Rescind the uniform minimum call rate

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is an autonomous government body and its main responsibility is to look after the interest of the subscribers. Yet, its recent move to introduce a uniform minimum call rate for all mobile operators is really disappointing and goes against the interest of users.

The BTRC took its decision without any prior notice and without holding any public hearing. Many mobile phone users were on the initial or mid stages of the various packages that are offered by operators. All these packages had to abruptly end as a result, meaning that a number of users have now lost a good amount of money in exchange for nothing.

Whereas subscribers expect call rates to go down in a competitive market, the higher call rate set by the BTRC does not make any sense. And what is worse is that subscribers have been left with no say in this. The authorities should rescind this poorly thought out decision.

Md Zillur Rahaman, Bhola