Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is planning to introduce a market-based mobile data tariff in the country in line with the bandwidth price.
“First, we tried to address the packages that are mostly used by customers. As the regulator, we believe the operators will be adjusting other groups of packages. Besides, we have another plan to revise the data price based on change in the bandwidth price,” BTRC Director General Brig Gen Mohammad Khalil-ur-Rahman told a view-exchange meeting at the commission head office in the capital on Monday.
The operators can follow the price of bandwidth of international terrestrial cable and submarine companies to adjust the data packages.
The telecom regulator had earlier scrapped the short-term data packages of mobile network operators considering people’s interest and outcomes of market research.
Khalil further said the mobile network operators will also have to consider the special tariff for social media platforms as some companies have local internet cache service in Bangladesh.
“From BTRC, our vision is to keep the internet space clear from junk content. We're especially continuing action against the porn and betting sites. The BTRC chairman wrote to all deputy commissioners to improve surveillance over online betting locally,” he added.
The BTRC lamented its limitations with the foreign tech companies as the social media platforms hardly downgrade contents under the community standard of respective platforms.
“Many customers don’t get solutions from the operator concerned after lodging complaints. We have a call centre (100) where many customers file complaints regularly. The BTRC has planned to sit with the network operators to share the findings from customers annually to fix the issues,” added the BTRC director general.
In address of welcome, BTRC Chairman Mohiuddin Ahmed said the telecom regulator will try to share the draft policy with the stakeholders, including media, for making it more inclusive and people-oriented.
BTRC Commissioners Sheikh Reaz Ahmed and Musfiq Mannan Choudhury, DGs Abdullah Al Mamun, Ashish Kumar Kundu, Kazi Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Moniruzzaman Jewel were also present at the meeting.