10-Second Pulse<\/em>
\nGP, Banglalink fail to meet BTRC deadline<\/strong>
\nTwo leading mobile phone operators failed to implement the directive of telecom regulators to introduce 10-second pulse on each mobile call within the latest deadline that ended on Saturday.
\nFour other companies also failed to introduce flat call rate or same rate for every minute of a call within the same deadline set by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
\nOfficials of the largest cellphone company Grameenphone and second largest operator Banglalink, which did not introduce the mandatory 10-second pulse and flat call rate within the deadline, said the companies need more time.
\nThree mobile operators \u2014 Robi, Citycell and Airtel \u2014 launched the mandatory 10-second pulse on each calls on Saturday but Robi and Citycell did not introduce the flat call rate.
\nAn official of the Airtel claimed the company\u2019s existing call rates are flat.
\nThe other operator, state-run Teletalk, implemented the BTRC decision on 10-second pulse within the first deadline of August 15 and flat call rate by Saturday.
\nBTRC in July asked the six operators to introduce 10-second pulse by August 15 to give more benefits to the consumers who were forced to pay bills for 1 minute even if they talk for 1 second in majority of the packages.
\nThe commission later extended the deadline to September 15 after the operators sought more time for introducing the 10-second pulse. The commission also asked the operators to introduce flat tariff rate in the same directive.
\nRobi, the third largest operator with two crore subscriber, in a statement Saturday said it was introducing 10-second pulse for each calls, including interactive voice response, from Saturday in line with the BTRC directive.
\nRobi vice-president, communication and media relation, Mohiuddin Babar, however, told New Age that they were yet to introduce flat tariff rate in all packages. \u2018We will introduce flat rate in all packages in phases starting from this week,\u2019 he said.
\nGP, however, in a statement on Saturday said, \u2018Grameenphone has every intention to implement BTRC\u2019s directive on 10 second pulse but given the size of our customer base and number of products we need more time to satisfactorily complete this transition.\u2019
\n\u2018We have already requested BTRC to extend the time to let us implement 10 second pulse in all our package by maintaining all relevant procedure to ensure customer satisfaction.\u2019
\nThe operator with around 4 crore subscriber said it had already started the process and re-launched one of its existing packages with 10 second pulse and flat tariff.
\nBTRC officials said GP on Thursday applied for a time extension of around 45 days for implementing the BTRC decision.
\nBanglalink still remained reluctant to implement the BTRC decision.
\nIts senior director, marketing, Shihab Ahmed in a statement said, \u2018We believe it will be detrimental if the customers are left with no choice of their own if the 10 second pulse is implemented.\u2019
\nIt, however, said if the BTRC insists then they would implement 10 second pulse.
\nAnother Banglalink official said the company was yet to introduce flat call rate.
\nHe said they would implement the BTRC decision in phases.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of New Age<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10-Second Pulse GP, Banglalink fail to meet BTRC deadline Two leading mobile phone operators failed to implement the directive of telecom regulators to introduce 10-second pulse on each mobile call within the latest deadline that ended on Saturday. Four other companies also failed to introduce flat call rate or same rate for every minute of … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[209,829,199,1508,9072,8386],"yoast_head":"\n