The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has fixed Tk 0.45 per minute as the uniform minimum call rate for all mobile phone operators.
The regulator on Monday issued a letter to the chief executive officer of all four mobile operators in this regard, said Md Jahurul Haque, acting chairman of the BTRC, reports UNB.
The new rate will go into effect from Monday midnight, the regulator said in the letter.
The government has approved the fresh tariff to establish ‘a level playing field’ for the country’s telecom operators, said the acting chairman.
Through this initiative on-net (same network) and off-net (other network) call rate disparity will be removed.
The decision to implement the tariff came two weeks ago with a scope to revise it time-to-time after a meeting with prime minister’s ICT affairs adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Jahurul added.
According to the existing rate, the mobile operators charge the customers minimum Tk 0.25 per minute for on-net calls, that is calls on the same operator’s network.
For off-net calls or calls to other operators’ networks, the customers are paying minimum Tk 0.60 per minute.
Once the new rate is effective, minimum rates for on-net and off-net calls will be same.
In both cases, the upper ceiling for mobile call rate is Tk 2 per-minute which will remain unchanged in the new rate chart.
The customers will be charged in line with their connection packages, time and tariff plans, no matter which operator’s network they use. Value Added Tax and other duties will be applied.
The BTRC has also set the interconnection charge for off-net calls at Tk 0.14 per minute, including Tk 0.04 for interconnection exchange or ICX operators, and Tk 0.10 for call termination operators, which the mobile phone operators pay.
Source: https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/181566/BTRC-fixes-uniform-minimum-call-rate-to-45-paisa