Consumers to pay addl Tk 60b

FE Report
The country's mobile phone users will have to pay an additional Tk 60 billion (6,000 crore) due to the recent hike in voice call rate, said speakers at a meeting on Saturday.
"We believe that the call rate was raised to Tk 0.45 per minute from Tk 0.25 just to serve the interest of the mobile phone operators," said president of the Mobile Phone Subscribers' Association Mohiuddin Ahmed.
He said the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission did not take the subscribers' opinions before it increased the floor call rate, which is "unethical and undemocratic."
The BTRC should take the consumers' interest into account because such a decision will affect them, he added.
He also noted that though the government had announced to withdraw 10 per cent VAT on internet use, which was imposed in the current budget, the decision has not come into effect yet.
Addressing the meeting, Ruhin Hossain Prince of CPB said that this decision was made just to appease the mobile operators.
Central leader of the Bangladesh Samajtantik Dal Rajukajjaman Ratan said mobile phone users will have to pay an additional amount of Tk 60 billion due to this rise in call rate.
The speakers demanded immediate scrapping of the BTRC decision.
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