Operators start compensating for call drops

The mobile operators have refunded 9.98 crore minutes for 50.33 crore call drops from January to March this year.

The refunds have been given as the telecom division made it mandatory to compensate the subscribers in minutes from January.

Market leader Grameenphone reported 23.34 crore call drops, which is 46.38 percent of total call drops of all the operators from January to March, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said in a report shared with the telecom division recently.

Mobile users are supposed to get a free minute for every second or third call drop.

For Grameenphone, 6.42 crore calls were second or third drops on the same day, and it returned 2.63 crore minutes as compensation in three months, according to the report.

Newly merged Robi saw 15.49 crore calls drops, which is 30.78 percent of the total, the report said.

The number of call drops for Banglalink was 9.63 crore and it compensated 6.23 crore minutes, the highest among the operators. Teletalk paid no compensation in the last three months for 1.87 crore call drops.

The mobile operators said call drop is a part of the process for providing telecom services; but it becomes a serious issue in Bangladesh.

Earlier, State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim showed her tough stance. At different times, she summoned the senior executives of different mobile operators to get an update on the matter.

Banglalink was the first to give the compensation minutes in August. The others followed suit in January.