The government has decided to shut down some of the Value Added Service (VAS) of certain mobile operators.
The decision was taken as these providers are indulged in taking away huge amounts of money from the cell phone users by defrauding customers in the name of various offers.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BRTC) issued a show-cause notice on Tuesday to Robi and Banglalink under section 64 of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Act 2001 to protect the rights of cell phone users.
The show-cause notice was served to these operators asking them to clarify why the VAS should not be banned.
It was learned that, without permission of the mobile users, some so-called VAS organisations intentionally launched various services on their mobile phones, from where a certain amount of subscription is charged on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
As per the government watch dog’s recent investigation over the repeated allegations, it was found that, after getting the licenses from the regulatory body BTRC, these VAS providers are affiliated with the mobile operators. Part of the money received from these services goes to mobile operators, government, and VAS companies.
On the other hand, the mobile operators informed the media that they would take proper action after receiving the show cause notices officially from the BTRC.
Taimur Rahman, Chief Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Officer, Banglalink, told The Bangladesh Post, "We had a meeting with BTRC on this matter, where we highlighted our challenges and concerns regarding the instructions and issues mentioned by BTRC.
Currently, we are working on implementing the suggestions given by them.
Being a customer-centric company, we always strive to protect subscribers' interests."
According to the officials, BTRC is always working to stop anarchy.
Besides investigation, the authority is taking strict action against those VAS companies.
At the 244 meeting of BTRC, it was said that the mobile operators are responsible for the misconduct of the VAS providers. If the mobile companies wanted, they could not deduct money without the knowledge of the customers.
They cannot avoid liability in any way. Rather, they are deliberately indulging in cutting this money.
