The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has instructed six operators in the country to introduce a system to display information about the duration, cost, and amount of money in the account after talking on a mobile phone; This will only apply to prepaid connections that need to be implemented by September 30. Customers of all types of packages are also asked to have the facility to know this information for free. Daily Prothom Alo reports that the instruction was given last Sunday. With this, another issue was added to the discussion with BTRC on the issues of VAT, 3G, etc. of mobile companies.
There are some new guidelines regarding minimum term for prepaid mobile account recharge. In this case, the duration of outgoing call for recharge from 10 to 30 taka should be minimum 10 days. Outgoing calls can be made for 15 days at 31-50 rupees, 30 days at 51-150 rupees, 45 days at 151-300 rupees, 100 days at 301-500 rupees, 180 days at 501-999 rupees and up to a minimum of 360 days at 1000 rupees or more.
Incoming calls will be valid for up to 1 year if any connection is unused. However, the customer must send at least one outgoing call or text message within 180 days from the last recharge date. Otherwise its outgoing will be temporarily stopped which can be re-activated on any subsequent recharge.
In case of old closed SIM, if you recharge the account within one year, it will be activated. However, after 1 year, the customer will have to spend at least 50 rupees to buy a new SIM card.
According to Prothom Alo's report, the guidelines further state that customers who register to receive an offer must be notified via SMS. There will also be a process to cancel the registration of the offer.
For all types of offers, the required information on the subject of "Conditions Applicable" must be presented in a clear and readable form in the magazine, website or journal. If this is not possible in the original advertisement, then this information must be published on the inside page as mentioned.
After deducting the fee 24 hours before deducting any monthly fee (even if there is not enough balance) the customer should be informed by text message.
The first directive is expected to be implemented by September and the rest by April.
BTRC has given these instructions on the basis of discussions with the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), said AMTOB Secretary General TIM Nurul Kabir. They will review these.