Minister annoyed with BTRC’s slothfulness

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Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is running slowly like giant python due to its slothful activities. That is why this government organization does not move fast enough to improve mobile customer services, blames State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim.
 She blamed the BTRC for its slow progress in moving files over customer services, according to notes of a recently meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, sources said.
According to the source, the state minister told the meeting that the BTRC is prompt in forwarding files for licenses to the ministry, but that is not the case for matters tied of mobile subscribers.
Tarana Halim told journalists at her office on Thursday that the government’s main focus is on improving customer services. “But it is moving slower than the other issues,” she said, adding, “Everything except for the quality of service moves at the usual pace.”
She said, “The BTRC is not a constitutional body, it’s under the government. But the ministry does not interfere in its affairs.”
 Among several other telecom issues, the BTRC is also responsible for ensuring the quality of services provided by mobile phone operators. Frequent call drops, slow internet and unwanted SMSs from operators top the list of complaints by subscribers in the country.
In a BTRC organized public hearing last year, subscribers said that call drops were rampant while some internet and voice data packages rip-offs. The telecom regulator claimed that operators are reluctant to comply with their instructions.
Responding to different questions, BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood said, “The operators are informed immediately of any instruction by the ministry. But they are often reluctant to enforce those.”
He said it is necessary to define BTRC’s objective and scope of responsibility in a clear and specific way.
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