No lifting of ban until services improve, says minister

Posts and Telecommuni-cations Minister Mostafa Jabbar has said the government would not lift the ban on new SIM sales until Grameenphone (GP) makes visible improvement in its services

The operator did not improve the quality of services despite repeated warnings, he told the FE. "Once the GP improves their services, the ban will go away."

The Bangladesh Teleco-mmunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on June 29 last banned the sale of Grameenphone SIMs for an indefinite period due to its inability to provide quality services.

Following the bank, the GP on Monday last appealed to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommuni-cations to lift the ban.

On Wednesday night, the country's largest mobile phone operator also raised the issue at a meeting attended by the minister, telecom secretary, BTRC chairman and representatives of all the mobile phone operators.

However, the GP did not get any response in its favour from the government high-ups, meeting sources said.

Talking to the FE, Mr Jabbar said it is true that all the four operators are almost equally bad, but the GP possesses around half of the country's subscribers, which is more than their capacity to provide quality services.

He emphasised that the GP's service quality affects half of the country's mobile phone users. "It is significant," he said, adding that the ban would not hamper the operator much. "We didn't stop their operation … they just can't add more users."

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