Movement control order making lives tricky for mobile and internet service providers

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Mobile operators' balance recharge has dipped 20 per cent since Thursday as the point-of-sales outlets cannot open for government's movement control order from March 26 to April 4, that may ultimately push the clients out-of-service over next few days.

Internet providers also raised the same point, saying their bill collection, which takes place in the last week of the month, has been hampered by the voluntary lockdown.

On Tuesday, the public administration ministry declared telecommunication and internet services as emergency utility services, along with electricity, water, gas, fire service and cleaning operations, through the 10-day countrywide closure.

But mobile carriers and the ISPs complained that their workers were physically assaulted by members of the law enforcement agencies at different places in the united states over the last few days.

The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) and the web Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) informed the situation to the policymakers and sought the support of regulations enforcers.


"As many as 60 % of our POS cannot open their outlets, so persons cannot recharge," said a senior executive of a cellular phone operator requesting anonymity.

While customers have the choice to top-up using charge cards or the mobile financial service platform, very few people have these two modes of payment readily available.

This will push a wide array of cellular phone users out of service over another few days.

The inconvenience comes at the same time when the government is asking people to remain at home.

"People are eating more data for entertainment and making more voice calls than before. This will be hindered if they can't recharge," he added.

Md Emdadul Hoque, secretary general of ISPAB, told The Daily Star that although the federal government had brought internet services under the umbrella of emergency services and asked that it be maintained round-the-clock, restriction on movement of their staffers was still being imposed.

"We are getting frequent complaints from various areas of the country, where the law enforcers have physically assaulted them for opening their offices."

To run the internet, service maintenance is crucial and that requires round-the-clock attention.

Furthermore, their inability to accumulate bills would pose an enormous challenge for them in running their service.

"How are we going to pay the earnings of our staff and bear other expenses and even run maintenance focus on time from in a few days?"

Currently, there are 57.43 lakh active broadband connections run by the ISPs, as the mobile operators have 16.62 crore active SIMs, of which 9.42 crore are linked with the internet.

"We wish to request the responsible officials of regulations enforcement agencies to talk to their field officials in order that the mobile operators provides their countrywide uninterrupted services and keep their offices open with no disruption," said SM Farhad, secretary general of AMTOB.

Law enforcers have beaten representatives in a number of places and forcefully shutdown customer cares, said another executive of a mobile operator.

Contacted, Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said he previously received such complaints from different areas in the united states.

"We were holding unwarranted but isolated incidents. We want to communicate with the police high-ups in this regard."
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net

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