connectivity.[1] A foreign SIP trunk that terminates calls onto Bangladeshi networks over ordinary internet bandwidth sits outside each of those routes.

Practical approach

For a business in Bangladesh, the safer course is to buy telephony that touches the public network from a Bangladeshi licensee, and to use foreign platforms only for functions that do not themselves carry calls across the border, or under an arrangement that a licensed operator has confirmed in writing. Where a foreign provider is unavoidable, the contract should identify which licensed Bangladeshi operator carries the traffic in and out of the country. Platform classification questions are covered in our guide to cloud PBX in Bangladesh.

Caller identification and traffic integrity

In international voice services Bangladesh regulators supervise, caller identification is a regulatory tool as well as a consumer feature. The IGW guidelines require call detail records to capture the calling and called numbers in national or international format, and require IGWs to be able to reject or block incoming calls by incoming route, calling number or called number, and transit calls by destination digits or outgoing route.[2] IGWs must have systems to identify, block and eliminate illegal traffic, and must give the BTRC and the national monitoring centre online and offline access to call records, traffic data and signalling.[2]

The practical consequence is that an international call presented to a Bangladeshi subscriber as a local call, with a local number in place of the true international origin, is the signature of bypass. Operators and their carriers should preserve the original calling number through the chain and keep the records that prove it. Privacy duties attached to call records are covered in our guide to call recording law in Bangladesh.

Prohibited bypass arrangements and enforcement

Illegal VoIP, or grey-route termination, means delivering international calls into Bangladesh outside the licensed international path, typically through SIM boxes that inject the calls as local mobile calls. It avoids termination charges and the regulator's revenue share, and it defeats call records and lawful interception.

Recent enforcement

Enforcement is active. In June 2024 a BTRC operation in Dhaka seized 56 unauthorised SIM boxes and 17,354 SIM cards and led to two arrests, with cases filed under the Telecommunication Act.[11] In July 2026 the BTRC fined Robi, Banglalink, Teletalk and Grameenphone a total of Tk 8.68 crore, at Tk 10,000 per SIM, after identifying 8,682 SIMs used for illegal international call termination, on the basis that the operators had failed to implement measures required by the Act, their licence conditions and BTRC directives.[10]

Who carries the risk

Liability runs well beyond the person operating the SIM box. A licence applicant facing proceedings for illegal call termination is disqualified from IGW and IPTSP licences.[2] [3] Access operators can be fined for SIMs on their networks, ISPs must report suspicious international voice traffic, and carriers that knowingly deliver traffic into grey routes put their Bangladeshi relationships at risk.[5] [10] Ongoing obligations and enforcement procedure are covered in our guide to BTRC compliance in Bangladesh.

International voice services Bangladesh: legacy and new routes compared

The table below maps each international function to its legacy licence and its position under the 2025 policy. On a phone, scroll it sideways.

Structuring a lawful international voice operation

The steps below apply to a business that wants to offer or rely on international voice services Bangladesh regulators will accept, whether as a customer, an access operator or a prospective ICSP.

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Mistakes to avoid

The recurring mistakes are treating a foreign SIP trunk as ordinary software; signing carrier contracts without BTRC vetting or a plan for licence expiry; assuming that an ISP licence allows international voice; and pricing below the regulated floor. Each can turn a commercial arrangement into bypass. For applications, carrier contract reviews and enforcement defence, see our corporate and commercial advisory practice and, where a licensing decision must be challenged, our constitutional and writ litigation practice.

Frequently asked questions

Which licence lets a company terminate incoming international calls in Bangladesh?

Under the 2025 policy, an ICSP licence; ICSPs may provide voice and SMS termination, carrier interconnection and transit. Until legacy licences expire, IGWs perform this role.[1] [2]

Can an ICSP operate without owning a submarine cable?

Yes. The policy allows non-facility-based ICSPs offering IP transit, carrier contracts and termination without owning cables, under an open licensing framework.[1]

How much of an ICSP licensee may foreign investors own?

Up to 49% under the 2025 policy. A May 2026 draft would allow up to 80% for facility-based ICSPs, but it had not been approved when we last checked.[1] [9]

Can VSAT or satellite links carry international voice?

Only narrowly. IGWs may use satellite or VSAT as back-up with prior BTRC approval, and IPTSP licensees may not carry IP telephony over VSAT at all.[2] [3]

May a mobile or fixed operator sign its own contracts with foreign carriers?

Yes, under the 2025 policy, provided the services run over ICSP connectivity with monitoring that secures compliance and revenue sharing.[1]

Does a call centre need an international licence to call overseas customers?

Not if it buys international calling from a licensed operator as a customer. It crosses the line if it routes calls over its own foreign links or carries traffic for others.[1]

What is the minimum international incoming call termination rate?

The last decision we could verify, from February 2020, set US$0.006 per minute. Rates are revised by BTRC directive, so check the current figure.[8]

Must carrier agreements be shown to the BTRC?

For IGWs, yes: agreed fees and SLAs with foreign carriers are vetted by the BTRC and copies with a tariff breakdown must be submitted.[2]

Can an operator be penalised for SIM boxes run by its customers?

Yes. In July 2026 the BTRC fined four mobile operators Tk 10,000 per SIM found in illegal VoIP termination, citing failure to prevent it.[10]

Who must keep records of international calls?

The international gateway must record every call, including calling and called numbers, times, duration and routes, and file monthly reports by carrier and destination.[2]