Operators protest BTRC order to stop free-call offers
Star Business Report
Mobile phone operators have strongly criticised the recent order of the telecoms regulator that asked the cellphone companies to discontinue their free-call facilities late into the night. The Bangladesh Telecom-munications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is actually interfering with the business plans of the cellphone operators, they said. The mobile phone operators argued that these free-call facilities are offered in many countries around the world. This is probably for the first time that a regulator moves to stop the free-call facilities, they added. "We are surprised to receive such a letter from the BTRC as customers benefit from increased competition in the market," said Syed Yamin Bakht, general manager (Information) of the GrameenPhone, the leading cellphone operator in the country. "The free night calls were not really meant for students. The offer was for providing additional benefits for all our Djuice subscribers," he added. Now five companies -- GrameenPhone (GP), AKTEL, Banglalink, CityCell and state-run Teletalk -- are in business with over nine million subscribers. Of them, GP, CityCell and AKTEL are offering facilities of free phone calls between 12am and 6am under special packages. GP with around one million Djuice subscribers is offering late-night free call facility. Warid Telecom will be the sixth mobile phone operator in the country as it got license from the BTRC recently. "Mobile phone operators in Bangladesh battle to beat one another by offering the best possible features and the BTRC order will definitely hamper the business of the mobile phone companies," said a top executive of another cellphone company that also offers this facility. The BTRC on January 10 in a letter asked all the five operators to discontinue free-call facilities as the regulator had received numerous complaints from guardians and others that the facilities were causing moral degradation and change in lifestyle among young people. According to report of intelligence agencies, a section of young people, taking advantage of this free-call service, indulge in different anti-social activities, the telecoms regulator in the letter said, urging the operators concerned to stop the service immediately. The country witnessed a rapid surge in mobile phone subscriptions over the past three years with more than 100 percent growth.
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