On Wednesday, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) suspended the country’s top mobile operator Grameenphone from selling SIMs for an indefinite time for failing to provide quality customer services. However, this ban did not take effect in practice. On Thursday, Grameenphone’s SIMs were found being sold at retail level in different parts of the country, including the capital.
According to retailers, they have not yet received any message from Grameenphone authorities to stop selling SIMs. Even today they have been provided with new SIMs.
However, Grameenphone has said that it is not their responsibility to stop selling SIMs to retailers. In addition, the media has been informed that they will not take back these SIMs.
Khairul Bashar, Grameenphone’s head of communications, said the whole matter was ‘unexpected’. Even then, to increase the quality of customer service, 60 MHz spectrum has been bought from the last auction. In this situation, they are disappointed with the decision of the regulatory body. Thus, the operator is denying the allegation of BTRC.
Meanwhile, the share price of the country’s largest mobile company fell on Thursday after the BTRC banned the sale of new SIMs on Wednesday due to its ‘inability to provide quality services’ to customers through voice calls and internet connections. Shares of Grameenphone started falling on the Dhaka Stock Exchange soon after the start of trading in the morning. The closing price of the share was Tk. 300.10 on the previous day. At 03.45 pm while closing on Thursday, it dropped by Tk. 6 to Tk. 294.10.
