MNP service gets going in country
FE Report | Tuesday, 2 October 2018
The much-awaited Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service was launched in the country in the early hours of Monday.
As a result, mobile number subscribers will now be able to switch from one operator to another without changing their existing numbers.
"The scheme will be a big push for ensuring further competition in the telecom market of the country", acting chairman of BTRC Md Jahurul Haque said at a press briefing in the capital on Monday.
Any subscriber willing to avail this service would have to pay Tk. 50.00 porting charge (apart from VAT)-- which would go to the MNP service provider. In addition, the subscriber would have to pay Tk 100.00 as SIM tax, BTRC officials said.
Apart from that, there will be a Tk 100 transfer charge which would be paid by the recipient operator to the MNP service provider. In such case, MNP service provider will get 72 hours for completing the porting process.
However, in case the service has to be provided within 24 hours, the transfer charge would be Tk 200-out of which, Tk 100 would be paid by the subscriber to the recipient operator.
Subscribers would not be allowed to switch again from one operator to another within 90 days of availing MNP.
Earlier in November last year, Bangladeshi-Slovenian joint venture firm Infozillion BD-Teletech was awarded the license for rolling out MNP service in the country.
As per the condition of its license, Infozillion BD has to bring the MNP facilities to 1.0 per cent of the mobile subscribers within six months after getting the license.
Consequently, this porting has to be brought to 5.0 per cent of the population within a year and 10 per cent within the next five years.
The company will also have to pay an annual license fee of Tk 2.5 million to BTRC. In addition, it would also have to share 15 per cent of its revenue with telecom regulator from the second year of its operation.
Infozillion is also bound to provide one per cent of its audited income to the social responsibility fund of BTRC from the second year of its operation.
A total of 72 countries have introduced this MNP scheme. Among the neighbouring countries, India has introduced MNP back in 2011 while Pakistan launched this system back in 2007.