Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will soon seek government approval for introducing toll-free phones, both mobile and landline, for different government services.
Sources in BTRC said recently different government wings and ministries had requested the telecom watchdog to approve toll-free phones.
BTRC officials said currently some law enforcement agencies and service-oriented organisations had individual toll-free numbers, but they were not performing actively.
“We have attended a meeting about toll-free services and decided to leave the matter for government decision, ” said a senior official of the BTRC.
Couple of months ago the telecom regulator introduced approved toll-free numbers for both local and international connections. Police has a toll-free short code (999), but it is only accessible from BTCL land lines, as the toll issues have not been settled with mobile and other land phone operators. BTRC has also assigned some toll-free numbers for agriculture, family planning and health care.
The telecom watchdog decided that initially they could go for separate toll-free numbers for different government wings and respective organisations would have to maintain the systems themselves.
“But within a short time we can go for a single toll free number where a citizen can get all the services and public information from one call,” the BTRC source said.
Calling the number, callers will be able to request for police, fire service or hospital or any other services through an Interactive Voice Response system.
