The telecommunication regulatory authorities have directed mobile phone operators in Bangladesh to endow a customer with the facility to switch to another operator without changing number.
A customer is likely to get the service by making a payment of Tk 50.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued the directive for ‘Mobile Number Portability’ or MNP to mobile operators on Thursday.
According to terms of the directive, mobile operators are not to charge beyond Tk 50 for providing MNP facility to a customer and that this service must be made available within the next seven months.
Mobile operators were also directed to form a consortium to launch the service within three months from the issuance of the order. A BTRC Commissioner will be a member of the consortium.
Operators will have to comply within three days of receiving an application for MNP, the BTRC said. If anyone opts for an MNP for the second time, it must be within 45 days of the first migration.
Both pre-paid and post-paid operators will be eligible for the MNP facility.
Usually after prolonged use, a mobile number assumes the identity of an individual or an organisation that had been using it. Hitherto a customer needs to forgo the existing number to switch over to another operator.
To empower customer, the BRTC was working for the last one year to introduce a posting service and to prepare a guideline for the same.
Currently, Europe and American countries and neighbouring India, Pakistan offers this mobile portability facility.
According to the last BTRC count, the six mobile operators in Bangladesh provides services to over 101 million people.
Source: Bd news24
