Voice Price Cap Criticized: Experts Urge Policy Shift for Digital Inclusion
A proposal has been put forward to withdraw the voice tariff cap to make mobile services more citizen-friendly, arguing that it is reducing productivity. The recommendation was made by civic platforms Voice for Reform and TIPAP at a dialogue held on Sunday, April 5, at the BDBL Building in Kawran Bazar in the capital.
At the beginning of the dialogue, telecom and finance expert Mahtab Uddin Ahmed presented arguments in favor of the proposal. He stated that without increasing device penetration, internet penetration cannot grow, resulting in underprivileged citizens being deprived compared to self-sufficient groups.
The meeting, moderated by Fahim Mashrur, Coordinator of Voice for Reform, was attended by Mohammad Farhan Alam, Deputy Director of BTRC, Sadat Hossain from the Institute of Chartered Secretaries, Shahed Alam, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Robi Axiata, among others.
At the outset, Mahtab Uddin highlighted the data imbalance in the country’s telecom sector, noting that when the price cap was introduced in 2018, internet usage stood at 18 percent. It has now increased to 45 percent. Smartphone usage has risen from 26 percent to 73 percent of households. However, growth over the past three years has not met expectations. Government incentives for local mobile phone manufacturing have not been effective, as companies are not producing smartphones. While there has been some focus on feature phones, their production is also declining.
He said that in developed countries, bundled packages with phones have only recently been introduced. Despite receiving protection, local manufacturers and importers have not performed well. Meanwhile, Bangladesh remains the only country imposing a price cap on voice services, resulting in super profits for operators, who are therefore focusing most of their attention on this segment. Due to the regulator’s failure to address this issue, operators continue to bear this outdated policy burden.
“According to ITU, in 2018, there was a total of 130 MHz of spectrum, of which 60–70 percent was used for voice. By 2026, this has increased to 315 MHz. Despite a 142 percent increase in spectrum over the decade, operators are using only 5 percent of the 900 band for 2G while earning over 50 percent profit,” he added.
Describing 3G as a flawed decision, Mahtab Uddin said that approximately 20,000 more towers are still needed to achieve full nationwide 4G coverage. However, operators have claimed full coverage. For these reasons, although Grameenphone has been designated as SMP (Significant Market Power), the measure has not been effective, and its market share continues to grow rather than decline.
DBTech/IH/MUIM/OR
