Minister asks telecom operators not to raise internet data prices

Telecoms Minister Mustafa Jabbar has asked four mobile operators in Bangladesh not to increase internet data prices as some customers decried the scrapping of three-day packs.

“We told them that they must not increase the prices,” the minister said.

Mobile internet costs escalated after telecom operators scrapped the three-day data packs from their services following government directives. The new internet price pushed up the cost by a third. The customers complained about the price hike on social media.

The minister met the officials of the four mobile operators on Sunday.

When asked if the operators could resume the old data packages, the minister said: “The old packages do not exist anymore. We brought down the number of data packs to 40 and the validity period to three types. But they can’t increase prices,” he said.

The operators, on the other hand, said that three-day 'sachet packs’ were mostly used by students and people from the lower income groups. They had already informed the government that scrapping those data packs would increase the prices.

As different data packages were scrapped, the customers have limited options to choose from, the operators said. They wanted to resume the old internet data packs.

On Sept 17, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission asked the operators to increase the minimum expiry period from three days to seven. The commission announced a fresh data package guideline which became effective on Oct 15.

The new packages included 40 types of regular packages, special packages, and research and development packages with flexible plans.

A 15 GB data package for three days was never beneficial for the client, Minister Jabbar said at the inaugural event of data packages on Sept 17.