Flat call rate for land-phone users in all dists

The state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) is going to introduce a single flat call rate for its customers in all the districts across the country and plans to cut down charges.
Disclosing the government decision at a press briefing at his ministry, Post and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju said the new rate will come into effect within 2-3 months.
It means if any BTCL customer dials from Dhaka or from any district for respondents anywhere else in the country, the rate will be the same and there will be no variation in its call rates from district-to-district calling.
At present, BTCL charges variable call rates for different districts. Call rate is different when it is dialed from the capital into anywhere else.
Raju said, “Following huge growth of mobile phones, the BTCL land phone’s demand is decreasing. We want people to use BTCL land phone more. That’s why we’re going to remove varied call rates.”
The minister mainly briefed about the outcome of the participation of Bangladesh delegation in the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) 4th World Telecommunications Policy Forum conference in Lisbon of Portugal.
The minister himself led the Bangladesh delegation while Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman Maj Gen (Retd) Zia Ahmed and BTCL Managing Director Khabiruzzaman were also members of the team.
Raju said the ITU conference widely recognised and supported Bangladesh’s programme for building a digital country by 2021.
They appreciated government’s move to introduce internet communications at rural level.
He noted that the government has undertaken a number of projects at a total cost of Tk 4,900 crore to get to the goal of building a digital Bangladesh.
These projects include 55-lakh-line-expansion project of the state-owned Teletalk at Tk 2000 crore, optical fibre installation at upzila level and introduction of 3G and 2.5G telecommunications service across the country.
The minister informed that a process is underway to form a single company through merger of the BTCL and the Submarine Cable Company Limited.
The BTRC chairman, who was present at the briefing, said the Commission is trying to sit together with mobile- phone operators and political decision-makers to reduce the call tariffs of mobile phone and also the charges of internet use.
Replying to a question on the allegation that illegal VoIP business is again growing across the country under political influence, he said the BTRC is considering removing the policy barriers to VoIP business.
Expressing his unwillingness in taking action against the mobile-phone operations now illegally doing VoIP business, the BTRC chairman said, “There is a question whether it was fair to impose penalty on mobile-phone operators on such allegation during the caretaker government.”

Courtesy of The New Nation