Call drop

Tarana now sides with telcos

Shifting from her earlier tough stance on the issue of call drops, Tarana Halim, state minister for post and telecommunications, yesterday sided with the telecom operators. 
Halim yesterday held a meeting with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the mobile telecom operators at the Secretariat. After the meeting, she told the journalists that the rate of call drops in the country is within the standard limit of call drops accepted by the International Telecommu­nication Union (ITU).
“We asked the operators to submit the list of calls and call drops from January so that we can check whether the rate is really within the acceptable limit set by the ITU.”
Earlier, on November 30 last year, Halim had told The Independent that compensation for call drops would be a must from January. After missing earlier deadlines for ensuring compensation to subscribers for call drops, the state minister said subscribers would receive compensation for unexpected call drops from telecom operators, starting January 1.
“This time, the telecom regulator—the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)—will ensure that the operators pay for unexpected 
call drops,” Halim had said at that time. She had also said the mobile phone operators must inform their subscribers about the compensation, in case of more than one call drop, through SMS.

After yesterday’s meeting, Halim said since the complaints of call drops were raised at the customers’ level, she asked all the mobile operators to prepare a report comprising the list of call drops and send it to the BTRC.
The BTRC will then verify it and send it to the ministry, which will finally verify the volume of call drops, said Tarana. “If we find that the call drop rate is not within the permissible limit, then the operators would have to compensate the customers.” 
She said the mobile phone operators, however, have 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,” she said.
The state minister also asked the mobile operators to ensure that promotional SMSs are not sent after midnight till morning.
She also said the mobile operators have mentioned a major hindrance in ensuring the highest quality of service in telecom service. This hindrance is the high demand for data, because of which the operators face difficulties in managing the spectrum.
They sought active sharing of telecom infrastructure and tech neutrality to solve this problem.
“From the ministry, we have decided to facilitate these two things for the operators in the quickest possible time.”

Call drop

Tarana now sides with telcos

Shifting from her earlier tough stance on the issue of call drops, Tarana Halim, state minister for post and telecommunications, yesterday sided with the telecom operators. Halim yesterday held a meeting with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the mobile telecom operators at the Secretariat. After the meeting, she told the journalists that the rate of call drops in the country is within the standard limit of call drops accepted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). We asked the operators to submit the list of calls and call drops from January so that we can check whether the rate is really within the acceptable limit set by the ITU. Earlier, on November 30 last year, Halim had told The Independent that compensation for call drops would be a must from January. After missing earlier deadlines for ensuring compensation to subscribers for call drops, the state minister said subscribers would receive compensation for unexpected call drops from telecom operators, starting January 1. This time, the telecom regulatorthe Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)will ensure that the operators pay for unexpected call drops, Halim had saidat that time. She had also said the mobile phone operators must inform their subscribers about the compensation, in case of more than one call drop, through SMS. After yesterdays meeting, Halim said since the complaints of call drops were raised at the customers level, she asked all the mobile operators to prepare a report comprising the list of call drops and send it to the BTRC. The BTRC will then verify it and send it to the ministry, which will finally verify the volume of call drops, said Tarana. If we find that the call drop rate is not within the permissible limit, then the operators would have to compensate the customers. She said the mobile phone operators, however, have 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, she said. The state minister also asked the mobile operators to ensure that promotional SMSs are not sent after midnight till morning. She also said the mobile operators have mentioned a major hindrance in ensuring the highest quality of service in telecom service. This hindrance is the high demand for data, because of which the operators face difficulties in managing the spectrum. They sought active sharing of telecom infrastructure and tech neutrality to solve this problem. From the ministry, we have decided to facilitate these two things for the operators in the quickest possible time.