Grameenphone loses 3.5 million customers after govt bans SIM sales

Six months have passed since the government banned sales of Grameenphone’s SIM card. As a result of this ban, the operator is losing an sale of average of 40,000 SIMs per day. They also lost about 3.5 million customers.

Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on 29 June banned sales of Grameenphone’s SIM cards questioning its quality of service. According to the BTRC, active SIM cards of Grameenphone stood slightly over 81.4 million after October. The number is around 3.5 million less than active SIMs in May. The operators loss customers if they fail to sell new SIMs as some active SIMs gets inactive regularly.  

Meanwhile, Grameenphone officials maintain that they are doing everything possible to improve the quality of service including buying frequency and installing it on network, setting up new towers and connecting the towers with optical fibre cables. The operator said these steps improved the quality of service. The telecom operator has sent a letter to BTRC to assess the improvement in quality of service and lift the ban on SIM card sales.

Post and telecommunication minister Mustafa Jabbar told Prothom Alo on Sunday, “I’ve received a report from BTRC today (Sunday). I’ve seen that the infrastructural development done by Grameenphone in last six months is noticeable,” he said adding that the infrastructural development Grameenphone undertaken within this time is somewhat satisfactory.   

The BTRC reasoned poor network of Grameenphone on the day of inauguration of Padma Bridge. The operator on 3 July sent a letter to Grameenphone explaining what happened on that day. The operator said it wanted to strengthen network on the Padma Bridge but an application in this end was under consideration. Under the circumstances, the operator increased the capacity of its nearby Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) to the highest. They also installed three temporary towers with powerful equipment to bring the bridge under network coverage

Grameenphone maintains that the over 6km-long Padma bridge cannot be brought under uninterrupted network coverage only by strengthening the towers on two sides of the river. Installation of additional equipment on the bridge was needed for better network coverage, but the telecom operate did not get such approval from concerned government authorities.

Although the ban of sales of new SIMs was slapped on 25 June, four days after the inauguration of Padma bride, the BTRC in September approved the operator to sale some old SIMs. Telecommunication ministry later served BTRC a show cause notice and the permission was cancelled on 6 November.

Grameenphone said they had been working to improve the quality of service. Upon the ban on SIM sales, the operator made some commitments to improve their services including increasing frequency, setting up new towers, connecting towers with fibre optic cable.

Grameenphone said they bought radio frequency worth around Tk 60 billion from auctions in 2021 and 2022. The spectrum they bought in 2021 has fully been installed in networks and on 1 November started the process of setting up new radio frequency bought in last auction in March.

The operator said they took a target of setting up 1900 new towers in 2022. The operator could set up a total of 1604 towers up to October. They installed 1600 towers in 2021.

The leading telecom operator committed to connect 34 per cent of its towers with fiber optic cable within a year.

The leading telecom operator committed to connect 34 per cent of its towers with fiber optic cable within a year. They could complete connecting 28 per cent with fiber optic cable in November.

The matter of sharing the towers among the operators was also resolved.

Grameenphone officials claimed the quality of their services has increased due to these steps. The 4-G internet speed which was 7 megabits per second (Mbps) was found to be 17 mbps in a recent test done by the operator themselves.

According to a BRTC study in 2021, grameenphone’s call drop was well below the benchmark rate of 2 per cent. As per the call drop percentage, Grameenphone’s performance was better than other operators.   

Grameenphone is the number one mobile phone operator of the country in terms of number of customers and revenue. National Board of Revenue (NBR) on 28 December awarded Grameenphone for being the highest taxpayer in telecom sector in 2021-22 fiscal year. They got the award for seven times on the trot.

According to the Grameenphone, they paid the government over Tk 1.03 trillion in tax and other fees up to September from the beginning of their operation in the country. They paid the government Tk 102.80 billion in 2021. With an investment of over Tk 437 billion, Grameenphone is one of the largest foreign investor in Bangladesh. Grameenphone works on creating entrepreneurship and enhancing skill of youth and making internet safe for all, among other activities. The company also sponsors sports and cultural activities. Grameenphone received Digital Bangladesh Award in 2021.  

Asked about the matter, Grameenphone in a written reply to Prothom Alo said ban of sales of SIM is utterly frustrating for an operator. Thousands of customers are being unable to buy Grameenphone SIM cards every day.

Grameenphone expect the ban would be lifted soon in order to implement Smart Bangladesh.

The quality of service of telecom operators are being increasingly questioned since 2020. The operators are maintaining since the beginning that new towers, radio frequencies and optical fiber are needed to increase the quality of service. Of these, only the issue of buying frequency is on the hand of operators. Four operators bought frequency worth Tk 180 billion from BTRC in auctions held in last two years. But the operators maintain that setting up towers have become increasingly difficult due to lack of available space.

Grameenphone said a total of 753 towers required to be installed in the country right now but the tower companies cannot assist them in this regard. Also, owners of buildings are reluctant to rent space for setting up towers. Telecom operators sent letters to the BTRC at the middle of last year seeking place for setting up towers. BTRC requested three ministries for their cooperation in this end. The telecom operators, however, said the situation saw no improvement.  

Asked about the ban on Grameenphone’s SIM sales, Foreign Investor’s Chambers of Commerce Industry’s (FICCI) former president and current adviser Rupali Chowdhury told Prothom Alo the authorities can give notice if certain company does not work properly but it is not appropriate to stop the operation of any product or service abruptly.

She said it would not bode well for Bangladesh if the foreign investors get to know that any product or service can be banned here without any consultation.