The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has fixed Tk0.45 per minute as the uniform minimum call rate for all mobile phone operators.
The new rate will go into effect from Monday midnight, reports UNB.
Md Jahurul Haque,acting chairman of BTRC, said they issued a letter to the chief executive officer of all four mobile operators in this regardon Monday.
The government has approved the fresh tariff to establish “a level playing field” for the country's telecom operators, he said.
Through this initiative on-net (same operator's network) and off-net (other operator's network) call rate disparity will be removed.
The decision to implement the uniform tariff came two weeks ago, with a scope to revise it from time-to-time, after a meeting with the Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy, Jahurul added.
Currently, the mobile operators charge the customers minimum Tk0.25 per minute for on-net calls, and minimum Tk0.60 per minutefor off-net calls.
Once the new rate is effective, minimum rates for both types of calls will be same.
In both cases, the upper ceiling for mobile call rate is Tk2 per-minute, which will remain unchanged in the new rate chart.
The customers will be charged in line with their connection packages, time and tariff plans, no matter which operator's network they use. Value Added Tax and other duties will be applied.
The BTRC has also set the interconnection charge for off-net calls at Tk0.14 per minute, including Tk0.04 for interconnection exchange (ICX)operators and Tk0.10 for call termination operators, which the mobile phone operators pay.
