DHAKA, April 2, 2020 (BSS) – Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) today sought cooperation of law enforcers for smooth functioning of recharge operation, as country’s telecom sector is also experiencing challenges similar to all other areas of economy rendered by deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
“The total number of recharge through retail channels dropped by around 20 percent due to movement restrictions,” said AMTOB Secretary General Brigadier general S M Farhad (Retd.) in a statement.
Although telecom has been declared as an emergency service during this crisis period but law enforcement agencies are imposing restrictions in some places, he added.
“Mobile network operators (MNOs) are already observing trends in usage patterns that may leave some dent on their overall revenue,” said AMTOB Secretary General.
Considering users and based on current scenario, he said MNOs have reduced data pack tariffs by up to 50 percent, which has resulted in around 15 to 20 percent data usage growth.
Although data usage growth is rising rapidly, data monetization is still low for MNOs. Particularly worrying is the fact that over the last couple of days, the voice calls have drastically dropped by up to 20 percent, he added.
“Obstacles are somewhat hampering our retail operations, especially top-up or recharge services,” said AMTOB urging law enforcers to extend their kind cooperation towards top-up stores and other recharge outlets.
“We take this opportunity to encourage our customers to recharge for talk-time using other means, such as mobile financial services, electronic money transfer, mobile applications etc,” said AMTOB.