The High Court (HC) on Sunday directed mobile telecom operators of the country to ensure crystal clear voice call quality, fast internet service and stable network, as per their TVCs (television commercials) and other advertisements.
The court at the same time form a five-member supervisory committee to monitor the functions of the complaint cell of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for speedy solution of mobile network and mobile internet related issues, and customer complaints.
Secretaries to the ICT division and Posts and Telecommunications division of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology ministry, BTRC Chairman, one teacher from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and representative from the Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (MTOB), an organisation of the mobile phone operators, have been included in the committee.
The committee has been asked to submit a report to the court within 30 days after receipt of the court order.
The High Court bench of Justice Mamnoon Rahman and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman passed the order with a rule after hearing a writ petition filed in this regard.
In the rule the High Court wanted to know from the respondents to explain in four weeks as to why the inaction of them in ensuring crystal clear voice all, fast internet service and stable network should not be declared illegal and as to why the respondents should not be directed to remove any limitation of period in data pack service allowing the subscribers to use the purchased data until full consumption.
Posts and Telecommunications Secretary, BTRC Chairman, Grameenphone’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Yasir Azman, Robi’s CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, Banglalink’s Chief Executive Officer Erik Aas and Teletalk’s CEO Md Shahab Uddin and three other respondents have been asked to comply with the rule within four weeks.
Saifur Rahman Rahi, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed the petition as a public interest litigation.
The lawyer who is the customer of all the four mobile phone operators filed complaints to the BTRC on January 5 this year against call drop, weak network and limitation of period in data pack service. As he didn’t get any solution from the BTRC he sent legal notice on January 10 to the respondents.
But without getting any response from the respondents, he filed a writ petition with the High Court last week seeking rules and directions. The High Court on Sunday issued the rules and directions after the primary hearing on the writ petition.
Barrister M A Masum appeared in the hearing on behalf of the petitioner, while deputy attorney general Bepul Bagmar represented the state.
Mr Masum later said, “The complainant cell of the BTRC is receiving complaints from the customers. But there are doubts as to whether that cell is functioning properly. If it worked properly, these mobile subscribers would not have any suffering. That is why we filed the writ petition.”
