Telenor has been told it will not lose its operating licence in Bangladesh, despite a government commission saying it should be suspended immediately.

The country’s largest mobile operator has been fighting a case that argued that the original licensing agreement in 1996, which created Telenor’s Bangladesh subsidiary Grameenphone, was flawed and should be considered invalid.

However, Reuters quotes the country’s Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith as stating: “In no way will we suspend or cease its operation. Adbul Muhith noted that he is still waiting to get the final report from the commision, due “hopefully” in the next two months.

Oslo-listed Telenor, which has 150 million subscribers worldwide, owns a 56 percent stake in Dhaka-listed Grameenphone, which has 40 million customers and has become Telenor’s most profitable unit as well as Bangladesh’s number one carrier.

Reuters notes that Bangladesh renewed Grameenphone’s operating licence for 15 years last year, despite a long administrative delay that held the process up for several months.

The commission argued that if the government opted not to suspend the firm’s operations, Telenor should be forced to give up 16 percent of the firm retroactive to 2002 and the Bangladesh government should use the funds for the benefit of the poor and landless. This scenario remains a possibility.