BTRC to fix mobile data price, reduce number of packages

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is going to fix the minimum and maximum prices of mobile data soon and also reduce the number of existing packages.

In line with the "One country, one rate" campaign for broadband data, the telecom regulator is going to set the floor and ceiling prices for mobile data, said commission officials at a stakeholders' views-exchange meeting at the BTRC auditorium in the capital on Tuesday.

Mobile phone network operators, however, are more interested in improving the quality of services instead of capping package prices.
Mobile data users have long been demanding curtailing the number of packages and mobile data prices.

Taking their demand into consideration, the BTRC has conducted an online survey to gather users' opinions.

Presenting the survey results in a keynote, BTRC Director General (Systems and Services Division) Brig Gen Md Nasim Parvez said 46% of the total 549 participants want a fixed floor price of each gigabyte of Internet data for all time.

Also, around 54.9% participants opted for 40 to 45 packages – the number of which is now 95.

Atiq Hasan, a consumer of state-owned operator Teletalk, requested the operator to cut the price of its unlimited data package.

Anupam Kumar Bhoumik, another user of Teletalk and Grameenphone, also favoured reducing the number of packages and asked the regulator to make data packages realistic. "A package of 15GB data with just one week's validity is irrational," he said, "It might not be used due to working hours and other social life engagement."

Bangladesh ranked 12th in terms of receiving data at low prices worldwide, according to the Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing 2022 by Cable.co.uk, a British organisation that reviews Internet prices and speeds.

On average, it costs about Tk33 ($0.32) per gigabyte of mobile data in Bangladesh.

India ranked 5th, Nepal 10th, Sri Lanka 11th, Pakistan 13th, Bhutan 19th, Afghanistan 64th and the Maldives 145th in South Asia for providing cheap mobile Internet.

The report showed that the price of Internet in Bangladesh was higher than France, Italy, and India.

In September last year, the telecom regulator fixed a price for broadband Internet under the "One country, one rate" campaign.

But, as of now, no such pricing model exists for the mobile Internet market.

At present, mobile network operators can offer around 95 packages under three categories for four types of time validity.

But the regulator is now planning to reduce the number by 50%.

Before March 2022, a maximum of 362 packages were offered by a network operator.

Telecom experts Abu Saeed Khan and Dr Moinul Islam Zaber, professor of CSE at Dhaka University said price regulation is not required in a competitive market. Therefore, they suggested the BTRC focus on quality of services along with price regulation initiatives.

Abu Saeed Khan termed price regulation of products and services "pre-historic" and suggested the regulator walk back from it "if it truly wants to go to sustainable public welfare".

"It [diverse packages and prices] has already created a huge highly competitive market. It is completely the operator's decision how many packages it will offer," Abu Saeed said.

He said, "What the regulator can do is to ensure the consumers are not cheated."

Banglalink's Chief Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Officer Taimur Rahman said consumers used to complain about data prices once, but now they ask about quality of services because compared to price hikes of other commodities and services mobile operators did not increase the data price.

Robi's Chief Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Officer Shahed Alam said consumers' options of choice should not be restricted.

"The number of packages seems higher because an operator has to bring packages based on demand. Instead of limiting packages, we should look into whether we are irritating and disturbing the users," he said.

He, however, believes that price reduction is possible through tax reduction.

BTRC Vice-Chairman Engineer Md Mohiuddin Ahmed said at the event that they will come up with a decision on mobile data pricing and number of packages after thorough analysis of the opinions from both consumers and operators.

Among others, Grameenphone Senior Director (Corporate Affairs) Hossain Sadat, Posts and Telecommunications Division's Additional Secretary Md Mahbub-ul-alam, and BTRC Commissioner Engr Sheikh Reaz Ahmed spoke at the event.