Bangladesh cracks down on illegal VoIP

A lot of countries complain about unauthorized (read: non-tax-paying) VoIP operations in their countries. Bangladesh appears to be getting tough about it. In the last few days, the Bangladeshi government warned that only the legacy telco--Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board--was authorized to originate or terminate calls. The next day came news that officials shut down a VoIP calling card operation linked to a series of call centers. There's a political aspect to the crackdown, though. The alleged ringleader is Helal Khan, who is the International Affairs Secretary of the governing party's "cultural wing." Kahn also is also apparently under investigation on charges of running a pirate music and video company.

For more information about the Bangladeshi VoIP business:
- check out this article from All Headline News
- see The Daily Blitz article
- read this article from the CIA Factbook

Related Article:
Roundup: International VoIP regulation. Report