The quality of services by the mobile phone operators in the country has become poor as call drops are taking place frequently.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, former chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, brought the allegations at a dialogue in Dhaka yesterday, expressing his dissatisfaction in presence of Post and Telecommunications Minister Sahara Khatun and ICT Minister Mostafa Faruque Mohammad.
“It’s a concern for me as a consumer because consumers have to pay,” he said, giving a picture of the sorry-state of the services. “In the recent times, the quality of services is falling. The connections are frequently being cut off…call drops are taking place.”
Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) organised the dialogue titled “Commercial Freedom: Key to Sustainable Development of Telecommunication Industry.”
Inu further alleged the quality of voice transmission during the calls is also poor and held the regulatory authorities responsible for the poor quality service. “They (BTRC) have the device to detect the problems in voice transmission, but the steps to use that are not visible,” he said.
The minister said the government wants to protect the business interests of the operators, but at the same time “we need to be cautious so that the consumer interest is not violated in the name of business interest.”
The government believes in soft regulations to allow commercial freedom in the sector, but the regulatory body must act to protect the interests of the business, of the government, and above all of the consumers.
“We believe in facilitating commercial freedom to enhance competition, and for the development of the ICT industry, through a consultative approach,” he added.
