Dacca, 27 March 1972 The President of India, hereinafter referred to as the Government of INDIA,
AND
The President of Bangladesh, hereinafter referred to as the Government of BANGLADESH,
DESIROUS of establishing telephone and telegraph services between India and Bangladesh and between Bangladesh and countries other
than India transmitted via India,
HAVE agreed as follows:
Article I
ESTABLISHMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES
From a date to be mutually agreed upon, continuously operated Telecommunication Services shall be established between India and Bangladesh.
Article II
REGULATION APPLICABLE TO TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES
1. Except to the extent indicated hereinafter, the Telegraph Service shall be governed by the 'Telegraph Regulations' and the Telephone
Service by the ‘Telephone Regulations’ annexed to the International Telecommunication Convention.
2. The technical and operational aspects of the Telegraph and Telephone Services shall be decided by mutual consent of the Telecommunication
Administration of the Government of India and the Government of Bangladesh.
Article III
TELEGRAPH SERVICE
1. The charges for telegrams between India and Bangladesh shall be as listed in the Annex attached to this Agreement. The Government
of India and the Government of Bangladesh shall have the right to modify their respective charges for telegrams between India and
Bangladesh subject to three months’ notice being given by one Administration to the other.
2. There shall be no sharing of charges on telegrams between India and Bangladesh. The charges collected on such telegrams shall
be retained by the country of origin.
3. The charges on an outward telegram from Bangladesh to countries other than India, transitted via India, shall comprise :
(a) terminal share of Bangladesh as fixed by Bangladesh.
PLUS
(b) a charge for the telegram between India and the country of destination according to the prevailing telegraph tariff between India
and that country, subject to such charge in respect of traffic from Bangladesh being varied if that becomes necessary as a result
of consultations/ negotiations by the Government of India with the countries concerned.
4. In respect of outward telegrams from Bangladesh to countries other than India, transitted via India, the Bangladesh Government
shall retain its own terminal share and credit the balance to the Government of India for further apportionment between India and
other countries concerned.
5. In respect of inward telegrams to Bangladesh from countries other than India and transitted via India excluding telegrams from
Ceylon, Nepal and Pakistan, the Government of India shall credit to the Government of Bangladesh an amount equal to its terminal
share.
Article IV
ACCOUNTING PROCEDURE FOR TELEGRAPH SERVICE
1. There shall be no accounting in respect of telegram between India and Bangladesh.
2. In respect of telegrams between Bangladesh and countries other than India transitted via India, the Government of India shall maintain
and forward a monthly statement of Accounts to the Government of Bangladesh showing the amount due to or from Bangladesh.
3. The procedure for preparation, submission, verification, acceptance and settlement of accounts shall be in accordance with the
appropriate rules in the “Telegraph regulations” annexed to the International Telecommunication Convention, provided that the payments
by the debtor Administration to the creditor Administration shall, for the present, be in Indian currency at the official conversion
rate.
Article V
TELEPHONE SERVICE
1. The total charge on a telephone call between India and Bangladesh shall be the sum total of the terminal shares of India and Bangladesh.
For determining this total charge, India shall be divided into the following two Zones :
Zone I Comprising the States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, West Bengal and
Arunanchal.
Zone II Rest of India.
2. The terminal shares of India and Bangladesh for telephone calls between India and Bangladesh shall be as follows :
(a) The terminal share of India shall be Rs. 3/- (Indian Currency) for exchanges of Zone I and Rs. 12/- (Indian Currency) for exchanges
in Zone II for the first three minutes or less plus a proportionate charge for each additional minute or part thereof.
(b) The terminal share of Bangladesh shall be Rs. 3/- (Bangladesh currency) for the first three minutes or less plus a proportionate
charge for each additional minute or part thereof.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions in para 2 above, the Government of India and the Government of Bangladesh may, by mutual agreement,
fix a reduced rate for transfrontier calls between specified pairs of exchanges in the two countries situated across specified pairs
of exchanges in the two countries situated across the frontier and being within a crownflight distance of fifty kilometres or less.
4. The Government of India and the Government of Bangladesh shall have the right to modify their respective terminal share, subject
to three months’ notice being given by one Administration to the other.
5. Unless otherwise specified the country of origin shall collect the charges and credit the charge of the country of destination
to that country.
6. The total charges on a telephone call between Bangladesh and any country other than India, transitted via India, shall comprise
:
(a) Terminal share of Bangladesh which shall be Rs. 6/- (Bangladesh currency) for a unit period of 3 minutes with a proportionate
increase for each additional minute or part thereof.
PLUS
(b) The charge for a telephone call of the appropriate duration from Calcutta to the concerned country or vice-versa according to
the prevailing telephone tariff between India and that country subject to such charge in respect of calls from Bangladesh being varied,
if that becomes necessary as a result of consultations/negotiations by the Government of India with the countries concerned.
7. In respect of outward telephone calls from Bangladesh to countries other than India, transitted via India, the Government of Bangladesh
shall retain its own terminal share and credit the balance to the Government of India for further apportionment between India and
the other countries concerned.
8. In respect of inward telephone calls to Bangladesh from countries other than India, transitted via India, the Government of India
shall credit to the Government of Bangladesh an amount equal to the terminal share of Bangladesh.
Article VI
ACCOUNTING PROCEDURE FOR TELEPHONE SERVICE
1. In respect of Telephone calls between exchanges in Zone I in India and exchanges in Bangladesh there shall be no accounting. Each
country shall retain its collections in full.
2. In respect of telephone calls between exchanges in Zone II in India and exchanges in Bangladesh the Government of India and the
Government of Bangladesh shall prepare and forward a monthly Statement of accounts to each other showing the total amount accruing
to the other as its share of revenue from such calls.
3. In respect of calls between Bangladesh and countries other than India transitted via India, the Government of India shall maintain
and forward a monthly statement of account to the Government of Bangladesh showing the amount due to or from Bangladesh.
5. The procedures for preparation, submission, verification, acceptance and settlement of accounts shall be in accordance with the
appropriate rules in the “Telephone Regulations” annexed to the International Telecommunication Convention, provided that the payments
by the debtor Administration to the Creditor Administration, shall, for the present, be in Indian currency at the official conversion
rate.
Article VII
ENTRY INTO FORCE, MODIFICATION AND DURATION OR AGREEMENT
1. The Agreement shall be subject to ratification and shall enter into force from the date of which the instruments of ratification
are exchanged at Dacca. It may be modified from time to time by mutual consent of the two Governments.
2. The Agreement shall continue to be in force until it is, terminated by one Government by giving three months’ notice in writing
to the other.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned representatives, duly authorised for the purpose, have signed this Agreement in two originals.
DONE at Dacca, this 27th day of March in the year, 1972.
For the President of India
For the President of the
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Sd/-
Sd/-
Secretary
Director General
Ministry of Communications
Telegraph & Telephones
