On October 26, 2016, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) approved the merger between Robi Axiata Limited and Airtel Bangladesh Limited. A key condition of this approval was that Robi Axiata Limited would exclusively use its name in all advertisements and promotions post-merger. However, disregarding this regulatory requirement, the company has continued to market and advertise its products under both the Robi and Airtel brand names.

A directive under clause 20 sanctioned the merger, stating that Robi must use the Robi Axiata Limited name for all branding, advertising, and promotions.

Yet, upon visiting the Airtel Bangladesh Limited website, it is clear that Airtel-branded services such as recharge offers, internet services, roaming, international call tariffs, Airtel Bkash auto recharge, Airtel network towers, E-sports and gaming services are still being promoted. Notably, logging into the website using a Robi number was not permitted.

While Robi has described Airtel as a sub-brand, the Airtel website presents it as a global brand, noting, “Airtel is a global brand of Bharti Enterprise of India- world’s third largest mobile phone operator in terms of subscriber base. Axiata Group of Malaysia and Bharti Enterprise of India agreed to merge their respective operations in Bangladesh on January 28, 2016. Robi, as the merged company, began its commercial operation on November 16, 2016. Following the merger of Robi and Airtel, Robi was granted a license to use the Airtel brand in Bangladesh for the customers having 016 number series.”

Barrister M Sarwar Hossain, a corporate law expert, told Bonik Barta, “If the agreement doesn’t specifically allow the use of the Airtel name and mandates Robi branding, using the Airtel brand breaches the contract. This raises questions about why the regulator hasn’t intervened or taken action.”

In 2022, BTRC prohibited advertising Airtel-branded voice and data packages across various platforms. In response to a complaint submitted to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, BTRC decided during its 269th Commission meeting to halt the promotion of the Airtel brand.

The commission also decided not to allow new Airtel-branded offers, prohibited the renewal of existing packages under that name, and removed Airtel advertisements within two months. Robi has previously breached contract conditions. In April 2020, despite restrictions on share transfers, Robi’s investment partner, Japan’s NTT Docomo, began transferring its shares, eventually selling 6.3 percent of its stake to Bharti Airtel. This raised Bharti Airtel’s share in Robi to 31.3 percent, with the remaining 68.7 percent still held by Robi.

Commenting on the issue, Robi’s Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer, Shahed Alam, told Bonik Barta, “Airtel is a sub-brand of Robi Axiata Limited. Through a High Court-approved merger directive, Robi Axiata Limited acquired all intellectual property rights, including trademarks, logos, and the Airtel brand from Airtel Bangladesh Limited.”

He stated, “It is noteworthy that a brand is entirely separate from the company entity. Even if a company ceases to exist as an entity, a brand can retain its own identity, which is universally recognized. It is very common for multiple brands to exist under the same company in the telecom and other consumer goods industries. This process is prevalent among telecom operators in Bangladesh as well as around the world.”

The company further stated that Grameenphone’s Skitto in Bangladesh, Singtel’s GOMO in Singapore, StarHub’s giga in Singapore, China Telecom’s M Zone, GoTone, Maxis’s Hotlink in Malaysia, Hong Kong’s HKI’s Club SIM, France’s Orange’s Sosh, Tele2’s Comviq in Sweden, and Belgium’s Proximus’s Scarlet are all established sub-brands. This practice is not limited to the telecom sector, as consumer goods companies often create separate sub-brands for the same general product category. For example, Procter & Gamble has Tide and Ariel, Unilever has Surf and OMO, and Colgate-Palmolive has Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, and Colgate Optic White. Telecom operators create sub-brands to diversify digital lifestyles through different services catering to specific customers, which is a standard practice.

Although Robi provided several examples of sub-brands from other companies, these are original and authentic sub-brands of the respective companies. Upon investigation, it was found that these did not fall under any mergers or acquisitions. Grameenphone’s Skitto brand was launched in 2017, Singtel Group’s GOMO brand in Singapore in 2019, StarHub’s digital mobile service Giga, and Maxis’s Hotlink brand, which has 6.3 million users, started in 1999. Comviq emerged from Sweden’s Televerket monopoly in the telecommunications sector. None of these were formed through mergers or acquisitions.

The merger between telecom operators Robi Axiata and Airtel received swift approval from the ministry. On July 13, 2016, the Ministry of Finance granted approval for the merger of the two companies. Ten days after receiving the finance ministry’s approval, a summary report was sent to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on July 24. Within a week, on July 31, then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who also held the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications under her jurisdiction, gave final approval.

The finance ministry recommended a total payment of BDT 6.07 billion to complete the merger process. This includes BDT 5.07 billion for 15 MHz of Airtel’s 1800 MHz (2G) spectrum at a rate of BDT 338 million per MHz and BDT 1 billion as a merger fee. The Prime Minister’s Office kept these recommendations unchanged.

The finance ministry also recommended ensuring the implementation of a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) and Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) for Robi-Airtel employees. It was instructed that information regarding full payments under VRS and VSS must be reported to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) within 60 days of the merger. If any complications arise in implementing VRS and VSS, the merged company must take appropriate action per BTRC’s instructions. Additionally, if the merged company needs to terminate any employees within three years of the merger, it must inform BTRC, providing detailed reasons.

Robi-Airtel officially applied for the merger to BTRC in September 2015. According to the proposal, the merged company would operate under the ‘Robi’ name. After the merger, the combined spectrum holdings of both operators became the highest in the industry. At that time, Airtel held 20 MHz and Robi held 19.80 MHz of spectrum. The combined spectrum totaled 39.80 MHz, surpassing Grameenphone’s 32 MHz, which was the highest at that time.

When asked, Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar, Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University and former director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) at Dhaka University, told Bonik Barta, “If Airtel’s approval was in place at the time of the merger, Robi could use that brand name. Any other legal issues are separate matters that should be addressed accordingly. There have been precedents of name changes after mergers and acquisitions in Bangladesh because such brands had lost their appeal. However, the Airtel name still holds significant acceptance among the youth, which might be why it hasn’t been changed.”

When approached for comment, BTRC Chairman Major General (Retd.) Md. Emdad Ul Bari told Bonik Barta, “Since assuming office, many issues have come to our attention. Whatever issues arise, we are addressing them legally. Currently, I am not aware of this particular matter, but I will review it and resolve it through legal procedures.”