Grameenphone’s post-paid subscribers are facing severe network problems and being surprised with ghost charges because of what the telecom operator says is a system upgradation.
The problems over the last one week or so have forced many subscribers – a good number from among GP’s huge corporate customer base – to use or consider switching to other operators’ connections.
Many users alleged that they had cleared the unusually high bills but were still out of network; others said they had not been able to pay any bills at all because of network disruption. Some said they were receiving calls but had not been able to make any.
GP, the leading mobile telecom operator in the country, has five million post-paid users out of its 52.8 million active connections.
The operator acknowledges the situation and promises to adjust the bills in the quickest possible time.
But the country’s telecom regulator does not have information on this, neither has anybody lodged any written complaints with them.
“If anyone filed complaints to the regulatory body, definitely we would have looked into the matter,” said Sarwar Alam, secretary of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
However, sources said that the regulator has received several complaints from important people such as senior government secretaries.
Janubul Haq, a former secretary, said that his GP mobile connection was completely network-dead from June 21 to 26. “Suddenly, the network on my mobile phone died. I could not make or receive any calls at that time.”
On June 26, he complained to a BTRC director and got back network after paying a Tk3,000 bill.
“I am quite sure my dues are not that high but they told me to pay it to get back to the network … All that time, I had to carry another connection. It felt like I lost connection with the world.”
Seeking anonymity, another user showed this correspondent two text messages that he had received from the operator on June 25 and 26.
The first message said his monthly bill was Tk1,379.96; but the one sent the next day said the bill was Tk2,678.73. When he informed the GP customer care, they sought 72 hours to look into the matter.
“Last month, the outgoing service of my post-paid GP connection was barred for four days. I am a journalist and when that happens, it becomes very difficult for me to do my work,” said a senior correspondent of a national Bangla daily.
When the Dhaka Tribune contacted GP yesterday, they sent a statement in response.
“The problem originated from a standard system upgrade that unfortunately had not gone as planned, thus prolonging customer suffering,” the statement reads.
“Moreover, some postpaid customers have raised concerns to us about receiving SMS that indicated either overcharges or excess credit on their accounts.
“All such irregularities, inadvertently triggered by this system upgradation, will not impact the customers and will be adjusted very shortly,” the GP statement said.
The system software that GP uses was developed by global communication company Ericsson.