No bar for now on two telcos’ value-added services

The telecom regulator yesterday temporarily withdrew its ban on Robi and Banglalink on providing value-added services from third parties after the operators agreed to ensure compliance, a senior official said.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) suspended the order after the operators promised that telecom VAS would not be activated on the phones of subscribers without the consent of subscribers, said Subrata Roy Maitra, vice-chairman of the regulator. Senior officials of Robi and Banglalink went to the commission yesterday and sought withdrawal of the order that was issued on Sunday.

"We withdrew the order on conditions. We told them to bring an end to the harassment faced by customers and ensure securing consent from them through SMS, one-time password or apps before any VAS is activated. They agreed," said Maitra. On November 10, the BTRC asked the carriers to put a stop to provide VAS of the content providers registered with the commission until further notice.

"Still, your company has not complied with the instruction," the commission said in separate letters to Robi and Banglalink on Sunday.  The commission had also asked the two operators to inform it after executing the order.

Yesterday, an official of Banglalink said the operator had suspended offering VAS from third-party content providers following the instruction.

"The service was restored after the commission withdrew the restriction," said the official, on condition of anonymity.  

The ban from the regulator came after it found that 46 per cent of mobile subscribers in Bangladesh pay for the VAS they have not subscribed to as content providers activate them without their consent on their phones.

VAS providers offer various services such as -- welcome tunes, voice messages, news alerts, missed call alerts, call block, call forwarding or diverting, music, videos, mobile games and streaming services -- through mobile carriers under a revenue-sharing model and customers are charged by mobile phone operators.

The service providers must obtain consent from subscribers before activating any service. But they did not take such permission from the users in nearly 50 per cent cases, and the customers were charged, according to the commission's probe into the allegation against two VAS providers.

It collected information about the activities of Purple Digit Communication Ltd and the Abhi Kathachitra Ltd and also the list of their subscribers in the last six months.

The telecom regulator found that the VAS providers mostly targeted the people who belong to low-income groups, are not literate that much, live in the villages and sub-urban areas, and the services are activated after midnight.

It is not possible to access the database of this group of customers without direct cooperation of the mobile phone operators, the commission letter said on Sunday.

The operators also control the service delivery platforms of the content providers. Because of the malpractices, Robi and Banglalink have violated the telecommunication laws, it said.

In November, the commission had given seven days to explain why the operators would not be directed to discontinue the VAS until further notice.

Although Robi and Banglalink have refused to accept the responsibility, they take the share of the profit, the letter said.

When a customer buys a connection, they fill in a customer acquisition form and agree to keep a deposit in the account of the operator in the form of balance.

"If anyone deducts money from the balance, Robi will not take responsibility. Such an argument is not acceptable at all," said the letter. The commission made a similar comment in the letter to Banglalink.

"Had Robi wanted, it would not have been possible to deduct the money this way."

Robi and Banglalink receive at least three-fifths of the revenue from the value-added services directly, the commission said. 

Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer of Banglalink, said, "We appreciate the BTRC's decision to reconsider the restriction on providing VAS by us considering the greater benefits of customers."

"We are committed to ensuring the best service to our customers based on the suggestions given to us by our regulator. We also look forward to continuing our dialogues with the BTRC and obtain guidance from them."

In order to protect the interests of the subscribers, the BTRC on September 14 instructed mobile network operators (MNOs) to implement a one-time password (OTP)-based authentication procedure to activate VAS.

The commission had set a September 30 deadline to put the system in place and warned that it would take steps to close all VAS from October 1 if the operators did not comply.

The mobile operators did not oblige, the BTRC said in November. 

"We are in the process of implementing BTRC's directive regarding VAS," said Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi Axiata Ltd, yesterday.

"As per the regulator's directive, we will also make sure that without ensuring proper compliance, VAS operators are not provided access to our network. We also concur with the BTRC's opinion regarding the strengthening of MNOs' control over the VAS operators."

Robi is the second-largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh with 5.06 crore subscribers. Third-placed Banglalink has 3.5 crore subscribers.

The number of VAS licence-holders in Bangladesh is 183, according to the BTRC.

Mobile operators provide value-added services through third-party content providers as well as on their own.

The size of the telecom-related VAS market is about Tk 100 crore, industry people say.