Post and telecommunications ministry has made a fresh move to fix tariff for nationwide telecommunication transmission network (NTTN) operators.
Telecoms ministry at a meeting on Thursday instructed Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB), NTTN and other stakeholders to propose a tariff structure for NTTN services by November 05.
"We were asked to submit a proposal on what tariff should be for NTTN services," said ISPAB president Aminul Hakim who attended the consultation.
Additional post and telecoms secretary Md Kamruzzaman convened the meeting at the ministry. Mr Hakim said this is the first meeting of the process.
"There will be another meeting after all stakeholders submit their proposals," he told FE.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has been trying in vain to frame an integrated tariff for the operators for almost five years.
It has failed to reach a consensus even after five years into an initiative to formulate an integrated tariff structure for NTTN operators.
The ISPAB and other NTTN service recipients have been complaining that NTTN operators are charging whimsically in the absence of a tariff structure.
The commission has finally submitted an integrated tariff plan for NTTN operators on their own and the proposal is waiting for approval from the ministry.
Asked about the BTRC move, post and telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar told the FE that a committee was formed to make a decision.
Considering the gravity of the situation, the ministry will decide on a tariff plan as soon as possible.
The telecoms regulator, as per the ministry's instruction, initiated in April 2015 to formulate an integrated tariff plan for NTTN operators.
Accordingly, it formed a committee to accomplish the task, an official of the commission said.
Keeping internet prices low at root level across the country was the main reason behind this move.
The government prompted to set the tariff rate as internet prices in remote areas continued to remain high even after it drastically reduced bandwidth price.
In late November 2016, the commission formed another committee including its officials and stakeholders.
At a meeting on October 15 last year, the commission proposed a long-haul and metro tariff based on grade of service and grade of experience for cellphone operators and internet service providers (ISPs).
However, NTTN operators failed to reach a conclusion in fixing the tariff.
In April this year, another meeting on the issue with phone operators, ISPs, international gateway operators and NTTN operators also ended without any consensus.
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