Mobile balance spending limit jumps 150%

The monthly spending limit under Direct Operator Billing (DOB), a regulated payment mechanism that allows mobile customers to pay for smartphones and other specified goods and services using their mobile balances, has increased by 150 percent to Tk 5,000.

According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the annual ceiling has also risen by 150 percent, from Tk 20,000 to Tk 50,000, in a move aimed at helping people without credit cards or bank accounts make purchases. Previously, smartphones could not be purchased through DOB.

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The telecom regulator, following approval from Bangladesh Bank, has raised the limits for six months, according to documents reviewed by The Daily Star.

DOB allows customers to use their mobile phone balance as a payment source, similar to a credit or debit card. It is not a general-purpose mobile wallet and can only be used for specified goods and services.

BTRC officials and industry people said the higher limit would allow customers to purchase smartphones, SIM-based devices and routers, along with other eligible digital products and services. The higher ceiling could also enable smartphone purchases through instalment plans, with payments made from mobile balances.

So far, only Grameenphone has received approval under the revised ceiling. Other operators can also apply for approval, the regulator said.

“The government is trying to increase smartphone penetration, and this would allow customers who do not have access to cards or other banking channels to purchase handsets using their mobile balances,” said Tanveer Mohammad, Grameenphone’s new chief corporate affairs officer.

WHAT DOB CAN BE USED FOR

Customers can use DOB to pay for eligible digital products and services, including digital content, app and in-app purchases, online utility bills, e-ticketing, e-health services, government lotteries, online platform subscriptions and education platforms.

However, mobile balances cannot be used as unrestricted digital money.

The rules prohibit DOB transactions involving financial or speculative activities. Customers cannot use it to buy virtual currencies or similar items used in social media applications and games, including coins, points, credits, coupons, diamonds and gems.

Transactions involving apps that collect investments from the public, provide loans, store money or facilitate other financial transactions are also prohibited.

DOB cannot be used for gambling, casinos, lotteries, cryptocurrency or crypto-asset trading, foreign-exchange trading, stock-market trading or multi-level marketing activities.

For services provided by non-resident merchants requiring foreign-currency remittances, relevant approval from Bangladesh Bank’s Foreign Exchange Policy Department must be obtained where applicable.

LIMITS RAISED AFTER YEARS

The latest increase follows years of gradual expansion of DOB limits.

When DOB was introduced in Bangladesh in 2018, Bangladesh Bank set the monthly spending limit at Tk 600 and the annual ceiling at Tk 3,000.

In December 2025, the central bank temporarily raised the limits to Tk 2,000 per month and Tk 20,000 per year until June 2026. The BTRC subsequently allowed operators to provide the service under those higher limits, subject to Bangladesh Bank’s conditions.

Operators must ensure that digital products and services purchased through DOB are delivered and put measures in place to protect customers. They must also formulate refund and chargeback policies.

DOB operations will be subject to Bangladesh Bank inspections, while mobile operators will be treated as reporting organisations under relevant money-laundering and anti-terrorism laws.