Illegal call termination through VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is mostly being carried out by three cell phone operators in Bangladesh – Robi, airtel and Banglalink, according to an official report.
The authorities have detected a total of 91,983 SIMs of the three operators used for the illicit job.
The report has been made by analysing the CDR (Detail Call Record) of the operators during the first two weeks of April and third week of May this year, and it (report) has been presented before the parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.
In the report, the Suspected SIM-Week-1 showed that 47% SIM of Robi had been used for illegal VoIP in the week while the contribution of Airtel was 25%, Banglalink 15%, Teletalk 12% and the Citycell was responsible for only 1%.
During the period, the SIM-Box Detector, installed at the telecom regulator, has detected 23,227 SIMs of Robi while the SIM number of Airtel 12,347, Banglalink 7,314, Teletalk 6,188 and Citycell 467 SIMs.
On the other hand, in the Suspected SIM-Week-2, the SIM usage percentage of Robi has come down to 35% while the contribution of Banglalik has risen to 20%, Airtel 17%, Teletalk 26% and Citycell 2%.
In that time, the total SIM number of Robi, identified by the SIM-Box Detector, has come down to 13,495, Banglalink 7,907, Airtel 6,793, Teletalk 10,172 and Citycell 729.
Besides, the third Suspected SIM-Week, conducted in the third week of May, showed the SIM usage percentage of Robi for the illicit job had again risen to 54% while the quantity for Banglalink had come down to 5%. But, the contribution of Airtel has risen to 31% and Citycell to 5% while the number for Teletalk came down to 5%.
During the period, a total of 12,660 SIMs of Robi have been detected to be responsible for the illegal job while the number for Airtel is 7,130, Banglalink 1,110, Teletalk 1,221 and Citycell 1,259.
Taking to BSS, Mahmudur Rahman, Executive Vice President of Robi, said he didn’t know of the report, so it is not possible for him to make any comment. “But, many issues are involved with the VoIP.”
Zakiul Islam, Senior Director, Regulatory and Legal Affairs of Banglalink, said his company is the most complying operator for the directives of the regulator. “Banglalink always follow the regulator’s directive strictly to generate more revenue for the government by self-regulation,” Islam added.
However, Airtel’s comment was not available despite repeated attempts although its Public Relations agency “forethought PR” accepted written queries.
