Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ টেলিযোগাযোগ নিয়ন্ত্রণ কমিশন) is an independent commission founded under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, 2001 (Act # 18 of 2001). The BTRC is responsible for regulating all matters related to telecommunications (wire, cellular, satellite and cable) of Bangladesh.[1] The chairman of the commission has the status of a judge of the Bangladesh High Court.[2] Md. Emdad-Ul-Bari is the chairman of the commission.[3] HistoryIn 1979, the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board was created through the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board ordinance.[4] The ordinance was revised in 1995.[4] The BTRC started operating from 31 January 2002 with a vision of facilitating affordable telecommunication services and increasing the teledensity to at least 10 telephones per 100 inhabitants by 2010.[4] The ordinance was updated with the passage of Telecommunication Act (Corrected) bill in 2010.[4] In 2016, the salaries of the commissions and chairman was doubled by the government of Bangladesh.[5] CensorshipIn March 2013, BTRC was criticised by the Human Rights Watch[6] and other groups for banning a number of "atheist blogger" websites.[7] Blogs banned by the BTRC included the award-winning popular blog[8] by Asif Mohiuddin, who had been attacked by a machete wielding group in January.[9] Mohiuddin was arrested the following month,[10] along with three other bloggers .[11] Chairmen
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