Users of mobile financial services (MFSs) will not have to pay Tk 0. 4 to check their balances as the operators will pay it, says Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
On Jun 13, the regulator issued a directive imposing the charge every time users check their balances through mobile phones.
Every transaction, checking balance or statement will be counted as a session and the duration of such session will be 90 seconds. For each session, comprising of two text messages, the telecom operators will have to be given TK 0.85, according to the telecom regulator’s directive.
It, however, was unclear who would bear the cost – the MFSs or the users.
On Tuesday (Jun 18), BRTC in a statement clarified that the MFSs will have to bear the cost, not users.
“MFSs will bear all cost to use the mobile operators’ network to avail services [to their users],” reads the statement.
MFSs have said they have learned about the new directives and implantation of the new directive requires several phases.
bKash spokesperson Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, “Before that, deals containing detail terms and conditions need to be made between MFSs and mobile operators.
“No new charge will be imposed on the users until the latest BRTC directive comes into effect,” added Dalim, who heads bKash’s corporate communications.