The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has lifted the limit of 40 package offers on mobile internet. From now on, customers will be able to buy packages in hourly terms. There are also customer-centric packages of various durations.
The guidelines issued by the BTRC on Sunday (January 12) for mobile phone operators on data and data-related packages have provided these opportunities for mobile internet packages. As a result, the conditions imposed on operators in selling internet packages have been relaxed after about 15 months.
In the guidelines that the BTRC last issued in October 2023, the maximum number of packages was 40 and the validity was changed to 7 days, 30 days and unlimited (without a specific duration), which operators had been expressing dissatisfaction with.
Under the new guidelines, operators will be able to offer three types of packages—1. Regular packages; which are packages that are open to all customers 2. Customer-centric special packages; for specific categories of customers based on customer usage and average revenue per customer and 3. Research and Development Package; Packages that will be offered to customers to examine the market and understand the type.
Regular packages will have a minimum validity of 15 days, customer-centric special packages will have a minimum validity of 3 days, and Research and Development packages will have a minimum validity of 7 days.
Beyond these three packages, operators will be able to set packages according to their own plans, considering the interests and socio-economic context of the customer. Under this, BTRC has given the opportunity to offer hourly and one to three-day packages. According to the instructions, operators will be able to offer a maximum of 200 MB (megabytes) per hour, a maximum of 3 GB (gigabytes) for one day, a maximum of 5 GB for two days, and a maximum of 8 GB for three days.
There will also be a package as a ‘flexible plan’ so that the customer can receive the package according to his convenience. Apart from this, there will also be an unlimited package. However, in that case, a time limit will have to be set. The customer will be informed about it through SMS one day before the expiration of any package.
However, no hourly-minute packages can be provided from 12 midnight to 6 am.
If any unused data remains after the expiry of a data package, it can be used as a ‘carry forward’. That is, if the customer buys the same package again before the expiry date, the unused data can be used in the next package.
