Compensation for unexpected call drops
Ministers order goes unheeded
First public
hearing on quality of services in 2nd week of October
Staff Reporter
There has not been any progress in implementation of compensation for unexpected call drops rather the sufferings of mobile phone subscribers have been increased, complained the mobile phone subscribers.
State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim directed the mobile phone operators to compensate the mobile phone subscribers for any unexpected call drops, but nothing has been changed even after one year of the sate ministers directive.
Ashraful Chowdhury, a mobile phone subscriber, said the telecom operators are exploiting us by offering different services. They are misleading us, he added.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) thinks the quality of services provided by the telecom operators are not up to the mark.
Against the backdrop of dissatisfaction of mobile phone subscribers on quality of services Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is going to hold a public hearing to listen to subscribers complaints in the second week of the current month. The decision has been taken at the 199th meeting of the regulator.
In a survey conducted by BTRC in the 15 districts on 1,380 subscribers last year, it was found that 48 per cent had faced at least one call drop in every 10 calls whereas 30 per cent of respondents had faced 2 call drops in every 10 calls.
On October 2015, Tarana Halim asked all the operators to resolve the problem over call drops with December 2015. However, there has been no progress in implementation of compensation for unexpected call drops till yesterday.
Telecom subscribers have been complaining over service quality of data, voice and customer services for long time. Thus we have decided to hold public hearing, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood told The Independent earlier.
According to sources, the public hearing is being arranged to hear subscribers opinion, reaction and take necessary action accordingly by the telecom regulator.
After the Facebook post by disappointed State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam at call drops and poor service of the GP, on October 19, 2015 State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Division Tarana Halim asked all the operators to resolve the problem over call drops by the end of that year.
On January 28, Tarana Halim said the mobile phone operators must inform their subscribers about the compensation in case of call drop through SMS.
The mobile phone operatorshave to inform their subscribers about the compensation through SMS. If the subscribers are not informed, they
will think that they are not getting the compensation, Tarana said at a meeting with the chief executive officers of mobile phone operators.
Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, secretary of Posts and TelecommunicationsDivision, said the mobile phone operators will have to inform their subscribers if possible daily or weekly about how many cases of call drops occurred and how muchfree talk time he or she was given as compensation.
Earlier, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), the platform for all cellular phone operators in the country, sent a letter to the BTRC, requesting it to meet the operators and apprise them of the facts and figures in respect of call drops.
On January 19, the BTRC directed all mobile operators of the country to pay compensation for unexpected call drops to subscribers.
