BTRC to probe into call drop compensation

The telecom regulator will probe into the mobile operators about the status of their compensation for call drops as they are yet to do so.

Earlier, the mobile operators had agreed to provide compensation from the second call drop of the day on their own network from July 1 onwards.

The compensation will be a minute's talk time for each call drop.

After analysing data for the month of August, Bangladesh Telecommuni-cation Regulatory Commission has found that only Banglalink has partially provided compensation to its subscribers, said an official of the watchdog yesterday.

"BTRC will send a letter to all six operators in a day or two," he said.

Although the compensation scheme is voluntary until December, the regulator needs to know why the operators are not doing so yet.

BTRC twice directed the operators to provide mandatory one-minute free talk time for call drops but the operators defied it citing technical issues.

TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, said they are trying to maintain the service quality as per the regulator's guideline.

All operators' call drop ratio is less than 2 percent, which is within the BTRC and International Telecommunication Union's permissible limit of 3 percent.

The mobile phone companies, however, in a meeting with the regulator declined to provide compensation for calls to other operators' network.

Officials of the mobile phone companies also said the BTRC cannot force them to provide mandatory call drop compensation as all operators' call drop rate is less than the permissible limit approved by the regulator.

Another BTRC official, however, said the commission will go tough on the issue after December. "Currently, we cannot check the call drop information voluntarily. By the end of this year, we will have high-tech equipment with which we can check the call drop information by ourselves," he added.

The mobile phone companies, however, on several occasions provided call drop compensation to subscribers for on-net calls as a promotional tool.

The issue of call drops was first raised by Tarana Halim, state minister for telecom, in October last year and operators were then directed to compensate customers mandatorily.