Bangladesh’s telecoms regulator has reportedly fined mobile operators Grameenphone, Robi Axiata and Banglalink for breaching regulations on promotional SMSs, despite telcos saying the regulations are impractical and too restrictive.
According to the newspaper Daily Star, he Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has reportedly fined the telcos BDT500,000 each (almost US$4,200) for sending more than three promotional SMSs per day to their customers, which is a violation of a BTRC directive issued last year on data and related packages.
The BTRC has been issuing warnings to telcos for the past year, asking telcos for explanations as to why they were violating the directive.
According to the response from Grameenphone, one problem is that the rate of successful SMS deliveries averages around 68% because of system limitations and handset issues, the report said. For churned or inactive customers, the rate is as low as 30%. Either way, SMSs often need to be re-sent as a result.
Banglalink said that the bulk of its customers still use 2G devices users with limited access to digital channels, so SMS is the only way to reach them with new promotions. Robi told the BTRC that its SMS platform operates separately from its data and voice platforms, making it technically infeasible to restrict the number of SMS sent, the report said.
The main issue for operators is that SMS is an effective channel for promoting new products, services and AI-driven personalised offers, which they say makes the three-SMS rule difficult to comply with, the report added.
