In Bangladesh, VoIP operators are draining the country’s exchequer hundreds of millions of dollars worth of taka. Why? Because it is still illegal in Bangladesh and the government there is doing everything it can to bleed itself further by delaying the necessary licensing owing to the recommendations by Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Authority.



The government now insists that the license for VoIP will be given only after setting up a common platform in four areas - Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Bogra under Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board through which VoIP calls will be channelized.



Bangladesh with its huge immigrant population was the world’s third fastest growing destination for international VoIP traffic in 2004 recording a growth of 97% against a global growth of just 35%.



A poor third world country like Bangladesh with perennial infrastructural problems can hardly afford to lose that much amount of money owing to delay processes arising out of bureaucratic red-tape and obsolete licensing regimes. Notwithstanding legal statuses of application of technology, people will always find a way out to hoodwink where it is profitable.



Are countries with archaic laws, ways of working and overbearing bureaucratic meddling in matters like this taking a clue?



Source