Govt considering withdrawal of ban on Grameenphone’s SIM sales

The government is considering withdrawing the ban on SIM sales of top mobile service operator Grameenphone as it has improved its network infrastructure, said Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar.

"We have received the report (from Grameenphone) of the network infrastructure development in the last few months, and we have seen a lot of improvement in the situation (quality of services)," Jabbar told The Daily Star.

"So, we are considering withdrawing the ban on SIM sales," he added.

Earlier on June 29, 2022, four days after the Padma bridge inauguration, the telecom regulator, on the instruction from the posts and telecommunications division, banned Grameenphone's SIM sales until it "improves its quality of services including bringing down call drop rate".

The letter, however, did not specify how Grameenphone failed in terms of quality of services. It does not set any performance improvement criteria on how to get the ban lifted.

However, in mid-September, GP was given the go-ahead to sell unused old numbers approved before the SIM sales ban was put in place. But the telecom watchdog backtracked from its decision on November 6 and slapped a restriction on the sales of all types of connections.