Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given the final approval to the much-talked about merger proposal of Robi-Airtel, keeping the merger fee, spectrum charge and other conditions unchanged.  

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the Minister of Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology on Sunday gave her consent to the merger proposal sent by the posts and telecommunications division (PTD), a PTD official told BSS on Monday.

‘The prime minister endorsed all the clauses and conditions set by the PTD for the amalgamation of the two operators,’ he said.  

The first-ever merger in country's telecommunication sector has moved near to conclusion following the approval, added the official.  

On July 24, the PTD forwarded the summary of the merger proposal to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her consent, incorporating merger fee of Taka 100 crore.  

Apart from the merger fees, he said, the PTD also fixed up Taka 33.8 crore for per Megahertz of 2G spectrum.  

Earlier, on July 13, an inter-ministerial meeting, chaired by finance minister A M A Muhith, finalized the merger fees and spectrum prices.  

The PTD in the proposal has incorporated several conditions for the merger of two mobile phone operators.  

At present, Airtel is using 15 MHz of 2G spectrum and its license would be expired in 2020. If Robi acquires the entire spectrum, the operator has to deposit a total of Taka 507 crore to the telecom regulator.  

According to the terms and conditions, ‘They (Robi) have to submit a specific plan on human resource management to the telecom regulator to ensure job security of employees so that no one is terminated or any unemployment is created centering the proposed merger.’  

Besides, a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) or Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) has to be prepared following the best practice of multinational companies, which has also to be submitted to the telecom regulator.  

Moreover, the BTRC must be informed of making the full payment under the VRS/VSS within the 60 days of the completion of the merger. ‘If any complexity is created during implementation of the VRS/VSS, the merged company would adopt necessary measures through the directives of BTRC,’ according to the terms and conditions.  

It was also included that in the next three-year of the merger, the regulator has to be informed with specific reason before any termination of the employees of Robi and Airtel joined the merged company.  

In addition, jobs of employees of Airtel who would join the merged company would be considered as the continuation of the service in Airtel.  

Robi and Airtel opened talks on a possible merger at the end of August, 2015, and on January 28, the operators' parent companies signed a deal to that effect. If merged, the entity will be the second largest operator in Bangladesh.  

In the merged entity, Axiata, the parent company of Robi, will hold 68.7 percent controlling stake, Bharti Airtel 25 percent and NTT DOCOMO of Japan 6.3 percent.  

Currently, Malaysia-based Axiata has 91.59 percent stakes in Robi and Japan's DOCOMO 8.41 percent, meaning both their shares in the Bangladeshi operation will be diluted after the merger. After the merger Robi will be the second largest operator after Grameenphone.