Govt lifts ban on GP SIM sales

The government lifted the ban on sales of Grameenphone (GP) SIMs on Monday night.

On June 29, 2022, the government imposed a ban on SIM sales due to poor service quality and gave six months till December to improve service quality.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) sent a letter to the Grameenphone regarding the issue.

Khairul Basher, GP’s head of communications, confirmed the ban withdrawal.

“We have received a letter from BTRC withdrawing the ban on SIM sales," he confirmed.

On November 20, 2022, GP requested 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, and sent it to the BTRC.

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.

Earlier, in May, GP’s call drop rate was 0.55 percent, well below the BTRC threshold of 2 percent, showing results from the regulator's most recent drive test.