Govt may lift ban on Grameenphone's SIM card sales

The government may lift the ban on Grameenphone's SIM card sales. The Department of Posts and Telecommunications (PTD) has started reviewing the ban.

According to sources at PTD, the country's largest mobile operator may be allowed to sell all types of SIMs - both old and new ones - in consideration of the improvement in various indicators related to its quality of service.

Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar on Sunday (1 January) night told The Business Standard that a decision in this regard will be announced soon.

"It has been six months since Grameenphone stopped selling SIM cards, which is enough time for an operator to improve their service quality. They claim to have improved the service quality in various indicators, hence the likelihood of lifting the embargo is being reviewed. A decision will be announced soon," he said. 

Earlier on 29 June, the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) directed to stop the sale of all types of SIM cards of Grameenphone on the grounds that the service quality of the operator is not satisfactory.

However, it was later learned that the ban was imposed, under the direction of the Department of Posts and Telecommunications, due to the poor network around Padma Bridge on the day of its inauguration.

"On the day of the Padma bridge inauguration, Grameenphone's network was not good there -- the prime minister saw it. The cabinet secretary then called our secretary (posts and telecommunications division) and expressed his displeasure. The operator continues to have complaints about the poor quality of its service. Moreover, there was also a writ in the court. All these have led to the decision to ban GP SIM card sales," said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder at an event on 6 November.

The BRTC chairman repeated the same reason at another event on 8 November. Both events were attended by Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar, who in several media statements claimed that the poor quality of service including cold drops are to blame for the ban.

The decision hit the operator hard as it has lost 16 lakh subscribers since the embargo was issued. As of August, Grameenphone has a subscriber base of 8.31 crore which was 8.48 crore in June.

In mid-September, the commission allowed the operator to sell 13-lakh old unused SIMs considering the high demand for Grameenphone SIM as per the applications of various government and private departments including law enforcement agencies.

However, BTRC backtracked from its decision on 6 November, after the Department of Posts and Telecommunications issued a show cause notice to the commission on 18 October regarding the directive.

"The service quality of the operator has not improved since the suspension of new SIM card sales. The ministry has instructed me to revoke my earlier order that allowed the sale of old SIMs," BTRC Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder said when asked about the withdrawal.

Later on 20 November, telecom giant Grameenphone got permission to sell 78,000 sim cards to selective public and private corporate clients such as the Bangladesh Armed Forces, Bangladesh Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

In a letter sent to BTRC on 25 November, Grameenphone asked for the lifting of the ban stating that it had fulfilled the conditions of service improvement.