The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has issued a show cause notice to Grameenphone due to excessive call drops. If unable to provide a satisfactory explanation, the telco operator faces a fine of upto Tk 300 crore.
The notice was issued to GP last Monday.
Junaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, informed journalists of the development after the inauguration of the GPT platform 'G-Brain' organised at the ICT Tower of Agargaon in the capital on Wednesday afternoon.
Palak stated, "We have issued a show cause notice to Grameenphone initially. Further analysis is underway. If they can provide a valid explanation, they may be pardoned like last time. However, if they fail to justify their actions properly, BTRC can impose fines ranging from Tk 100 crore to Tk 300 crore."
"We had asked for explanations from four MNOs regarding our test drive on July 30," he added.
Voice calls, data, and network coverage in these three main areas are checked to verify the service quality of mobile phone operators. BTRC conducts 'Quality of Service (QoS) Drive Test' for verification.
Engineer Md Mahiuddin Ahmed, Chairman of BTRC, mentioned that voice and data services on the Grameenphone network did not meet the expected standards in the drive test. BTRC is investigating the reasons behind this.
"If any operator fails to maintain the expected service quality, BTRC will take action. Customers should not suffer any inconvenience," emphasised the BTRC Chairman.
According to the Quality of Service (QoS) guidelines, there is a provision for up to 2 per cent call drops in the case of voice calls. For call setups, BTRC has set a specific time limit of seven seconds. Additionally, a minimum download speed of 7 Mbps is required for 4G technology.
