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Bangladesh cuts international incoming call rate by 33%
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, or BTRC, has reduced minimum termination rate of international incoming calls by a third.
Published : 16 Feb 2020, 05:41 PM
Updated : 16 Feb 2020, 05:41 PM
The floor price of international incoming call will be $0.006 or Tk 0.50 per minute from now on. The rate was about Tk 1.50 previously.
The BTRC sent letters to the IGW Operators’ Forum, the International Gateway or IGW and Interconnection Exchange or ICX operators and others concerned on the revised call rate recently.
The revenue from these calls will be distributed among the BTRC, IGW and ICX operators and Access Network Services or ANS providers in line with the new floor price.
The BTRC gets 40 percent of the revenues from incoming calls from abroad while IGW operators get 20 percent, ICX operators 17.5 percent and ANS providers 22.5 percent.
The telecom regulator has long been saying that Bangladesh’s international call business is hit by smartphone apps, such as Viber, WhatsApp and Messenger, besides illegal VoIP services.
A top official at a mobile phone operator said reducing the floor price of international incoming call rate has presented avenues for cutting costs, but it all depends on the IGWs.
“The customers will benefit only if they (IGWs) charge as per the minimum call rate. But the mobile phone operators will lose revenue for distribution of revenue based on the floor price,” he added.
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