Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers’ Association-BMPCA has called for restoration of short-term internet packages and reduction of tax rates to make the cost of internet affordable and if necessary to hold public hearing in this regard. This call was made at a press conference titled ‘Internet price increase and package complexity should be resolved’ at the Crime Reporters Association (CRAB) Auditorium in Segunbagicha on Thursday.
The president of the organization Mohiuddin Ahmed presented the main speech in the press conference. The organization’s fellow professor Dr. AKM Riazul Hasan, General Secretary Comrade Rajekuzzaman Ratan, Consumer Organizer and Market Analyst Kazi Abdul Hannan, Central Member Advocate Saheda Begum, Doctor Aminul Islam, President of Mobile Phone Recharge Business Association Aminul Islam Bulu, Information Editor Sheikh Farid and others were also present at the press conference.
On behalf of the organization, 5 more demands were raised in the press conference, including the reinstatement of all short-term packages including 3 days packages. The demands are – to reduce the price of the Internet more than before; Making the burden of additional taxes on Internet prices affordable; Delimitation of packages of the customer’s choice; Reconciling the extra money customers had to spend in the last month as a result of the decision to increase the price and to stop customer confusion about the number of packages.
Speakers at the press conference said, as consumers, our demand is that you should design packages by considering a certain standard. We will buy Internet- either fix a data limit or a time limit. If it is not possible to reduce the price, then the time to use the data should be unlimited. And if you fix a certain time, then you have to pay unlimited MB (Internet).
In his speech, the president of the organization Mohiuddin Ahmed said, we think that the overall price of the Internet has increased due to the reduction of the number of packages to 40. As a result, on the one hand, the freedom of the customer to choose the package has been undermined, on the other hand, it has given the opportunity to the operators to increase the prices. Consumers’ internet usage costs have increased due to cancellation of short-term and low-cost internet packages used by low-income and marginal customers. Such a stubborn decision in these difficult times is depriving the marginalized population of the opportunity to use the Internet.
