No plan to restrict free calling apps: Tarana
BSS
The government has no plan to restrict the voice call through different communication apps like Viber, Imo and Whatsapp, State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said, reports BSS.
We are committed to stop illegal use of VoIP, but has no plan to bar free calling through communication apps, she told the news agency yesterday at her ministrys office.
Referring to her ministrys continuous effort to curb illegal call termination through VoIP, she said the efforts would be continued with the zero tolerance approach.
The state minister came up with the announcement to clear the governments stand on use of OTT (Over-the-Top) or communication apps. Our correspondent adds: The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is planning to introduce guidelines on Over-the-Top (OTT) applications.
This will help it monitor the number of calls made by subscribers using OTT applications (apps).
Announcing this at a press conference on Friday, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said BTRC will introduce guidelines on OTT applications in two to three months so that the regulator can monitor the process through which these work. BTRC can then monitor the calls made by using these applications.
He added that according to the BTRCs findings, there were more than 11 crore legal call terminations last year. But this year, the figure has dropped to 7 to 8 crore.
The drop was not only because of illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) but also because of the usage of OTT applications.
OTT applications are those in which one can call and message at lower costs by using apps and services such as Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, Tango, and Hangout, if they have an internet connection. That is why customers are now moving away from direct calls.
Talking to The Independent, the head of the technical department of an international gateway (IGW) operator said, The usage of OTT applications will increase and nothing can be done to stop that. But dealing with it effectively is the issue now.
He added that the users of these applications numbered 1 million last year, but he thinks that the number has doubled this year. People connected with this business also said that not only international calls but local calls are also being done using OTT applications.
The BTRC had earlier said that direct calls made per day have dropped to 7 million minutes.
The number of direct calls made per day has declined significantly due to the increasing use of OTT applications such as Skype, Viber and other apps.
