State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim has blamed Finance Ministry for not releasing money to complete Teletalk’s network improvement project.
"The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a project involving Tk 6.10 billion twice to expand the Teletalk network. But the ministry is yet to release the money,” said the State Minister.
“I cannot improve the network facilities of Teletalk without money. I don't know any magic,” she blasted.
The junior minister came up with the observations on Sunday while addressing the inaugural ceremony of ‘Aparajita,’ a new Teletalk package designed for women.
She, however, hoped that the ministry concerned would release the money within a very short time.
Tarana also pledged to expand Teletalk network up to the upazila level after getting the money.
Later, she inaugurated the Aparajita package, planned for free distribution of subscriber identification modules (SIMs) among two million women across the country.
The state-owned mobile operator announced the package with some special facilities aiming to ensure women empowerment and reduce gender disparity.
The SIMs were expected to be available for distribution from Sunday at all Teletalk customer service centres and official retail points.
The junior minister said each woman would be entitled for two free SIMs. “The SIMs will offer an affordable rate for calls and internet use.”
Each Aparajita user will get free talk-time worth Tk 10 for three months as a startup bonus, she said.
The users will also get 1GB of free data, ten minutes of free Teletalk-to-Teletalk talk-time and five free minutes of Teletalk-to-separate operator calls, which can be used within the first seven days after activation of the SIM.
Aparajita users can also purchase 1GB of internet data for seven days for Tk 8 and 2GB of data for Tk 14 for three months after SIM activation, report agencies.
Users having SIM of different providers can also migrate to the Aparajita package.