Marking the 10th year of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association-BMPCA, a discussion on ‘Consumer Rights in Telecommunication, Technology Services and Mobile Banking’ was held at Hotel Royal next to Dhaka Reporters Unity on Friday. Former Chief Information Commissioner and BTRC founding chairman Dr. Syed Margub Morshed inaugurated the meeting.
Director General of National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate AKM Shafiqul Islam was present as the chief guest. “There has been an expansion of telecommunication services. Technology is also changing. Contrarily, television newspaper advertisements show that 4G networks are available wherever you go across the country. But the reality is that, even 2G services are not available. Grameenphone’s message package price has jumped from Tk. 17 to Tk. 70. No one is found hold the responsible to check it. There is no trace of when the price increased or how it happened. Anarchy is running on internet packages as well. While we are struggling to control potato prices, we have seen many big syndicates but we see them also in technology services. It will also be interesting to see why state-owned operator Teletalk is not developing. We can’t solve the problem of this service because of an operator’s lawsuit.
Speaking on the occasion, Syed Dr. Margub Morshed said, “Mobile Phone Consumers Association of Bangladesh-MPCAB has been working for a long time to protect the interests of the customers; With this, the public, private and civil society can play a more prominent role in protecting the rights of consumers.
He advised the organization to always cooperate with the BTRC.
National Curriculum and Textbook Board member Dr. AKM Reazul Hasan addressed the function as special guest. SM Nazer Hossain, Senior Vice President of Consumer Association of Bangladesh- CAB, Comrade Saiful Islam, General Secretary of Biplobi Workers Party, Fazlul Haque, Chairman of Jatiya Tarun Sangha also spoke as guests of honour.
Central Joint General Secretary of the organization Advocate Shaheda Begum and Lion Sabbir Rahman were also present. Advocate Moniruzzaman Shashwat Monir moderated the programme.
Mohiuddin Ahmed said, “We have been working on consumer rights for the last nine years. But with the development of technology in this sector, the commission or the Department of Speaker Rights did not play the same role in protecting consumer interests as fraud and irregularities have increased”. In the coming days, he urged, the National Consumer Rights Directorate and the PTRC to take immediate steps to resolve consumer problems and settle complaints quickly.
