A file photo shows a rickshaw driver speaking on his mobile phone as he waits for passengers in Dhaka. — AFP photo
Mobile users in the country are facing numerous issues, including poor network coverage, call-drop, slow internet speed and high costs of mobile internet services.
Despite several initiatives taken by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on a number of occasions to address the issues, the situation has not yet improved.
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‘In Bhola, I rarely can get access to 4G,’ said Kawsar, a teacher of a private college located in the Lalmohan area of the district.
Mafruha Hossain, a resident of Dhaka, said that with several operators she had faced poor network issues.
‘Sometimes I have to dial several times in order to connect to a number. Even when the phone of the opposite side is on, it says the phone is switched off,’ she said.
‘It gets very hard to keep track of the offers given by the network operators through SMS and I once accidentally subscribed to an offer,’ said Safar Anjum of Dhaka.
Adding to that she said, ‘There were times when I didn’t get a clear explanation of why I was being charged, even not from customer support centers.’
According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission data, in November 2022, the number of mobile connections dropped to 18 crore from 18.17 crore in October.
The BTRC data also showed that in July 2022, the number of active mobile internet connections was 11.64 crore, while the figure stood at 11.34 crore in November 2022.
The number of active mobile internet connections in the country has decreased by 30 lakh over a span of four months, the data showed.
In a public hearing held by the BTRC on December 8, 2022 in Chattogram, in response to a customer’s complaint about weak network and internet speed of mobile operators, a senior BTRC official said that the network weaknesses of several towers of all operators had already been identified and the operators were instructed to increase the network speed in those towers.
At the public hearing, the subscribers shared their experiences and expressed opinions on telecommunication issues, including internet speed, call drop, voice call and network coverage.
They expressed dissatisfaction over the issues.
Rifat Khan of Cumilla, who has to travel to remote areas on a frequent basis, said, ‘I had faced many problems regarding the network, including call clearance issues and low speed of internet.’
‘We are paying more for mobile services now, but the services are not updating at the desired rate,’ he added.
A senior official of BTRC told New Age on January 12, ‘We are aware of the problems faced by mobile customers. The BTRC has already instructed the service providers to address the problems and establish more on-line as well as off-line customer care centers in order to ensure better services.’
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