Mobile data to come under regulator's scrutiny
Similar to broadband internet prices, the price of mobile data is going to come under the regulator's scrutiny.
Posts and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar called upon the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to expedite mobile data price setting process, saying, "At present, network operators are determining mobile data price on their own, which is not acceptable under any circumstances."
Inaugurating the Quality of Service (QoS) benchmarking system on Sunday, the minister said, "Customer growth is a temporary business tool, but customer satisfaction is important for long-term and sustainable business. However, none of the operator's quality of customer service is satisfactory."
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Aiming to continuously monitor the quality of service of mobile operators at outdoor and indoor venues across the country, the BTRC has availed equipment from Germany-based Rohde & Schwarz.
Earlier in June this year, the BTRC launched the "One Country One Rate" service for broadband internet to ensure affordable internet in every corner of the country.
Under the service, customers can avail a 5Mbps bandwidth at Tk500 each month which was earlier above Tk600. The affordability of the internet has increased, and both rich and poor have access to it.
On the QoS benchmarking system, Brigadier General Md Ehsanul Kabir, director general at the Engineering and Operations Division of BTRC, said the system will help simultaneous measure service quality of voice call and data of different technologies like 2G, 3G and 4G and over-the-top applications (OTT), as well as Facebook, Google and WhatsApp.
Chairing the event, BTRC Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder said beside monitoring the quality of service of mobile operators, the system will also help monitor their revenue, for which the regulator has been dependent on the operators so far.
"We have taken several initiatives to ensure the best service to the customers. Despite that, operators' service quality has not reached the expected level," he added.
Posts and Telecommunication Division's Secretary Md Khalilur Rahman spoke as the special guest.
Among others, engineer Md Mohiuddin Ahmed, vice-chairman of BTRC, and Brig Gen Md Nasim Parvez, director general of Systems and Services Division, also spoke at the event.
