Around 42 per cent of the SIM cards in the country are now inactive, State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak told Parliament on Monday.
Responding to a question from Independent MP elected from Mymensingh-6 Constituency M Abdul Malek Sarker, the Minister said that the total number of registered SIMs in the country is 33,27,56,970.
Among them, the number of active SIMs is 19,37,30,000 while the number of registered inactive SIMs is 13,90,26,970.
He also said that around 55 per cent of the registered SIMs of Teletalk, the only state-owned mobile operator, are inactive.
According to the information of State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the gross registered SIMs of Grameen Phone is 11,95,67,925 while 8,39,50,000 are active and the inactive number is 3,56,17,925.
He said that Banglalink's total registered SIMs are 9,07,65,962. Of these, 4,47,20,000 are active and the inactive number is 4,60,45,962.
The total number of Robi SIMs is 10,79,61,800, of which the number of active SIMs is 5,85,10,000 while the number of inactive SIMs is 4,94,51,800. Teletalk's registered SIMs number is 1,44,61,283. The number of active SIMs is 65,50,000 while the number of inactive SIMs is 79,11,283.
The state minister said that the current call rate was determined in 2018 after reviewing the market and analysing the socio-economic context, and market-related review is ongoing.
"As of now there are no prior plans to revise call rates."
In response to the question of Independent MP elected from Jhenaidah-2 Md Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, the Minister said that currently the number of licensed internet providers in Bangladesh is 2,650.
In response to a question from reserved seat MP Farida Yasmin, Palak said that in 2019, the number of BTCL customers was 5,19,922 people.
Currently, on June 12, 2024, that number has decreased to 3,73,950 people. That is, in the last 5 years, the number of BTCL customers has decreased by 1,45,972.
Palak advocates for small internet packages to remain available
State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, has expressed support for keeping small internet packages available to customers after reviewing them.
He mentioned this in response to journalists' questions after a courtesy meeting with French Ambassador Marie Masdupuy, at the Secretariat on Monday.
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Regarding the dissatisfaction among customers since the imposition of data package limits, Palak said, "I have sat with the BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) Chairman and Commissioners regarding this matter. We are reviewing it. I have asked for a report.
"If we need to increase our data packages from three or if other small packages are useful or popular among people, then I have told them to consider what is preferred or favoured by the customers."
On September 17 last year, considering customer interests, Minister of Post and Telecommunications Mustafa Jabbar launched new guidelines for mobile phone operators' data and data-related packages.
Then, on October 15, three types of mobile internet packages with different time durations were implemented. Instead of packages of three days, seven days, fifteen days, and thirty days, packages of seven days, thirty days, and unlimited were introduced.
At that time, the three-day package was removed. At that time, 40 packages were determined out of numerous packages.
In favour of removing the three-day package, the minister stated that giving 15 GB of data with a three-day validity does not benefit the customer.
Mobile operators want to keep the data validity limited for business interests. With numerous packages, people were getting confused, and the new guideline would provide customers with convenience by offering 40 different packages.
