Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on Sunday introduced slab-based maximum charges for different mobile banking services offered by the mobile phone companies.
The BTRC issued a directive which introduced slab-based charging rates for cash-in and cash-out, person to person fund transfer [P2P] and utility bill payment through mobile phone networks.
The directive said the mobile phone operators are charging different types of rates for same types of services in mobile banking and financial system.
In some cases the mobile operators are taking higher charges from the users, it said.
‘We issued the directive mainly to standardise the mobile banking and financial service charges,’ a BTRC official told New Age on Tuesday.
He said earlier the rate was fixed through bargaining between the bank and mobile operators which have no standard base.
‘So, usually the mobile banking rates were fixed through bargaining which affected the end users,’ he said.
Another BTRC official, however, said the new directive can affect the low-income people as the directive approved higher charges for lower amount.
According to Tuesday’s directive for cash-in and cash-out and utility payment service, the rate will be 2 per cent for transaction of Tk 10,000 or less, 1.80 per cent for Tk 10,001 to Tk 20,000 and 1.60 per cent for Tk 20,001 to Tk 30,000, 1.50 per cent for Tk 30,001 to 40,000, 1.40 per cent for 40,001 to Tk 50,000, 1.20 per cent for Tk 50,001 to 75,000 and 1 per cent for Tk 75,001 to Tk 1,00,000.
For more than Tk 1,00,000 transaction and bill payment through mobile banking the maximum charge will be Tk 1,000, it said.
For P2P fund transfer the rate will be Tk 2 for transaction of Tk 500 and less and Tk 5 for more than Tk 500, said the directive.
The directive also made balance and statement inquiry free of charges for the users.
Merchant payment, remittance-in for beneficiary, disbursement of salary and allowances were also made free through the directive.
-With New Age input
