BTRC Public hearing held in Chattogram
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) held a public hearing on Thursday morning at Hotel Radisson Blu Chattogram Bay View Hotel and online platform 'Zoom' in the presence of customers regarding 'Telecom Service and Regulatory Agency Activities' as part of implementation of 'National Cleanliness Strategy Action Plan'.
During the hearing, the customers highlighted the problems they faced in getting the telecommunication services and the officials of the concerned departments of the commission answered all the questions in a step by step manner. 848 people registered online to participate in the public hearing, out of which 182 participated in person, 94 online and 17 others participated.
Chairman of Public Hearing Committee and BTRC Chairman (Senior Secretary) Shyam Sundar Shikder, Vice-Chairman of the Commission Prof. Md. Mohiuddin Ahmed delivered the welcome speech at the public hearing. He said that every public hearing increases the transparency and accountability of the work of any organization and BTRC will work on how much more development can be done in the telecommunication sector by taking into account the complaints of customers.
He also said that until October 2022, there are 12 crore 62 lakh internet subscribers in the country, 18 crore 16 lakh mobile SIM subscribers and internet density 104.17 percent and in November 2022, the bandwidth and data usage has been 4,419 Gbps.
General Director of System and Services Department Br. J. Md. Nasim Parvez made a presentation regarding the public hearing. At this time, he presented the significant progress report of the public hearing held in the past year 2021 for the information of all present.
He said that in the last 1 year BTRC has taken various activities to increase the internet speed in view of customer complaints and drive test devices have been purchased to verify the internet speed. New guidelines for call drop refunds have been introduced this year to address call drops and a provision of three times the cost of each call drop has been introduced.
A private employee named Jawadul Karim demanded that the recharge limit of Tk. 20 not be kept. In reply, Director General of Systems and Services Department, Brig: Jena: Md Nasim Parvez said, mobile operators have analyzed and found that customers do not recharge more than 10 taka. After analyzing the matter again, if the customer responds to the recharge of 10 taka, then action will be taken accordingly. In response to another customer's complaint about weak network and internet speed of mobile operators, Director General of Engineering and Operations Department Brig: Jena: Mohd Ehsanul Kabir said that the network weakness of several towers of all operators has already been identified and the operators have been instructed to increase the network speed in those towers. A student named Saim said that if a certain amount of money is recharged, data and bundles will be purchased automatically.
In response, the Director General of System and Services Department, Br. J. Md. Nasim Parvez, assured to take the necessary measures.
A student named Ashiq Chowdhury wants to know about the initiative to increase the job field by introducing new services in the telecommunication sector.
In response, Commissioner of Legal and Licensing Department, Abu Syed Dilzar Hossain said, new technologies and services are constantly being introduced in the world and the number of BTRC licensed institutions is increasing due to the increase in job opportunities in this sector. When IT expert Touhidul Alam Chowdhury asked about the activities of launching amateur radio license, the Director of Spectrum Division, Lt. Col. Awal Uddin Ahmed assured about the new activities of launching amateur radio license.
A student named Asiful complained about automatic pay for use when the data is exhausted. In response, Director General of System and Services Department, Br. J. Md. Nasim Parvez said, considering the interest of the customer, pay for use has been limited to a maximum of five taka. Besides, various categories of data packages have been launched taking into consideration the customer's capacity. In response to a customer's question about the launch of 5G, Director General of Engineering and Operations Department Brigadier General Md. Ehsanul Kabir said that all operators have already started the process of launching 5G. A person named Tanim Khan mentioned the issue of various security related problems including password of different accounts including bank account of old customer during SIM replacement.
In reply, Director General of Systems and Services Department, Brigadier General Md Nasim Parvez said SIM is a state asset. Before the replacement, the customer is informed about this by newspaper notification and notice on the website. If the customer does not respond after the specified time, it is treated as a replacement SIM.
Mr. Shyam Sunder Shikder, chairman of BTRC, thanked all the participants and good people present in the public hearing and said that the complaints received in the public hearing are helpful in the further activities and decision-making of BTRC.
Pointing out that customers can learn many unknown things through questions in the public hearing, he added that the future plans of the government and the election manifesto of the Honorable Prime Minister have been implemented. BTRC is working towards the goal of building Smart Bangladesh in 2041. He also said that public hearings will be organized in other departments in the future. At the end of the public hearing, BTRC Chairman Mr. Shyam Sundar Shikder interacted with the media workers and answered their various questions.
System and Services Department Director Lt. Col. SM Rezaur Rahman conducted a public hearing with the participation of high-ranking officials of various government agencies, representatives of BTRC-licensed telecommunication companies, in person and online telecommunication service receivers on the quality of service of mobile operators such as call drop and various packages (voice, data bundles). It included issues related to pricing and internet service complaints, increasing internet speed in remote areas, services of other telecom service provider licensees concerned. Commissioner of Spectrum Division Engineer Sheikh Riaz Ahmed, Director General of Administration Division Md. Delwar Hossain, ISPAB president Emdadul Haque, local administration officials of Chittagong along with BTRC Development Officers were present on the occasion.
