Landline use down drastically

The number of public switched telephone network (PSTN) users has decreased over the past decade, falling below half a million as mobile phones have become ubiquitous while landline operators failed to expand network coverage.

Besides, mobile phones offer greater convenience and flexibility as they allow people to make calls, send messages and access the internet from anywhere at a lower cost.

Since 2018, the state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) has been the lone operator of PSTN, which connects users with fixed telephone lines.

The total number of telephone customers of BTCL, almost all of which use the PSTN service, stood at 4.66 lakh as of January 2023, down from 4.80 lakh a year earlier.

In September 2014, the BTCL alone had 8.35 lakh customers, according to data from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

At the time, there were other three private PSTN operators, namely Ranks Telecom with 2.54 lakh customers, Bangla Phone Ltd with 5,450 customers and WorldTel with 8,950 customers, taking the total number of PSTN users to 11 lakh.

But after that, the number of customers of PSTN operators started to decrease because people already preferred cell phones.

"As mobile phone penetration increased thanks to its user-friendliness, people started to discontinue landlines," said TIM Nurul Kabir, a telecom and technology expert.

"It was the root cause of the failure of PSTN operators," he added.

Industry people say the PSTN service, for which the government awarded licences to private entities in fiscal 2004-2005, had never become popular as the demand for mobile phones was gaining momentum at the time.

In order to provide voice and internet services to the doorstep of common people, 15 institutions had been issued PSTN licenses that year. In this context, spectrum from code-division multiple access 800MHz and 1900 MHz bands had been assigned to the organisations as per their demands, according to documents of the BTRC.

Apart from the rapid expansion of handsets, the government crackdown on PSTN operators and their failure to expand the network are other reasons for the downfall of landlines, according to industry insiders.

After obtaining the license, RanksTel launched its service in some parts of the country in April 2005, reaching one lakh subscribers by 2007.

Other companies, such as Bangla Phone, WorldTel, PeoplesTel and National Telecom, also rolled out their services in 2005.

In 2010, when private PSTN operators had 6 lakh subscribers collectively with RanksTel accounting for about half, the telecom regulator cancelled the licenses of these five private land phone companies for their alleged involvement in illegal internet telephony, commonly known as VoIP.

As such, the BTRC's crackdown on illegal VoIP operations between March 14 and 23 shut down the operations of Bangla Phone, WorldTel, RanksTel, PeoplesTel and National Telecom.

Some of the operators, including RanksTel, went to court to challenge the decision.

RanksTel finally won back approval from the telecom regulator to resume operations on Sunday following a 16-month shutdown after the private operator withdrew its case against the government.

Subsequently, National Telecom and WorldTel also got back their licenses.

RanksTel, a concern of Rangs Group, had invested several hundred crores of Taka for expanding the network of its landline service, a former official of RanksTel told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.

The private PSTN companies' combined investment loss due to the BTRC's crackdown amounted to Tk 1,500 crore.

The BTRC could have punished officials of PSTN operators if they were involved with VoIP but shutting down operations entirely was a very drastic action. After that, PSTN services by private companies could not survive, the official added.

According to BTRC documents, PSTN operators were involved in different illegal activities and due to the lack of financial investment and failure to expand network coverage, many of them shut down completely.

In fiscal 2018-19, PSTN services were only provided by the BTCL, RanksTel and Bangla Phone. And in the following fiscal year, operations of RanksTel had stopped as well.

To ensure the effective use of unused spectrum, the BTRC has already cancelled the frequency in favour of all PSTN operators except BTCL, according to the annual report of the BTRC for fiscal 2019-20.

Despite being the lone operator, the BTCL still was not able to increase its customer base, which stood at 5.64 lakh as of 2019.

Asaduzzaman Chowdhury, managing director (additional charge) of the BTRC, said if people are asked why they disconnected landline connections, they would say that using a cell phone is more convenient.

"So, the number of landline users is decreasing," he added.

Abu Saeed Khan, a senior policy fellow at LIRNEasia, said mobile phones started to replace landlines only after they became more affordable.

From the beginning, fixed phones were used by very limited consumers and were a necessary tool when the internet was accessed by dial-up modem.

But after internet service providers gradually migrated to optical fibre, fixed phones lost their utility.

Also, while mobile phones can be availed from neighbourhood shops, fixed phone connections require visiting offices, which is a hassle.

"So, fixed phones no longer add any value to the life and lifestyle of consumers. That's why they have lost relevance," Khan added.