Consumer assoc expresses privacy concerns

Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association (BMPCA) has expressed concerns over mobile phone users’ privacy after a foreign organisation recently published a report on the quality and capacity of the country’s telecom services.

It has urged the government to investigate whether this foreign organisation named Opensignal is collecting data illegally by infecting cell phone towers with malware or with the local operators’ help.

At a press conference at the Crime Reporters Association of Bangladesh auditorium in the capital’s Segunbagicha on Sunday, it demanded Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission publish a report on the quality of services of the local mobile phone companies.

BMPCA President Mohiuddin Ahmed told the press conference the government had recently banned the sales of Grameenphone SIM cards, describing the company’s quality of services as the lowest.

“Interestingly, we saw a report published by Opensignal two days ago, which recognised Grameenphone and Banglalink as the best telecom service providers in the country.

“We want to know how much money the two companies have paid Opensignal to get this recognition and also how. We demand the government hold the two operators accountable, ensuring customers’ right to information and preventing the creation of confusion among them,” he said.

Tanveer Hasan Joha, advisory technician of the association, said Opensignal’s reporting is not correct.

“It claimed it had collected customer data from Facebook or YouTube. But this is not acceptable as Facebook and YouTube never share customer information with others. It would be a violation of data privacy and a legal offence if the company accessed customers’ devices and collected data from there,” he said.

Urging the government not to take the matter lightly, he also said it was necessary to investigate whether Opensignal was collecting data by infecting mobile phone towers with malware.

BMPCA General Secretary Abu Saleh, Central Member Abu Bakar Siddique, and Publicity Secretary Sheikh Farid also spoke on the occasion, among others.