A Tk1,920 crore compensation suit filed by Banglalink against Robi Axiata, along with a writ petition over alleged violations of merger conditions, has intensified a decade-old telecom dispute in recent months.
Industry insiders say the legal pressure pushed Robi to replace its Airtel brand with a new identity, Cirkle.
Robi Axiata PLC on 17 August rebranded its 16-year-old youth-focused second brand Airtel as Cirkle, saying the new brand was created “keeping in mind the changing digital reality and people’s increasingly connected lifestyles”.
However, documents reviewed by TIMES suggest that legal pressure from competitors Grameenphone (GP) and Banglalink over the past 12 months played a key role in the move.
Robi Axiata spokespersons declined to comment.
However, a senior Robi Axiata official, seeking anonymity, denied that the rebranding was driven by competitors’ actions. He said rebranding was a regular business practice.
The dispute dates back to the 2016 merger of Robi Axiata and Airtel Bangladesh, which created a larger Robi Axiata that emerged as the country’s second-largest mobile operator after Grameenphone.
The High Court-approved merger scheme imposed several conditions on Robi Axiata. Among them, according to complaints submitted by competitors to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the court, was a requirement that the merged company operate all its services under the Robi Axiata name.
Competitors argue that the condition required discontinuation of the Airtel brand after the merger.
The merger conditions also restricted the use of Airtel’s 016 number series. Robi was not allowed to continue using the series beyond two years after the merger without regulatory approval.
Competitors said that despite those conditions, Robi continued operating both Robi and Airtel brands for nearly a decade. They argued that the youth-focused Airtel brand gave Robi an uneven advantage in the industry.
GP wrote to BTRC on 16 September 2025, while Banglalink submitted a similar complaint on 30 October 2025, urging the regulator to enforce the merger conditions.
After receiving no effective action from BTRC, Banglalink, according to its officials, moved the High Court on 27 April 2026, challenging what it described as regulatory inaction.
In response to the writ petition, BTRC on 20 May asked Robi to respond to allegations raised by GP and Banglalink regarding alleged violations of the merger conditions, according to documents reviewed by TIMES.
The dispute escalated further when Banglalink filed a money suit on 8 July before Dhaka’s Joint District Judge, seeking Tk1,920 crore in compensation from Robi.
Banglalink alleged that Robi’s continuation of the Airtel brand for almost a decade and prolonged use of the 016 number series created an unfair competitive advantage and caused financial losses to competitors.
The suit seeks a decree of Tk1,920 crore, along with 15 per cent annual interest from the date of filing until payment, costs of the suit and other relief.
The competition argument
In a written statement, Banglalink told TIMES, “Discontinuation of Airtel was part of the original merger conditions approved by the court, and allowing the brand to continue for almost 10 years created an undesirable regulatory precedent.”
“Our concern was not the brand name itself, but the competitive advantage of operating two distinct brands under one licensed operator, creating an uneven competitive environment through differentiated positioning and customer targeting,” Banglalink said.
The company argued that maintaining Robi and Airtel separately allowed Robi to target different consumer groups through separate brand strategies, giving it a market advantage unavailable to competitors operating under single brands.
Banglalink also said it would assess whether the rebranding addressed its underlying concerns.
“Banglalink supports competition and innovation within a fair and level playing field,” the company said.
The 2016 Robi-Airtel merger was Bangladesh’s first major telecom consolidation.
