At a public hearing on Wednesday, cellphone users complained about poor network quality, dropped calls, knowledge exhaustion after the expiration date and the overall quality of the country’s cellular operators.
The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission held a hearing in the capital, Dhaka, that day to hear reports and court cases on the quality of services directly from telecom operators’ customers.
At the public hearing, subscribers shared their reports and expressed their perspectives on telecommunications issues, adding cellular network speed, internet speed, call drops, voice calls, and network coverage.
Many of the participants in the hearing claimed that they had experienced network speed issues.
KM Nahiyan Hossain said he resided in Dhanmondi, a prime location in the capital, which had experienced a poor network and cut off calls at his residence.
Every time he filed a complaint with the telecom operator from which he obtained services, he said that other local people prevented them from installing network towers.
In this regard, BTRC President Md. Mohiuddin Ahmed said that base stations or network towers should provide smart services.
“But it’s a challenge that citizens are preventing from putting up towers,” he said.
The BTRC, taking into account all the challenges, seeks to solve this challenge with a formula of sharing towers across operators, rather than installing towers for individual telecom operators, Mohiuddin said.
In addition, the commission publishes radiation knowledge on its website to raise awareness, he said.
Users have also complained that BTRC auctioned 5G spectrum in 2022, cellular users have not yet had a chance to use the 5G network in the country, while 5G networks are available in almost all neighboring countries.
They said that 5G spectrum remained unused, when it could only be used for the existing 4G network.
Mohammad Moniruzzaman Jewel, general manager of BTRC’s spectrum division, said regulators are complying with their rules regarding the rollout of 5G.
“However, the committee believes that improving the service of the 4G network is more vital than the 5G network factor. We have deployed all our forces to achieve the goal of a good 4G network,” he said.
Participants in the hearing complained about a variety of other issues, including local influencers controlling web offering activities and preventing other corporations from entering certain areas, cellular telecommunications operators not allowing consumers to transfer data and cellular balance.
Mobile operators are benefiting from trillions of dollars of limited-time plans, they said.
BTRC officials rely on users who will solve problems based on their importance, relevance, and visitor interest.
Mohammad Khalil-your-Rahman, managing director of BTRC’s division and systems, said the commission is conducting an investigation to review the knowledge and packages submitted through telecom operators after hearing customer feedback on the three-day and 15-day package recall. .
“We hope to be able to offer cellular internet at moderate costs after reviewing the survey responses,” he said.
Minister of State for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the government will formulate a new law combining the telecom laws of 2001 and 2010, on how to achieve innovation in regulation.
Mohiuddin presided over the public hearing and Zunaid was the chief guest.