The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has asked leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone to stop sales of old numbers under a campaign and asked it to provide the regulator with the details of the promo.
BTRC officials said the letter was sent to GP last week after the commission noticed that GP was selling old numbers at as high as Tk 30,199.
‘We have asked GP to stop all activities regarding sales of old numbers and asked it to provide us with details of the campaign,’ BTRC secretary Md Sarwar Alam told New Age on Wednesday.
According to a GP offer, the company was selling old numbers at Tk 30,199 for old premium category A and at Tk 2,000 for old premium category B under the ‘Get Special, Be Special’ campaign.
A regular SIM of GP is available only at Tk 150 to Tk 200 where the company pays government Tk 300 tax per SIM.
The BTRC officials said GP only took permission for selling its old numbers starting with 01711, which were no longer in use, but there was no mention about the prices for the numbers.
As far as the telecom service is concerned, the old numbers do not provide any added facility than the regular numbers, they said.
‘Without any service difference a telecom company cannot sell its same type of connections at difference prices,’ a BTRC official told New Age.
Such pricing violates the fair competition in the industry, he said.
Asked about the issue, GP’s head of external communication Syed Talat Kamal in an email reply to New Age said that the company received the BTRC letter in this regard.
‘We have received a letter seeking clarification regarding selling SIM at a higher price from BTRC. We will provide them with our clarification within stipulated time,’ he said.
A senior GP official also said that the company suspended sales of old numbers following the BTRC move.
-The New Age
