Infozillion BD Teletech is only waiting for the green signal from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to launch the mobile number portability (MNP) service across the country. The managing director of Infozillion BD, Mabroor Hossain, told this to The Independent yesterday. Three mobile operators—Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink—have already completed their preparations for launching the service, but Teletalk is yet to finish its preparation, he said.
When asked if it is possible to launch the service at the right time keeping the Teletalk out, Infozillion BD CEO Mohammad Zulfikar said, yes, it is possible, if BTRC wants. He also said the subscriber will have to spend Tk 30 every time to change his/her mobile operator. Apart from this, the recipient operator will pay a fee of Tk 150–170 for the transfer of the operator number (operator who receives the customer) from the donor number (operator who loses the customer).
However, when a subscriber changes his/her mobile operator, he/she will have to take a SIM card from the new operator. It will be possible to change the operator within five minutes, explained Mohammad Zulfikar. The new number will get activated within 72 hours, he said.
The minister for post, telecommunications and information technology, Mustafa Jabbar, told The Independent that the MNP service will be launched in the first week of August this year. “The BTRC has instructed mobile operators to complete all the preparations by July 31. It's expected that the customers will enjoy this service from the first week of August,” he added.
Earlier, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the ICT adviser to the Prime Minister, had directed the ministry concerned to complete all preparations for this service within July 31 to prevent any delay. In February, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) sought a couple of months for adopting the technology needed for the service. The BTRC, however, did not grant the AMTOB its request. Later, it was alleged that mobile phone operators were trying to prevent the launch of the MNP service.
Following this, the AMTOB said: “As a customer-centric industry, mobile network operators (MNOs) are very keen to facilitate their customers in choosing the operator of their choice by availing the MNP service. Just like many other countries of the world, we strongly believe our customers deserve to enjoy this freedom.”
More than 72 countries have the MNP service, which increases competition among operators in terms of service quality. Mobile phone subscribers will have the privilege to switch to other operators while retaining their existing phone numbers after the service is launched.