Recharge-Based Services
Telcos oppose commission sharing model
The country’s mobile phone operators are opposing the commission sharing model of the recharge-based services as they claim that the slab-based model will create uneven business environment between local and international recharge operators. The telecom operators are also denying doing business with the international payment and recharge service operators after the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission last month allowed paying utility bills from abroad through mobile balance recharge, said officials concerned.
Officials of different mobile operators said that the BTRC approval of slab-based commission sharing for recharge service offered higher rates for IPRS operators.
A BTRC directive earlier said that service providers of electricity, gas, water, sewerage etc would have to pay commission to the IPRS operators.
It also said all the licensees of the BTRC would have to pay commission to the IPRS operators against their service.
A senior official of a mobile company said that currently the local recharges got around 2.7 per cent and the BTRC allowed IPRS operators up to 5 per cent commission of their recharged amount.
‘Surprisingly the BTRC only allowed local recharges in commission sharing at lower amount but there is no commission for local operators if they recharge in the higher amount,’ he said.
‘Although the local operators don’t recharge much higher amount, the option should be open for them,’ he said.
He also said the telcos would not take the heat of several lakh local recharge operators, who gave the majority business, for only 13 IPRS operators.
The BTRC no objection certificate issued to the IPRS operators last month said, for amount less than Tk 1 lakh the commission will be 2 per cent. The commission will be 2.5 per cent for Tk 1 lakh to Tk 9.99 lakh, 3 per cent for Tk 10 lakh to Tk 49.99 lakh, 3.5 per cent for Tk 50 lakh to Tk 99.99 lakh, 4 per cent for Tk 1 crore to Tk 1.99 crore, 4.5 per cent for Tk 2 crore to Tk 4 crore and the commission will be 5 per cent for Tk 5 crore and above.
‘Such commission sharing is a core business decision. As a business we should have the right to fix the commission of my suppliers or agents based on their value creation,’ a senior official of another mobile company told New Age on Thursday.
‘In open market economy we need to follow a commercial approach for fixing commission rates,’ he said.
The official also said the telcos had already informed the IPRS operators about their unwillingness to engage international utility bill payment business.
The BTRC in 2013 allowed 13 firms to provide international recharge service which allows loading mobile balance from abroad.
-With New Age input
