GP requests BTRC to lift SIM sale ban

The country’s largest telecom operator Grameenphone (GP) has requested Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to fully lift the ban on the sale of its SIM cards.

Claiming that GP has achieved the service quality target set by the government, the mobile phone operator made the request in a letter, signed by its CEO Yasir Azmin, sent to the BTRC on November 20.

Citing some reports in the letter, Yasir said, “We have been meeting key performance indicators (KPI) and improving the quality of service (QoS) set by BTRC. We have also paid attention to the improvement requirements sought by BTRC and reported the improvements to BTRC from time to time.”

“We earnestly request BTRC to immediately withdraw the ban on the sale of GP SIM fully, so that we can serve the demands of the public and resume selling new SIMs,” the letter said.

The CEO said in the letter, “We appreciate BTRC for allowing us to provide 78,000 new SIMs to the Armed Forces Division and other corporate customers. However, we wish to serve the nation and all citizens of the country and fulfill the demand of the general public.”

“Since the imposition of SIM sell restriction on June 29 last, we have been diligently working with BTRC and other relevant stakeholders to improve the QoS in the projects of our network where there has been any QoS issue,” said the letter.

“To this effect, we have been following your guidelines and keeping you updated on our progress against your expectation, We have also submitted reports showing that GP meets the QoS benchmark and the improvement trend continues,” it added.

In the letter, GP also proposed to conduct joint (BTRC and GP) drive tests to identify further improvement needs, if any, and make relevant decisions to take it forward.

“This is also to the note that GP has built its network across the country and there are many areas where GP is the sole provider of network coverage,” the GP letter claimed, adding, “So, the ongoing restriction is creating a barrier to the general public in accessing telecommunication services and undermines the general public’s right to choose their preferred service.”

“While we can discuss the scope of improvement, an arbitrary and open-ended restriction on SIM sales cannot help the mass people,” the GP CEO said in the letter.

Asked about the letter, BTRC’s Vice-Chairman Engineer Md Mohiuddin Ahmed said, “They (GP authorities) are trying to achieve the target set by the commission. They are slowly improving but we have given them the time up to December. Then we will be able to observe how much improvement they have made.”

“We have got an update report for October where we have seen they have achieved the target almost 90 per cent when it comes to voice calls. We are scrutinising the reports and expecting that they will achieve the given target,” he said.

They are showing reports and doing well, but we will see the customers are getting better services, he added.