More than 66,000 complaints against Bangladesh’s four mobile operators have reached the telecom regulator in five and a half years, with service quality emerging as the biggest source of dissatisfaction, while consumer advocates warn the official tally may represent only a fraction of the problems faced by millions of subscribers.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) data show that users lodged 66,705 complaints between January 2021 and June 2026. Of them, 65,856 have been resolved while 849 remain pending.
Robi recorded the highest number, with 24,874 complaints, followed by Grameenphone with 21,526, Teletalk with 11,594 and Banglalink with 8,711.
The picture changes, however, when subscriber bases are taken into account.
Teletalk had the highest complaint rate at around 0.17%, compared with approximately 0.042% for Robi, 0.025% for Grameenphone and 0.023% for Banglalink.
More significantly, consumer advocates argue the numbers substantially understate dissatisfaction because many subscribers do not know how to escalate complaints to BTRC.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association, said: “If customers were able to actively lodge complaints, the number would certainly not be 66,000. It could run into several million.”
Service quality tops grievances
BTRC data for FY2024-25 offer a clearer picture of what is frustrating subscribers.
Of 11,427 complaints recorded during the year, 3,529 concerned Quality of Service (QoS), making it the largest category.
Another 926 concerned data speed, 811 value-added services, 647 package migration, 481 data volume and 467 recharge and billing.
Consumers have complained about weak network coverage, dropped calls, slow internet, disputed data consumption, unwanted services and unexpected balance deductions.
Dhanmondi resident Sk Shahidul Islam raised another longstanding grievance, losing unused data and talk-time when packages expire.
He said: “Every month, hundreds of minutes and a considerable amount of data remain unused. The mobile companies are benefiting from this in some way, while customers are losing something they have already paid for. There should be a proper and transparent solution.”
Moghbazar resident Rubel Mia said customers also face difficulties resolving unwanted services and disputed charges.
He said: “When a service is activated, money can be deducted immediately. But when customers want to deactivate an unwanted service or dispute a charge, they often have to contact customer care repeatedly. The process should be much simpler.”
Operators defend record
Operators maintain that complaints are taken seriously.
Grameenphone Head of Communications Sharafuddin Ahmed Chowdhury said: “We consider every customer complaint with utmost importance and try to resolve it.”
Robi Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Sahed Alam said around 95% of complaints received through BTRC had been resolved.
He also said more than 40% of issues raised by the regulator concerning Robi were investigative or inquiry-related.
BTRC Director (Service) Lt Col Md Kamrul Hasan Mamun, however, challenged that characterisation.
He said: “If it is merely an investigative matter or an inquiry, it should not normally come to BTRC. Such issues should be resolved at the customer service level.”
BTRC Chairman Major General (retd) Md Emdad Ul Bari said complaints reaching the commission generally represent a second level of escalation after customers have approached operators.
The regulator’s monthly complaint resolution rate has improved from around 45-50% previously to 69% last month, he said, although infrastructure and network-related problems can take considerably longer.
He said: “There are many complaints that cannot be resolved overnight. Some may take months or even years.”
Are complaints reaching the regulator?
Consumer representatives say accessibility remains a major weakness in the complaint system.
Mohiuddin called for district-level complaint facilities, greater publicity for BTRC’s 100 short code and stronger technical capacity at the regulator.
Questions have also been raised over BTRC’s online public hearings.
The consumers’ association says 848 people registered for a hearing in 2022 but only 94 participated.
Nearly 3,500 reportedly registered in 2025, but only a small number were able to speak.
“The most surprising thing is that the event ended within around 40 minutes,” Mohiuddin said.
The association wants hearings expanded to district and divisional levels alongside online and telephone participation, with written submissions accepted and follow-up action publicly disclosed.
For BTRC, the challenge therefore extends beyond resolving the 66,705 complaints already on record.
If consumer advocates are correct that potentially millions of grievances never reach the regulator, the bigger test is whether Bangladesh has an accessible complaint system capable of detecting, and forcing operators to address, recurring problems before customers have to complain at all.
