Telcos’ service quality deteriorates further

It seems users will get no respite from the poor quality of service of mobile phone networks in the country.

The latest allegations about the poor quality of service come as consumers use their phones in a big way ─ much more than they have done before. Now mobile phones are being used for multiple purposes – from holding video meetings to buying stuff online to making voice calls.

Telecom companies blame the decline in service quality on no new base stations being set up in the last one and a half years, and inadequate spectrum to deal with the growing demand for data usage.

"For more than a year, the service providers could not expand their network due to a difference with the firms operating the towers, and this has affected service quality," said SM Farhad, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh.

In August 2018, the government allowed four firms to handle tower operations as part of its move to separate the network business from telecom services with a view to rationalising the number of towers in the country. It was expected that subscribers of all operators would benefit from the move.

Farhad said there is no alternative for the industry but to work hand in hand with the government during the Covid-19 crisis.

"If the government does not feel the pain of the mobile network operators and come forward with probable solutions, it will be very difficult to sustain naturally, similar to any other industry," he told The Business Standard on Sunday.

He said the key industry issues include an unfavourable tax regime, lack of spectrum, and multiple unresolved VAT, tax and audit claims with the regulators.

In this situation, the country's four mobile phone service provider companies – Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink, and state-run Teletalk – recently requested additional spectrum from the government to cater to the extra demand for data during the lockdown.

Service providers wanted this spectrum either for free or at a discounted price, but the government has not responded to either of the demands.

Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi, said it is worth noting that data traffic has increased by more than 25 percent in the Robi network due to the lockdown.

"In this situation, it is not possible for us to meet the quality expectations of our customers unless we are provided additional spectrum," he explained.

The government can take back the additional spectrum at the end of the three-month period, said Shahed.

"Without new towers, the alternative to improve service quality is additional spectrum," said a senior official of another operator requesting not to be named.

Government response

When asked about the issue, Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar told The Business Standard that the operators' demand for additional spectrum to provide proper service quality does not seem to be an honest attempt.

"They even demanded additional spectrum for free, but did not specify in their proposal how they plan to use it or how the people would benefit.

"If they try to blackmail the government for the spectrum issue against the backdrop of the Covid-19 crisis, I must say there is no such scope," he said.

Jabbar said that the service providers were reluctant to participate in the last spectrum auction, and only bought a nominal amount of spectrum.  

"If there is a need for spectrum, they should have bought it then. Now they have requested free spectrum which is out of the question.

"We will look into the proposal of discounting the price of spectrum after the situation becomes normal," added the minister.

Quality of service

In mid-2019, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) conducted test drives in Dhaka and Barishal divisions to assess the quality of 4G services offered by mobile phone service providers against its benchmark of 7MBps download speed.

But all four phone service providers were found providing services below the benchmark.

In Dhaka, as per BTRC findings, Grameenphone and Robi maintained the benchmark while Banglalink was providing 6.49MBps and Teletalk 4.85MBps.

In Barishal, all four phone service providers failed to maintain the benchmark.

A number of BTRC officials seeking anonymity told The Business Standard that service quality has deteriorated further in recent times as the number of users making complaints has increased.   

As of January, the BTRC hotline received 4,863 complaints against Robi, 3,111 against Grameenphone, 1,323 against Banglalink, and 1,202 against Teletalk.

BTRC officials said the majority of the complaints were about call drops and slow internet connectivity.