Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) would introduce toll-free phone services for both local and international connections soon after completing the 3G auction.
The telecom watchdog has drafted a set of directives in this regard, which is now awaiting final approval, sources said.
After introduction of this services, the caller could call without bearing any cost and get information about different products and services.
“We have discussed about the issue at different meetings of the commission, but no final decision has been made yet,” Md Giashuddin Ahmed, vice chairman of BTRC told the Dhaka Tribune on Friday.
“A directive in this regard has already been drafted. But before it is finalized, we need to hold a public consultation with the stakeholders.”
Sources said informed, the vice chairman placed the draft guideline at the 157th commission meeting on August 5 and the meeting decided to approve the service.
“Before the 3G auction, we are not giving any new directive to the operators,” said an official.
According to the draft guideline, BTRC proposed 0888-XXXXXXX for international toll-free services and also proposed 0800-XXXXXXX for local toll-free services. Interested business entities can choose the last seven digits on first come first served basis, while all emergency numbers will be based on three digits.
For international toll-free services the proposed call rate is $0.075 per minute while revenues will be shared by three parties – the international gateway, interconnection exchange and BTRC.
For local toll-free services, the call rate has been proposed at Tk0.60 per minute. Number allocation fees would be set at Tk25,000 and early renewal fees at Tk12,000 for local numbers.
For the international service, the respective fees would be set at Tk50,000 and Tk24,000.
Earlier at a meeting on May 12, the BTRC vice chairman placed the first proposal about the toll-free services number. According to the data on that proposal, USA citizens have made 240 million calls per year on 911 number.
All European Union countries have been using a single number 112 for toll- free calls. Pakistan has chosen 117 and
India uses different numbers for different services.
According to the 2G licensing renewal guideline, mobile operators are bound to establish toll-free services.
“It has also clearly been specified in the National Numbering Planning, but operators are not interested as far as we understand,” a high official of the BTRC told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We have speeded up the procedure as the issue has been pending for long. We will sit with the stakeholders soon to discuss the procedure in detail of the emergency toll-free numbers,” he said.
The BTRC in a recent draft of Customer Protection Guideline mentioned that toll-free numbers will be made mandatory for the mobile phone operators.
The toll-free emergency numbers will be for police, ambulance services, hospitals, fire services, coast guards, border guards and immigration services, according to the draft guideline.