Country's mobile operators will not be allowed to offer internet or voice packages of less than three days' validity starting from next month.
The regulator has issued a directive to this end on Thursday, stating that minimum validity of all telecom packages, offers or bundles has to be three days.
The new order will take effect from the first day of February and be reviewed after 30 days, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said.
The BTRC has thus backtracked from its earlier decision to bar all internet or voice packages of less than seven days' validity.
Last December, it issued a similar directive, stipulating minimum seven days' validity for all internet or voice packages.
At that time, the operators expressed dissatisfaction with the move, hinting that it would rather increase the prices of data and voice packages.
Industry insiders also pointed out that the majority of mobile subscribers prefers short-term packages at cheaper rates.
"We've made the decision to lower the cap for package duration after consulting stakeholders," said BTRC Commissioner Md Rezaul Quader.
"We're still assessing subscriber behaviour and their needs. As per assessment, the direction will be reviewed after a month," he told the FE.
Meanwhile, the BTRC has also put a Tk 5.0 cap on 'pay per use' internet schemes.
This means a subscriber will able to spend a maximum of Tk 5.0 on a 'pay per use' scheme.
Upon its completion, they will have to opt for or subscribe a particular internet package.
"Up until now, the subscribers often get ripped off by unlimited 'pay per use' internet schemes sometimes without their knowledge," Mr Quader said.
"However, the new measure will prevent such customer inconvenience," he hoped.
It is to be noted that the new cap on 'pay per use' scheme came into effect this Sunday.
When asked for comments, top mobile operators said they were still assessing the impact of the new directive.
Bangladesh had around 157 million mobile subscribers and 91.35 million internet users at the end of 2018.
The number of mobile internet users stood at 85.55 million by December 2018.
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