Anisul Islam Noor :
The mobile phone operators are not showing interest to pay compensation for call drops though their volume now stood at 1.60 crore minutes per day.
However, the operators in a meeting with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory (BTRC) on July 18 agreed to provide their subscribers with one minute free call as compensation if any call drop happens within operators’ own network.
The meeting, chaired by BTRC chairman Shahjahan Mahmud, decided that the operators would voluntarily start compensating affected subscribers immediately for the on-net call drops till December next.
After one and a half months, high ups of two leading mobile phone operators said that they had ‘reluctantly agreed’ to give compensation as they did not want to create an embarrassing situation in that meeting.
‘The BTRC cannot force us to provide mandatory compensation as we are already way below the BTRC allowable call drop limit,’ said a senior official of a mobile phone company.
He said that operators did not argue with the regulator about the on-net call drops compensation to avoid unpleasant situations.
‘But no operators started the compensation service. We will talk to State Minister for telecom Tarana Halim about the matter,’ the official said.
The telecom regulator earlier twice ordered the mobile companies to provide mandatory one minute free call for the call drops to the users but the operators bypassed it citing technical reasons.
The operators at that time told the BTRC that they were unable to provide call drop compensation in off-net calls where users call from one operator to another.
It is impossible to determine on which networks the problem occurs during an off-net call drop, they argued.
A senior official of the BTRC told The New Nation on Sunday that the operators would be made accountable when the operators’ monthly reports come to the regulator.
The BTRC in May took live call drop data from the operators where the average call drop rate was found at 0.85 per cent whereas the regulator’s approved allowable limit is 2-3 per cent.
Officials of the mobile phone companies also said that the recent example of India about the call drop issues also made Bangladeshi operators hopeful about not giving any compensation.
In May, the Indian Supreme Court ruled against the mandatory call drop compensation order of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India after the order had been challenged by the operators.
‘That case is a solid example we have for reference. So, the government cannot force us to compensate as long as we are under the allowable limit,’ said another official.
The operators, however, on several occasions provided call drop compensation to the subscribers for on-net calls as a promotional tool voluntarily.
The mobile phone operators are not showing interest to pay compensation for call drops though their volume now stood at 1.60 crore minutes per day.
However, the operators in a meeting with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory (BTRC) on July 18 agreed to provide their subscribers with one minute free call as compensation if any call drop happens within operators’ own network.
The meeting, chaired by BTRC chairman Shahjahan Mahmud, decided that the operators would voluntarily start compensating affected subscribers immediately for the on-net call drops till December next.
After one and a half months, high ups of two leading mobile phone operators said that they had ‘reluctantly agreed’ to give compensation as they did not want to create an embarrassing situation in that meeting.
‘The BTRC cannot force us to provide mandatory compensation as we are already way below the BTRC allowable call drop limit,’ said a senior official of a mobile phone company.
He said that operators did not argue with the regulator about the on-net call drops compensation to avoid unpleasant situations.
‘But no operators started the compensation service. We will talk to State Minister for telecom Tarana Halim about the matter,’ the official said.
The telecom regulator earlier twice ordered the mobile companies to provide mandatory one minute free call for the call drops to the users but the operators bypassed it citing technical reasons.
The operators at that time told the BTRC that they were unable to provide call drop compensation in off-net calls where users call from one operator to another.
It is impossible to determine on which networks the problem occurs during an off-net call drop, they argued.
A senior official of the BTRC told The New Nation on Sunday that the operators would be made accountable when the operators’ monthly reports come to the regulator.
The BTRC in May took live call drop data from the operators where the average call drop rate was found at 0.85 per cent whereas the regulator’s approved allowable limit is 2-3 per cent.
Officials of the mobile phone companies also said that the recent example of India about the call drop issues also made Bangladeshi operators hopeful about not giving any compensation.
In May, the Indian Supreme Court ruled against the mandatory call drop compensation order of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India after the order had been challenged by the operators.
‘That case is a solid example we have for reference. So, the government cannot force us to compensate as long as we are under the allowable limit,’ said another official.
The operators, however, on several occasions provided call drop compensation to the subscribers for on-net calls as a promotional tool voluntarily.
