Mobile users at a public hearing on Wednesday complained about poor network, call drop, the flushing out of data balance after expiry date and quality of the overall services of the country鈥檚 mobile operators.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on the day organised the hearing in the capital Dhaka, to know the experiences and complaints on quality of services directly from the clients of telecommunication operators.
At the public hearing, subscribers shared their experiences and expressed opinions on telecommunication issues, including mobile network speed, internet speed, call drop, voice call and network coverage.
Many participants at the hearing said that they had been experiencing issues with mobile network speed.
KM Nahiyan Hossain said that though he resided in Dhanmondi, a prime location of the capital, he experienced bad network and call drops in his residence.
Whenever he filed a complaint to the telecom operator he is receiving service from, the operator said that the local people prevented them from setting up network towers.
On the issue, BTRC chairman Md Mohiuddin Ahmed said that base station or the network towers were essential to providing good services.
鈥楤ut this is a problem that locals prevent setting up towers,鈥� he said.
The BTRC, keeping all issues in mind, is trying to solve this problem with tower sharing system by the operators, rather that setting up towers for individual telecom operators, Mohiuddin said.
Also, the commission is publishing the radiation data on its web site regularly to create awareness, he said.
Users also complained that though the BTRC auctioned 5G spectrum in 2022, mobile users have not had the chance to use 5G network yet in the country, while 5G networks is available in almost all the neighbouring countries.
They said that the 5G spectrum remained unused, while it could be used to improve the existing 4G network.
Mohammad Moniruzzaman Jewel, director general of spectrum division of the BTRC, said that the regulatory authorities were working according to its guidelines about the 5G rollout.
鈥楬owever, the commission thinks that improving the 4G network service is more important than the 5G network issue. We have deployed all our force to achieve the target of properly improving the 4G network,鈥� he said.
Participants in the hearing complained about various other issues, including local influential persons controlling internet service providing business and preventing other companies into areas, mobile telecom operators not enabling customers to carry forward data and mobile balance.
Mobile operators are profiting thousands of crores from the duration-bound packages, they alleged.
The BTRC officials assured the users that they would solve the issues on the basis of importance, relevance and customer interest.
Mohammad Khalil-Ur-Rahman, director general of the systems and services division of the BTRC, said that the commission was conducting a survey to review the data and bundle packages the telecom operators provide after witnessing customers鈥� opinions regarding the withdrawal of packages with three-day and 15-day duration.
鈥榃e hope that we would be able to provide the mobile internet services at reasonable prices after reviewing the survey responses,鈥� he said.
State minister for posts, telecommunications and information technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that the government was going to formulate a new law combining the 2001 and 2010 telecommunication laws, eyeing how to include innovation to the regulations.
Mohiuddin presided over the public hearing while Zunaid was present as the chief guest.
