The government has sought the information about how much money has been spent on online platforms, especially on social media, in the last one year for digital advertising. Social media includes Google, WhatsApp, Yahoo, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, IMO etc. In the letter sent to various institutions and organizations, Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission- BTRC has instructed to report all types of information on a month-by-month basis in the last one year (from January to December 2021). The concerned institutions have been given 10 working days to request information on all types of digital advertisements on a monthly basis.
This letter signed by Nahidul Hasan, Deputy Director of the Commission, has been sent on Wednesday (August 10) to all mobile phone operators of the country, all ISPs (Internet Service Providers), all T-VAS (Telecom Value Added Service) operators of the country, the association of mobile phone operators AMTOB, the association of ISPs ISPAB and the top executives of the MSS aggregator operators.
The letter lists the month (how much was spent in which month), digital advertising medium (Google, WhatsApp, Yahoo, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, IMO), advertising payment rate, payment method details, currency (BDT and Dollars), total amount paid etc. Mentioned and asked to send to BTRC within next 10 working days.
An account submission form has also been given with the letter. It was also asked about the medium through which this advertisement was given and how the price was paid. The letter has been sent to all mobile operators, AMTOB, ISPs, ISPAB, TVas and A2P SMS aggregators, but e-commerce companies are not on the list. However, every day a lot of advertisements from the e-commerce sector are published through digital channels.