Discussion meeting at BTRC on mobile packages and data rates
Customers have been complaining for a long time about the price of mobile packages and data. Now added to this is the quality of service. These three issues came up at the hybrid exchange meeting at the BTRC conference room in the capital’s Shahbagh on Tuesday (May 30). Telecom service users, representatives of all mobile operators, university teachers and telecom experts and representatives of various government agencies presented their views.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission organized this meeting to give new policies under the guidance of the Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar, taking into account the complaints of customers and limitations of service providers. At the beginning of the meeting, Brigadier General Md. Nasim Parvez, Director General of the Systems and Services Department of the organization presented the online survey report of the BTRC.
Engineer Mohiuddin Ahmed, Vice-Chairman of BTRC, was the chief guest in the exchange meeting while Engineer Sheikh Riaz Ahmed, Commissioner of Spectrum Division of the Commission presided over the event.
According to the results of the online customer survey on mobile package numbers and data prices, 52.8 percent of the participants agreed to keep the price per GB the same for any period. 27.2 percent of participants said that the price per GB of data should be different for different durations and 19.6 percent said that the price of data for a short duration should be lower than the price of data for a longer duration.
When asked what should be the maximum and minimum price per GB of data, 46 percent of participants felt that there should always be a floor (minimum price) per GB. 20.7 percent felt that there should be separate ceiling (highest price) and floor (lowest price) for data of different tenures. 17.1 percent said there should be a floor (lowest value) and a ceiling (highest value) per GB.
Among the 549 participants who took part in the survey, 49.5 percent were students, 29.1 percent were employees, 9.5 percent were businessmen, and 6 percent were customers from other professions.
In response to the question of how many offers a mobile operator should have in the survey, 54.9 percent of the participants opined that there should be 40-45 maximum packages. The remaining 23.2 percent of participants gave their opinion on packages 71-85 and 14 percent on packages 51-60.
How long the data package should last; In response to the question, 52.2 percent of the participants gave their opinion that the package should have 7 days, 30 days and unlimited and 44 percent of the participants said that the package should have 3/7/15/ 30 days.
What should be the data carry forward (adding unused data to the next package)? In response to such a question, 87.8 percent said that unused data should be added to the new package after taking any package within the validity period.
At the meeting, a customer named Atiq Hasan, who has been using Teletalk SIM since 2014, called for reducing the price of Teletalk’s unlimited package and increasing its network facilities nationwide. In response, the representative present on behalf of Teletalk said that Teletalk’s data is available cheaper than other operators and it will continue in the future. Stating that Teletalk’s network expansion is underway, he also said that Teletalk’s service quality will increase in the first quarter of next year.
A businessman named Mainul Islam said that he is facing problems in getting the network and called upon the operators to improve the network service.
Mortuza, a freelancer, said Teletalk has no network coverage after a power outage. He also said that Grameenphone sends a lot of messages to the customers, adding that the additional messages are becoming annoying for the customers. Another customer expressed his opinion in favor of reducing the data validity to a maximum of 7 days and 15 SIM registrations against 1 voter ID.
Telecom expert Abu Sayeed Khan said, to ensure quality service for customers, the inconsistencies in the supply line in providing telecommunication services should be resolved so that customers are not cheated in any way.
Advising to ensure minimum quality service instead of unlimited telecom services, he said unlimited service is a fraudulent service. Nothing is unlimited except the love of parents. So there should be no regulation to ensure sustainable public welfare in the true sense. They just need to make sure that customers are not cheated. There is no need to fix prices if competition can be ensured.
AMTOB Secretary General Brigadier General SM Farhad (retd) said that each customer’s data package needs are different. Stating that the young generation wants different types of packages for different needs, he said, 50 regular packages have been launched by the operator for the general customer, which does not appear to be much considering the customer demand. Therefore, it will not be right to take a decision based on the opinion of 150-200 million customers.
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Department of Dhaka University Dr. Moinul Jaber said that there is no need to regulate data pricing in a competitive market. He also commented that quality data services should be guaranteed in addition to paying attention to pricing.
Saifur Rahman Khan, Additional General Manager (Marketing, Sales and Distribution) of Teletalk, thanked BTRC for organizing the discussion meeting and said, Teletalk will determine the next price and number of data packages by giving importance to the customer’s opinion.
Participating in the meeting, ISPAB Secretary General Nazmul Karim Bhuiyan said that they charge 365 taka for the bandwidth that mobile operators buy for 250 taka. As a result, business competition becomes uneven and it becomes difficult for them to implement one country one rate. Still, we are working to deliver broadband internet service to all parts of Bangladesh within the next 5 years.
Former Director General of BTRC Colonel (retd) Rakibul Hasan said that the pricing should be done at the wholesale level rather than at the retail level. At the same time one country one rate should be implemented only in one model. Otherwise ISPs would be out of business.
Taimur Rahman, Chief Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Officer of Banglalink, said that a few years ago there was a lot of discussion about the price of data, but now customers are raising questions about the quality of service. He also commented that it is not possible to reduce the price of data at various stages due to the huge operating expenses of the operators.
Robi’s Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Mohammad Saheed Alam said that the number of data packages seems high because the operators have to determine the package in accordance with the customer demand. He also said that if the tax is reduced, it will be possible to reduce the price of data.
Grameenphone Senior Director (Corporate Affairs) Hussain Sadat said, BTRC as a regulatory body will be able to take a rational decision after taking the views of operators and customers.
State telecommunication company BTCL Deputy Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Ghatak said that our fiber optic has been spread in almost every upazila of Bangladesh. MNOs are taking services from us by increasing our service quality from earlier. We can satisfy customers by ensuring quality.
While speaking as a special guest, Additional Secretary of Posts and Telecommunications Department (Telecom) Md. Mahbub-ul-Alam said that the duty of BTRC is to take rational decisions considering the interests of both operators and customers from a neutral role. This meeting is part of good governance. Our minister is very concerned about protecting the interests of consumers.
He also said that ‘one country, one rate’ should be introduced in mobile internet service as ‘one country, one rate’ has been formulated in the case of broadband internet. Stating that pricing will not be necessary if customers are aware, he said, people at the marginal level are still not very aware of technology, so the price and duration of data should be determined considering their interests.
While speaking as the chief guest, BTRC Vice-Chairman Engineer Mohiuddin Ahmed said, we will take a logical decision after checking the customer’s opinion thoroughly. He said that there are more than 18 crore mobile connections in the country, so the next decision will be taken to ensure that all the customers are served.
Speaking as the president, the BTRC Spectrum Division Commissioner Engineer Sheikh Riaz Ahmed said that mobile operators provide voice calls, SMS and internet services. BTRC is already carrying out checks on operators’ costs and number of packages. BTRC is working towards reaching a fruitful and customer friendly decision with the input of all. He also said that the final decision regarding the lower limit of mobile internet and the number of packages will be taken soon based on the opinions of both operators and customers.