Cellphone companies consider going to court against the telecom regulator, which asked them to start call-drop compensation service from July 1.
A source with the Association of Mobile Telephone Operators of Bangladesh said mobile operators will file a petition before the court on Sunday seeking a stay order on the directive.
On June 30, the association in a letter to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) requested to defer the call-drop decision until consultation with the operators.
They will try to resolve the matter with the regulator through discussion at first, if that fails, they have a plan to go to court, the source said.
On May 15, the telecom ministry asked the mobile operators to provide compensation for mobile call-drop from July 1 as the operators are yet to start compensating users, defying a previous order of the telecom regulator.
The decision was taken in a meeting presided over by state minister for telecom Tarana Halim where chief executive officers of all mobile companies were present.
The BTRC on January 19 made one minute call-drop compensation mandatory for mobile phone companies, but the operators did not comply with the order.
Two officials of two operators contacted by the FE said although the operators received written instruction from the BTRC on June 30, they did not comply with it and they will take legal recourse.
According to the BTRC order, in line with a telecom ministry decision, from the second call-drop in a day, the mobile operators have to give one minute free talk-time and inform the subscribers about it through SMS.
The mobile phone companies, at a meeting with the BTRC on June 21, claimed that technically there are no tools to determine the reason for call-drops.
They said that the customers might manipulate the BTRC call-drop compensation directive by causing call-drop voluntarily to claim free call minutes from the operators.
Operators demanded that the BTRC set a maximum compensation limit for a user.
They also said during off-net call-drops, it would be difficult to find out where the problem occurred.
A senior official of a mobile phone company said the BTRC cannot force the operators to compensate as operators' call-drop rate is under the allowable range of the BTRC.
According to the directive issued by the BTRC, the operators have to ensure 95-97 per cent call-success rate with a maximum 2-3 per cent drop rate.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
