BTRC to determine actual cost of mobile call rate

[telet...@gmail.com]

At last Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is
going to determine soon how much actually a call costs a mobile
operator. This is expected to enable BTRC to effectively regulate the
call rates charged by the mobile operators.

"The project that was undertaken to determine the actual cost of a
call will be completed very soon," revealed a highly placed BTRC
source adding, "Hopefully we will go into consultancy as early as
July and three months thereafter the report is expected to be
submitted."

He said once the report is submitted the BTRC would know how much a
mobile operator spends for a call. Then the BTRC would be able to
intervene into the prices set by the mobile operators, he added.

The source further said the BTRC believes in rationalized call rates
that would serve the best interest of the consumers.

It is a failure of the BTRC to take such a long time in determining the
cost of a call, admitted the source, saying that this happened because
BTRC personnel did not have any experience in this field prior to the
inception of the commission about three years and a half ago.

In the wake of the government decision of taxing each SIM card by Tk
1200 the role of the country's only telecommunications regulatory
body has been questioned, because it was alleged that the BTRC was not
consulted prior to the imposition of the new tax.

Despite enjoying lower licensing fees compared with other regional
countries such as India and Pakistan mobile operators in Bangladesh
charge the subscribers at one of the highest rates in the world while
in neighbouring India call rates are the cheapest. Call rates in
Pakistan are also much lower than those in Bangladesh.

According to the source rather than imposing tariff on the mobile
operators BTRC believes in an open market philosophy and encourages
competition so that the prices come down automatically.

"Market is the main regulation and if the competition is there prices
will come down naturally," he said, adding, "Although BTRC did not
yet impose any call rate on any mobile operators credit should go to
the commission because the call rates came down significantly since it
started functioning."

"If the open market philosophy does not bring the cost down and the
subscribers continue paying more for their calls the BTRC would not
hesitate to intervene into the prices set by the mobile operators,"
he went on.

He said as a part of the policy to encourage competition BTRC helped
Teletalk, a sister concern of the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and
Telephone Board (BTTB) begin its operation in a short period of time by
issuing licence, facilitating import of the equipment and providing
frequency much quicker than usual.

Apart from this the BTRC played an important role in the signing of a
deal between SingTel and CityCell in which SingTell bought 45 percent
of the CityCell's total share, he claimed. The commission also made
things easy for the Egyptian company Orascom to take over Sheba Telecom
that is now known as Banglalink, he added.

He further said with the arrival of Teletalk and other measures taken
by BTRC market has experienced a significant change in last few months
as different mobile operators have been in a frantic competition with
one another to offer new packages including reduction of call charge to
lure new customers and retain existing clients.

All the four private mobile operators - GrameenPhone, Aktel,
Banglalink and CityCell - reduced tariff as well as prices of SIM
cards substantially over the last few months. They also increased the
validity of the scratch cards up to one year, which has been a
significant change and demand of the mobile users.

Mobile operators are expected to offer the subscribers even more
attractive packages in the near future to attract prospective mobile
users

By Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan
The News Today
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Wednesday June 29 2005