BTCL boss sorry for poor services
Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) offered an apology to customers on Facebook Live yesterday for not providing services satisfactorily.
"I am regretting that the BTCL could not ensure desired services to our customers," said Md Rafiqul Matin, the state-owned enterprise's managing director who took charges a few months ago.
It is the BTCL's duty to ensure quality services, he said, adding that he duly responded to about 450 customer questions and recommendations through the online platform yesterday, which took about an hour.
There were different complaints against the BTCL officials and if those are proven to be true, the BTCL will not hesitate to take punitive measures, he said.
The BTCL is working towards becoming the number one broadband company in the country, he added.
Matin apologised for not having networks at the rural level, especially in villages.
"We have undertaken a project to cover more than 1,000 unions and will establish a good number of free Wi-Fi hotspots in those unions," he said, adding that the project was under government assessment.
The BTCL has fibre optic cable connectivity in 1,216 unions and the plan was to establish eight Wi-Fi hotspots in each of them, initially offering online connectivity for free.
Another ongoing initiative was for launching Internet Protocol television (IPTV) by the end of this year, he said.
The IPTV is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats.
There were some demands for landline and broadband connections which respective officers were tending to, he said. "We will contact you. It is our responsibility to serve you."
One customer complained that 90 per cent of telephones in their area were either disconnected or had gone dead. Matin responded that the BTCL officials would provide a solution in 24 hours.
Matin said the BTCL was now receiving complaints though its mobile application BTCL Telesheba and had started a process to accept online applications for services.
"So, customers can get our connections sitting in their home or at office and they will not have to come to our office. Already we have ensured online billings and got a huge response from our Telesheba mobile application."
In efforts to improve service quality, the application-based complaint management system was launched.
He also assured that he would continue meeting customers frequently through Facebook for feedbacks.
Matin received some complaints during the online interaction and asked officials concerned to solve those.
Officials said this initiative of a government entity contacting customers on Facebook Live was the first of its kind.
There was one instance in the telecom industry a few years back when the chief executive officer of Grameenphone connected to customers on Facebook.
Besides providing telephone services, the BTCL is trying to popularise some other connectivity businesses.
The company came into being through the transformation of a government wing in 2008 and made profits in the early stages. In fiscal 2008-09, its revenue was Tk 1,689.36 crore and net profit was Tk 106.15 crore.
Ten years later, it incurred a loss of Tk 389.39 crore. Its revenue slumped 22.23 per cent to Tk 886.81 crore last fiscal year.
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