BTRC serves show cause notice to GP for call drops

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has asked Grameenphone to explain its call drops and a lack of satisfactory reply might result in penalties, said State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology, Zunaid Ahmed Palak today (3 July).

Despite having their sufficient spectrum allocated by the BTRC, why issues like call drop continues remained a question, said Palak during his speech as the chief guest at the event for launching national artificial intelligence tool "Gbrain" in the capital.

Following Grameenphone, other operators will also face same regulatory action, he added.

"We have received the notice yesterday and will respond to BTRC in due time," Grameenphone Head of Communications Sharfuddin Ahmed Chowdhury told The Business Standard this evening.

According to BTRC officials, all mobile operators fell short of their spectrum rollout target, despite buying and leaving it unutilised, mainly due to the need for further investments and that results in decline in quality of services.

Telecom operators, however, keep arguing that their call drop rates are well below the regulatory threshold.

The country's telecom law empowered BTRC to impose a fine ranging from Tk1 crore to Tk300 crore for unsatisfactory explanation of such show cause notices.