The overall service quality of mobile phone operators worsened last year compared to the previous years, the telecom regulator said yesterday, blaming the carriers’ poor performance and unwillingness to buy sufficient spectrum due to higher prices. “It is true that call drop has increased and data speed declined,” Md Mahfuzul Karim Majumder, director general for engineering and operation of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), told reporters at his office in Dhaka.The commission also expressed skepticism over whether the service quality in the telecommunication sector would improve anytime soon. The telecom regulator carried out various tests and, based on the findings, asked mobile operators to improve service quality. But after July the scenario changed as audit issues, which pit the BTRC against Grameenphone and Robi, dominated the sector. The regulator has also halted issuing no-objection certificates (NOC) to the top two operators and this also contributed to the deterioration of the quality of service, Mahfuzul said. “The operators are serving a huge number of customers with low spectrum, thus resulting in low service quality,” BTRC Chairman Md Jahurul Haque said. Operators blame higher prices for the lower spectrum acquisition. In reply, Haque said the commission does not have authority to cut the spectrum price without the approval of the finance ministry. The BTRC will propose to the finance ministry to reduce the price once it receives proposals from the telecom operators, he said. The telecom regulator has refrained from issuing any kind of approval related to service and maintenance to Grameenphone and Robi to create pressure on the operators to clear dues. According to the BTRC’s audit, Grameenphone has Tk 12,579 crore pending while Robi Tk 867.24 crore. The commission is complying with a court order on the NOC suspension, Haque said. As per the court order, the commission would resume NOC issuance to Grameenphone upon payment of Tk 2,000 crore. “Otherwise, the NOC issuance would remain suspended for next two months,” Haque said. “The two market leaders have created the situation and they have to take responsibility for this,” Mahfuzul added. The BTRC found deviation in service quality and operators were instructed to resolve the issue, he said. The commission has intensified efforts to improve service quality and asked the operators to take corrective measures to overcome shortcomings. “Currently, we are only working with mobile phone operators’ service quality and in the coming days we will work on the quality of other service providers,” he said, adding that the commission would take administrative measures unless the quality of service parameters is maintained by the operators. The service quality depends on the overall telecom ecosystem, including mobile network system, handset quality, planned high-rise building and availability of space for towers, Md Shahidul Alam, director general for spectrum management at the commission, said. “If the issues can be sorted out, the service quality will improve accordingly,” he said. The commission has measured tower radiation and found it to be below the parameters set by World Health Organization. “But there is nothing to be worried about radiation,” Mahfuzul said. Because of the speculation on radiation, some households are not willing to lease out their rooftops to mobile operators and others to install towers. Some have even forced carriers to remove towers. “This has impacted the service quality,” Mahfuzul said. The commission plans to appoint administrators if the operators do not clear the dues. “As per law, the BTRC can cancel their licences or appoint administrators if mobile operators fail to repay dues,” Haque said. According to figures released yesterday, mobile phone subscribers in the country went up by 86 lakh to 16.55 crore last year and tele-density widened by 2.84 percentage points to 99.2 percent. Internet subscribers were up by 78 lakh to 9.91 crore and 4G internet users rose by 1.54 crore to 2.71 crore. BTRC Vice-chairman Subrata Roy Maitra was also present.
Source – The Daily Star.
