Dear Editor:
There is no denying the fact that the government-owned telecom services are too bad. Grameenphone and Robi are the biggest mobile phone operators in our country and their contribution is great to our economy.
The BTCL is the organization responsible for land phones—-but the fact is, because of its poor service subscribers have started abandoning land telephones.
It will be a serious understatement to say that the land phone service of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) has long been unsatisfactory because of corruption among its so-called line-men and probably other fourth class and third class employees. Unless a subscriber greases their (line-men’s) palms on a regular basis his telephone will remain out of order and will not work.
Many subscribers say about this problem caused by these thoroughly corrupt line-men who are often found cutting off wire of the phone line with a pair of pliers (a small tool with two handles for pulling small things like nails, or for cutting wire). The BTCL authority should do well to rectify the problem.
Teletalk Bangladesh Limited, whose brand name is ‘Teletalk’ is the only public sector GSM and 3G-based mobile phone operator in Bangladesh that started operating in 2004. As on August 31 2016, Teletalk has a subscriber base of 2.925 million—the smallest number of subscribers—as against 54.5 million subscriber base of Grameen Phone.
The call centre number of Teletalk is 121 redirected to 2. Its attendants are not attentive. When you lodge a complaint the person on the other end says that the problem will be solved in 24 hours; but the problem remains. Then you call again and seek redress at which point shehe will answer in the same manner. Even after 48 hours they cannot solve the problem.
Even in Dhaka city you will not find recharge facility in 70% of the shops where the Teletalk recharge agents give Teletalk flexiload in the most irregular manner.
Compare this base with Grameenphone, widely abbreviated as GP, is the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh.
According to a news report, the government wants state owned mobile operator Teletalk to merge with an appropriate foreign company so that it can survive in a competitive market and provide better services to subscribers. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave such an order to officials concerned at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) at the NEC conference room at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital.
K M Abul Hasnat
Sadarghat, Chittagong
