BTRC orders compensation from 1st call drop
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) yesterday directed telecom operators in the country to start counting the amount of compensation owed to customers from the first call dropped in a day.
As per the directive, operators must now return 30 seconds of talk time for the first and second calls dropped while it will be 40 seconds for the third to seventh call dropped each day.
Previously, Grameenphone and Robi would compensate customers for dropped calls from the third to seventh call drop in a day while Banglalink returned talk time from the second to sixth call drop.
However, customers will only get the return when a call drop occurs during voice calls with the same operator.
The other types of call drops involve those between multiple operators, interconnection exchange or fibre cable company. In such cases, the problem could arise from any end, making detection and sharing payouts difficult.
Of the total call drop count, it is usually just a single dropped call each day about 65 per cent of the time.
According to the new rule, operators must be ready to return the talk time for call drops on the start time of the following day (00:00 hours) and subscribers will be able to use the compensated talk time from then on. However, if any operator wants, they can also return the talk time on the same day.
Operators must inform customers about the amount of talk time compensation within 24 hours of a call drop through SMS. The validity for using compensated talk time is a maximum of 15 days while it was just 24 hours previously.
Customers will be able to know his daily, weekly and monthly total call drop talk time amount by dialling the USSD code: *121*765#.
According to the BTRC, there were 52.59 crore dropped calls in 2021. However, customers only got compensation for 12.44 crore of them.
Since single call drops occur the most in a day, compensation from the first call drop will give more relief to customers, said Shyam Sunder Sikder, chairman of the BTRC.
Asked if Teletalk customers will get the compensation, he said this rule is also applicable for the state-run company.
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