The highly anticipated unlimited internet data packs introduced by the telecom operators to counter the validity expiration is not as straightforward as it seems.
Many have been complaining about the packages offered and that it expires every year.
Under the unlimited validity category, Grameenphone (GP) has offered two packages. One of 15GB internet data at Tk1,099 and the other of 5GB at Tk449.
Meanwhile, Robi offers 10GB at Tk319, Banglalink 5GB at Tk306 and Teletalk 26GB at Tk309 and 6GB at Tk127.
However, all packages have a validity of one year, except for Teletalk.
Under the unlimited monthly data category, only GP offered two packages, but those also come with daily data usage limitations. The unlimited data pack that costs Tk399 has a daily usage limit of 1GB and the pack that costs Tk649 has a daily usage limit of 2GB.
The other three operators will also start offering similar data packages soon.
"The daily limit of 1GB or 2GB given in the unlimited monthly packages is another issue. How can offering an unlimited monthly package with a daily usage limit be unlimited? This again institutes another expiration limit, that too on a daily basis,” the Minister of Post and Telecommunications Mustafa Jabbar said.
“My data consumption is not the same every day. Some days, I need more than 5GB and some days I hardly end up using 500MB as I am always surrounded by Wi-fi coverage,” Shuvo, a GP user, told Dhaka Tribune.
The data price is relatively higher in GP's packages, and not only consumers, but the telecom minister himself expressed displeasure over these conditions.
“There is also the issue of data price, especially the price of GP’s packages is not acceptable. GP said that they were instructed to keep prices higher because of having significant market power (SMP). But even after considering SMP, a three times price difference is unjustified,” the minister further said.
Prices of these packages are also higher than the price in the neighbouring country India.
For example, a customer of JIO, the top mobile network operator in India, can avail of 2GB of internet data everyday for a month paying Rs299. They also get free voice calls and SMS.
For every Tk100 mobile top-up, the government in Bangladesh claims Tk54 in different taxes.
In contrast, India charges around Tk32 in different forms of taxes, said Mohammed Shahedul Alam, Robi's chief corporate and regulatory officer, citing the data of GSMA.
Besides, there is no tax on SIM sales in India, whereas it is Tk200 in Bangladesh. And India's operators can develop their optical fibre network and run other infrastructural development, which is restricted for the operators in Bangladesh.
“This one-year limit is meaningless and unnecessary. If we give someone 15GB of data, there is no reason to assume that the individual will take more than a year to consume that amount of data,” the Minister of Post and Telecommunications Mustafa Jabbar said.
However, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said that the validity of data was kept for one year due to technical reasons.
"As per the explanation of the telecom operators, if a SIM is unused for a year, it can no longer be used," Jabbar said while explaining the technical reason.
However, the minister argues, “Why would someone buy data with money and close the SIM?”
He further said, if Teletalk can offer unlimited validity, other operators should be able to do it too.
For the interest of the people, Mustafa Zabbar said that BTRC has been asked to call the operators to make the unlimited packages more customer-friendly and solve the identified problems and announce new data packages.
BTRC had taken the initiative on the minister's directive to give customers some sort of relief as one of the major inconveniences for many is the fact that they cannot consume all the data they paid for due to time limits.
"This initiative was supposed to be positive for the people. But for these reasons, it became negative,” the minister said.
“If it was not acceptable to me, how can it be acceptable to the people?” he questioned.