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No: BTRC/SS/Common-Directives (658) Part-2/2014-112 Date: 12/03/2015

Subject: Directives on Service and Tariff (2015).

The Directives on Service and Tariff (2015), formulated through exhaustive

consultations with the stakeholders, is circulated herewith for forthwith implementation.

Attachment: Booklet of Directives on Service and Tariff.

(Lt Col Mohammad Zulfikar, psc)

Director

Systems & Services Division

To:

1. Chief Executive Officer (CEO), all the applicable entities.

2. BTRC’s Web-Site.

Directives on Service & Tariff

2015


Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission

IEB Bhaban, Ramna, Dhaka-1000.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) www.btrc.gov.bd

1 Directives on Service and Tariff

PREAMBLE

With the onus and power vested in by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Act,

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission is committed to systematically rendering the

national telecommunication systems capable of delivering reliable, affordable, and modern

telecommunication services to wider population, by encouraging and

facilitating innovation, investment,and comparative advantage through market-led fair competition in the

telecommunication industry of Bangladesh. The Commission, to this end, has issued many directives as

and when required. While most of these directives remain squarely relevant to date, some

need tobe modified andsome more incorporated, to cope with the expeditious socio-techno-

economicenvironments. The present Directives on Service and Tariff (2015), which

is formulated through a processof exhaustiveconsultations with the principal driving force of the industry

– the Operators, – aims at consolidating such apposite directives that will continue to have wider

relevance across the industry in foreseeable future.

As it is with most regulatory frameworks, success of these directives will largely depend on

the endorsement of their spirit as well as their spontaneous compliance by all stakeholders. It is,

therefore, expected that all the licensees of telecommunication services will avidly collaborate in

developing inclusive, enabling, and sustainable telecommunication systems so essentially required in

connecting knowledge, skill, and technology in order to steer development and generate impetus to move

the country towards a poverty-free middle-income prosperous Digital Bangladesh.



INDEX

Clause Title Page

I Preliminaries 3

II Definitions 4

III Systems and Services 10

IV Tariff and Charging 16

V Promotional Activity 19

VI Market Communications 20



I. PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title

These directives shall be cited as the “Directives on Service and Tariff (2015)” and

henceforth referred in this document as the “Directives”.

2. Applicability

a. This Directives shall apply forthwith to all Licensees who provide

telecommunication services in Bangladesh. Licensees are required to obligate

their agents and representatives to adhere to this Directives.

b. These directives are issued pursuant to the provisions of the Bangladesh

Telecommunication Regulatory Act 2001 vested in Bangladesh

Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (the Commission).

c. These directives are in addition to and complement other laws of Bangladesh

and Regulatory Frameworks of the Commission, and as such, nothing in this

Directives shall be deemed to excuse, qualify or modify the Licensees’

obligations to any other laws of Bangladesh or Regulatory Frameworks or the

Commission.

d. This Directives, however, shall replace the following documents. In addition,

whatever is mentioned in this Directives shall be considered as the latest with

respect to similar provisions mentioned in other directives issued by the

Commission:

i. Interim Directives on Tariff and Marketing Promotion, No: BTRC/SS/Tariff/2002-

600, Dated: 26/07/2007.

ii. 1st Amendment to the Interim Directives on Tariff and Marketing Promotion, No:

BTRC/SS/Tariff/2002-58, Dated: 07/02/2008

iii. 2nd Amendment to the Interim Directives on Tariff and Marketing Promotion, No:

BTRC/SS/Tariff(Part-1)/2008-539, Dated: 24/03/2009

iv. 3rd Amendment to the Interim Directives on Tariff and Marketing Promotion, No:

BTRC/SS/Tariff(Part-1)/2008-559, Dated: 29/04/2009

v. BTRC/SS/SMS tariff/2010-892, Dated: 05/08/2010

vi. Amendment to Interim Directives on SMS based PRS and the Amendment to Interim

Directives on Tariff and Market Promotion, No: BTRC/SS/Directives(402)/2012-155,

Dated: 31/03/2013

vii. Interim Directives on IPTSP Tariff and Market Promotion, No: BTRC/SS/IPTSP-

Tariff/2009-719, Dated: 09/02/2010

viii. 1st Amendment to the Interim Directives on IPTSP Tariff and Market Promotion, No:

BTRC/SS/IPTSP-Tariff/2009-127, Dated: 05/05/2011

ix. Tariff Approval in favour of CMPO, IPTSP and PSTN, No: BTRC/SS/ITU

Project Cost Modeling (271)/2011-114, dated: 30/04/2012.

x. BTRC/SS Service/2012-249, Dated: 02/08/2012

xi. BTRC/SS/GP VAS/part-1/2012-277, Dated: 29/08/2012

xii. BTRC/SS/Dynamic Pricing (540)/2013-316, Dated: 11/07/2013

xiii. BTRC/SS/Tariff (part-1)/2008-596, Dated: 24/06/2009



e. The Commission’s interpretation of any clause, or a part thereof, of this

Directives shall stand as final.

f. The Commission shall preserve the rights to review, nullify, add, modify or

amend whole or part of this Directives without prior notice.

g. The Commission shall make suitable arrangements to monitor the compliance

of this Directives and deal with any breach(es) accordingly.

II. DEFINITIONS

The words and phrases used in this Directives shall have the same meaning as are ascribed to

them in the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Act 2001, and its subsequent

amendments, unless this Directives provide for or the context of the usage of the words or

phrases requires otherwise. For the purpose of this Directives, following words and phrases shall

have the meanings ascribed to them below:

1. “Access Network Service Provider (ANSP)” means the entity that has valid license

issued by the Commission to build, own, and operate the access-network which

eventually connects the end-user or consumer with the service(s) primarily for which

the particular license is issued with. Therefore, CMPO, ISP, IPTSP, BWA, PSTN,

VTSP, VSATP etc. kinds of licensees are regarded as ANSP.

2. The “Act” means the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Act 2001 and its

subsequent amendments.

3. “Approval” means the approval of the Commission, as per the Sections 30-34, 40

and 48 of the Act issued in favour of an applicant concerning issues relevant to any

particular Service.

4. “Billing Period” means the period of time for which a consumer is actually charged

or ‘billed’ for the time-window based service offer that s/he subscribed.

5. “Call-Agent Based Service” means voice-call or video-call that entails expertise of

the call-agent (e.g. doctor, engineer, agriculturist, lawyer, emergency response team

etc. in the form of call-center, live-agent, etc.).

6. “Charging Interval” means the pre-determined ‘Interval’, e.g. the maximum

amount of time, character, data-volume, usage, etc., for the consumption of whole or

part of which a consumer is allowed to be charged for that entire Charging Interval at

the rate specified for either the Charging Unit or the Charging Interval. Charging



Intervals for some services are authorized by the Commission, while that for others

are stipulated by the Service Provider. For example, for consuming 5 second of talk-

time (usage), a consumer is allowed to be charged for a maximum duration of 10s

(Charging Interval, or ‘Pulse’ in this case, authorized by the Commission) at the

specified amount per second (Charging Unit). For another example, for consuming

50MB data in a package of 100MB, the consumer may be charged for entire 100MB

(Charging Interval) at the rate pre-determined by the Service Provider for

this Charging Interval.

7. “Charging Unit” means the smallest unit of time, character, data-volume, usage, etc.

used to ‘calculate’ tariff/fee/charge of a service/product.

8. “Closed User Group (CUG)” means a group of consumers on the same

telecommunication and/or internet network who communicate with each other by

mutual agreement, and who exclude others.

9. The “Commission” means the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory

Commission.

10. “Connection” means the right and technical-connectivity of an end-user

or consumer to avail telecommunication services from the Service Provider. The

common examples of object/media/product/connectivity/smart-card/virtual-

address(s)/embedded-system etc. used for providing the Connection to the end-user

or consumer are: RUIM, SIM, modem, router, wired connection, IP/Port addresses,

software, embedded system/chip etc.

11. “Consumer” means the consumer defined by the Act.

12. “Content Provider (CP)” means the entity that owns the Intellectual Property Right

(IPR) of a content, either by being the original designer/creator/producer or the legal-

owner of the content (information or entertainment related audio-visual media, for

example) and/or software/platform (game, application, widget, etc.) used to deliver

the service to the consumers of the Service Provider.

13. “Cost Model” means the diversely categorized tariff-frameworks that are issued by

the Commission, which depict different tables of tariffs, fees, charges, revenue

shares, Charging Intervals, charging units, content types, delivery methods, etc.

14. “Differential Baseline Tariff” means a special arrangement (usually

different/lowered baseline tariff/fee/charge) in the tariff structure, for a given

time/condition, to preserve/promote any part of the industry, as deemed necessary by

the Commission under the provisions of the Act.

15. “Dynamic Charging” means a charging system that entails variable tariffs as per pre-

determined varying conditions. The tariff for each charging unit of service in a



Dynamic Charging system, for example, may vary according to the varying network

utilization of last 24 hours.

16. “Effective Rate” means the rate of charge of a service, considering any relevant offer

in its entirety (including freebies, bonus, discount, reward, etc. given in terms of

that service), at which the consumer is actually required to pay for availing that

service.

17. “Grade of Service (GoS)” means the probability of a call/session in a

circuit/connection group in telecommunication, internet or other networks being

blocked/delayed/timed-out for more than a specified (standardized as ‘tolerable’)

interval, expressed as a vulgar fraction or decimal fraction. This is always with

reference to the business-hour when the traffic-intensity is the greatest. In other

words, GoS is the minimum QoE caused by minimum QoS in a network.

18. “Interactive Voice Response (IVR)” means a technology that allows human to

interact with computer through the use of voice and DTMF tones. Out-Bound

Dialing (OBD) platforms are required to provide IVR based services (RBT, RRBT,

Answering Machine, Tele-Marketing etc.

19. “Law Enforcement Agency (LEA)” means an entity recognized by the Ministry of

Home Affairs (MoHA) as to be able to monitor/record/interfere/intervene

telecommunication services by the powers vested in it under Section 97(a) of the Act.

(As of the date of issuance of this Directives, LEA includes NTMC, DGFI, NSI, SB

and RAB of Bangladesh Police and BCG). In addition, the Commission is also

authorized, by the Act, to monitor, interfere, and demand information and/or

instrument from any entity operating its business in the telecommunication sector of

Bangladesh.

20. “Licensee” means an entity that possesses a valid license of Telecommunication

Service(s) in Bangladesh as provided for in the Act.

21. “Location Based Service (LBS)” means an information service which is accessible

with mobile devices through the mobile network, and which uses information on the

geographical position of the mobile device. LBS may include services to

identify/discover the desired person/device e.g. nearest banking cash machine (or

ATM), the whereabouts of SUG/employee etc. LBS also includes parcel tracking,

vehicle tracking, mapping, weather forecast services, even location based games.

22. “Market Communications” means the advertising as well as other techniques such

as promotions, sponsorships, direct marketing, etc., and is broadly interpreted to mean

any communications produced directly by or on behalf of marketers intended to

promote products or to influence consumer behavior. Market Communications are the

means by which the marketers attempt to inform, persuade and remind the consumers,

directly or indirectly, about the products and brands that they sell.



23. “Migration” means a consumer’s act of shifting amongst technically feasible choices

of offers of service(s) provided by the same Service Provider.

24. “Offer” means an in-market plan or proposal containing pricing that is made by

a Service Provider for the provision of Telecommunication Service(s) products (new,

regular, converted regular, promotional, etc.), which is

available for consumption by any individual consumer or consumer as a class and

includes, without limitation, such offers made in Market Communications.

25. “Opt-In” means the cognitive act of giving consent by an existing consumer to start

availing a particular service or product he has already subscribed earlier (but was not

availing), or to start availing an offer related to that service or

product. “Auto Renewal” means the continuation, through cognitive consent of the

consumer, of the service/product/offer that s/he opted-in to, across

successive Charging Intervals.

26. “Opt-Out” means the act of giving consent by an existing consumer to stop using a

particular service/product/offer s/he has been availing. “Auto Opt-Out”, however,

means the automatic termination of a service/product/offer for a consumer by the

Service Provider due to lack of consent of the consumer for not to opt-out, or for any

other valid reasons.

27. “Own Product” means any product of telecommunications service, produced and/or

offered by the Service Provider, under the provision of a valid license. Examples:

SMS, MMS, USSD/WAP based browsing/download, IVR/VOBD based service,

voice-call/video-call based talk-time, content download, service subscription,

internet/data volume, etc.

28. “Premium Rate Service (PRS)” means a service that demands a different, usually

higher, tariff structure than is allowed by the Cost-Model.

29. “Promotion” means a set of marketing activities undertaken by the Service

Provider to boost sales of the product or service, and/or to strengthen the value of the

brand. Such activities also include, though not limited to, making Promotional Offers

or sales promotion involving schemes, discounts, freebies, incentives, etc.

30. Push Notification” means a message (usually SMS) or an alert delivered by a

centralized server to an end-device (usually mobile-phone). Pull Notification, on the

other hand, means a message (usually SMS) or an act shown by an end-device

(consumer) to a centralized server.

31. “Quality of Experience (QoE)” means a measure of the overall level of consumer

satisfaction with a vendor. QoE is related to but differs from QoS, which embodies

the notion that hardware and software characteristics can be measured, improved and



perhaps guaranteed. In contrast, QoE expresses consumer’s satisfaction both

objectively and subjectively. The QoE paradigm can be applied to any consumer-

related business or service (intelligence, prediction, customer-care etc.).

32. “Quality of Service (QoS)” means the idea that transmission rates, error rates,

efficiency, performance monitoring and other characteristics of a telecommunication

service can be measured, improved, and standardized over the network and, to some

extent, guaranteed in advance.

33. “Registration” means the Service Provider’s endorsement or enlistment of a

new consumer’s consent given in favour of being enlisted as an end-user of a

particular service(s).

34. “Regular Service” means a service, or any relevant offer thereof, which is fully

compliant to the existing Regulatory Frameworks and approvals, and hence, does not

require any further approval before commencing its commercial operation. Regular

Service differs from Promotional Offer in that the former is considerably durable,

while the latter is momentary. If a Promotional Offer, however, remains valid for

more than the period specified by the Regulatory Frameworks, it is referred to as a

“Converted Regular Service” and treated like a Regular Service.

35. “Regulatory Framework” means the spirit, objectives, and documentation,

considered as a whole, issued by the Commission under the relevant laws and

regulations to facilitate and/or regulate all the stakeholder(s) of the

telecommunication and ICT industry. Regulatory Framework refers (but not limited)

to the guidelines, directives, instructions, approvals, permits, no objection certificates,

technical feasibility certificates, permissions to use the telecommunication system for

business purpose recommendations, operational procedures, letters, e-mails, minutes

of meeting etc. issued from time to time.

36. “Service” means the “Telecommunication Service” as defined by the Act.

37. “Service Provider (SP)” means the Licensee responsible to provide a particular

service, and has the right to charge for it, to the Consumer. Therefore, the Service

Provider shall become, legally and technically, liable to all sorts of compliance,

service delivery and charging (e.g. consumer registration, service subscription,

customer care, QoS, QoE, GoS, content-liability, IPR, service delivery, charging,

promotional activity, Market Communications, promotional rewards etc.) for that

particular service as well as its relevant tariff, promotional activity, Market

Communications and etc.

38. “Specialized User Group (SUG)” means user groups consisting CUG, F&F, On-

PABX, On-IPTSP, etc., who usually indulge in traffic-intensive usage amongst

themselves and enjoy discounted/less tariff.



39. “Standardization” means the setting of values of QoS, QoE and GoS, which shall be

strictly ensured by the Service provider according to the national and international

standardization agencies (ITU, IETF, IEEE, ETSI, ISO, FCC, BTRC etc.).

40. “Static Charging”, in contrast with Dynamic Charging, means a charging system

based on pre-determined (usually guided by statistical trends of network

utilization) and fixed (‘static’, not ‘dynamic’) rate of tariff. Such tariff may, however,

be different for different conditions or time-windows (e.g. daily: peak/off-

peak; weekly: week-day/week-end; yearly: business-day/festival-day etc.).

41. “Subscription” means the consent of a consumer of availing any particular service(s)

or relevant offer(s) thereof. Usually, a subscription begins with the consumer’s

Opting-In to the service(s) or offer(s) and remains valid until either Opting-Out or

termination of the service(s) or offer(s).

42. “Subscription Based Service” means the service(s), or relevant offer(s) thereof,

availing which requires prior subscription by the consumer.

43. “Tariff” means the tariff defined by the Act.

44. “Telephony Service” means the peer to peer voice-communication based service

provided by valid licensed entities to the end-user/consumer. ANSPs are authorized to

provide telephony-service.

45. “Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)” means a protocol used by

GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the SP’s and/or NP’s and/or VASP’s

and/or ANSP’s system

46. “Value Added Service (VAS)” in telecommunication service term means the non-

core services or, in short, all services beyond the standard ones such as voice-call,

human to human SMS and internet.

47. “Video Out-Bound Dialing (VOBD)” VOBD means a platform required to provide

Video-IVR/Video-Conference based service.

48. “Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)” WAP means a specification for a set of

communication protocols to standardize the way that wireless devices, such as

cellular telephones and radio transceivers, can be used for internet-access including e-

mail, web-browsing, content-download, news-groups and instant messaging.



III. SYSTEMS AND SERVICES

1. Continuity of Services and Offers

A service (regular, converted regular, new, value-added, premium-rate, etc.) or

product, once offered, other than as promotional offer, shall be made available for

minimum 365 (three hundred sixty five) consecutive days. Consumers, however, shall

retain the right to Opt-Out as and when desired.

2. Approval for Services and Offers

For each of the services, and relevant offers thereof, which is approved on or before

the issuance of this Directives, the respective Service Provider shall either submit to

the Commission a certificate of compliance to the Directives, or re-design the

service/product/offer for compliance and then obtain approval of the Commission

within 90 (ninety) days from the date this Directives is issued. Failure to do either

shall be treated as unwillingness of the Service Provider to continue the service/offer;

and hence, the service/offer shall then be treated as unapproved.

3. Intimation for Services and Offers

a. Launching, re-launching, terminating, withholding or modifying any approved

service/offer within the approved tariff circuit shall require prior intimation to the

Commission.

b. Intimation, as mentioned above, in the form of both letter and e-mail shall reach

the Commission prior to the circulation/publication/broadcast of the

relevant Market Communications but at least 3 (three) working days prior to

the actual launching, re-launching, terminating, withholding or modifying that

offer.

c. Intimation of an offer shall contain unambiguous and comprehensive

description ofthe offer, without exaggeration or omission of any critical

information that may affect cost and benefit of the offer at the consumer’s

end, documents (SLA/any form of service-contract/MoU/business-document etc.)

justifying approval of the relevant service(s) and tariffs, and the compliance of the

tariff justified through calculation of the implied Effective Rate where applicable.

d. Intimation to the Commission about an offer shall be unmistakably identifiable

with its relevant Market Communications.

4. Validity and Usability of Services

The amount of recharge shall govern the minimum validity and usability

of a service as under:



Minimum Validity and Usability of Service Amount of Recharge

10 Days BDT 10 – BDT 30




100 Days BDT 301 – BDT 500

180 Days BDT 501 – BDT 999

360 Days BDT 1,000 and above

5. De-Activation, Re-Activation, Re-Selling of a MSISDN Connection

a. A subscribed Mobile Station International Consumer Directory Number

(MSISDN) based connection may be automatically de-activated if it is not

used for 90 consecutive days. The consumer can then re-activate it by

recharging the minimum admissible amount anytime within 365 consecutively

unused days. If not, then the consumer can re-activate this connection (with

same number plan) by paying a re-activation fee of not more than BDT 100

(one hundred) within 730 consecutively unused days.

b. A subscribed MSISDN based connection (including the number plan) shall

continue to remain the right of its registered consumer up to 730 consecutively

unused days, even if it is de-activated. Thereafter, not before, the Service

Provider that originally owned the number plan is allowed to reuse (re-

sell/rent/re-register) this connection provided it is not placed under any

particular restriction either by the Commission or any other competent

authority.

c. The Service Provider shall maintain, in its own website, Customer Care

Centers, and in the website of the Commission, list(s)

of MSISDN based connections that are to be reused. In addition, the Service

Provider shall preserve all information/documentation relevant

to the registration and usage of all such connections.

d. To reuse a MSISDN based connection, the Service Provider shall publish

three months of prior notice (after ‘730 consecutively unused days’) in

minimum 3 (three) renowned national newspapers (Bangla/English) along

with the information that the list of those MSISDN is available in its own

website, Customer Care Centers, and in the website of the Commission.

e. A MSISDN based connection can be resold only at regular price.



6. Number-Plan of a Service

a. A particular service shall run on authorized (allocated by the Commission)

number-plan (long-code, port, short-code, etc.) only. Using any other existing

(applicable) number-plan shall require prior approval from the Commission.

b. For any given service, same number-plan must be used for both opt-

in/registration and opt-out/de-registration.

7. Acquiring Content

The Service Provider shall acquire all the ‘content(s)’ used for that service only from

the content-provider (CP).

8. Confidentiality

Disclosure of consumer’s personal information (SAF data, billing/payment history

etc.), usage-record (CDR, Log, Time-Stamp, and Cloud-Data etc.), geographic-

location and/or combination of any of the above to any entity other than the entities

designated by the law of the land is strictly prohibited.

9. Migration amongst Services/Offers

a. Migration procedure amongst all kinds of services/offers (within any pre-paid

or, any post-paid services) shall be published in the Service Provider’s website

for convenience of consumers. Moreover, the Service Provider shall ensure

the utmost circulation of the aforementioned migration procedure through all

kinds of Market Communications as well as by placing a USSD menu in the

connection (SIM, for GSM connections only). However, USSD menu should

be regularly updated for consumer(s).

b. In case of forced migration due to termination of service or any

other valid reason the Service Provider shall circulate all relevant information

to the consumer including tariff through SMS and other forms of

market communication techniques. In addition the Service Provider shall

initiate a force-migration program for the existing consumers of that service

(with minimum of 3 push-notification: first-one 120 hours prior to, second-

one 48 hours prior to and the third-one 12 hours prior to the actual force-

migration). It is, however, recommended that the Service Provider shall place

the force-migrated consumers in a more convenient service.



10. Opt-In to and Opt-Out from a Service/Offer

a. A consumer shall be opted-in to a service/offer only by his/her cognitive consent

and NEVER automatically. This shall apply also in case of re-opting-in to a

service from which the consumer has already opted-out either automatically or by

choice.

b. For auto-renewal of a subscription based on Charging Interval, the Service

Provider shall make provision to obtain the choice, apart from the choice of

opting-in, of the consumer. Until the consumer consents in favour, there shall be

no auto-renewal of the subscription from one Charging Interval to the next, and if

no consent is obtained at all, auto opt-out shall be applied.

c. In case of an offer comprising VAS, either opt-out or auto renewal as provided

for in sub-clause 10(a) and (b) shall be applied not later than 30 days from opt-in

or previous auto renewal to that offer.

11. Standardized Command

Before commercially launching a service, the Service Provider shall introduce

standardized command instructions for all sorts of registration, subscription, opt-

in, opt-out, help, status check, cancellation of all opted-in services, balance inquiry,

bill inquiry, KAM’s contact-information, etc., and the modality of

commercial communication mentioned in the various

regulatory frameworks. Following command instructions (not case-sensitive) are

standardized for all concerned:

# Key-Word Description and Purpose

1 START

A subscription for starting the relevant services. The confirmation SMS

should contain procedure to get Help and all the key-words for that

service.

2 STOP To cancel the relevant service

3 HELP

Support for consumer of the service (e.g. customer care center, e-care

website address, service related any sorts of enquiry, mode of change of

settings etc).

4 VIEW Overview of all active subscriptions to a particular number-plan / short-

code

5 INFO

Information of all the active services, sub-divided into broad category of

service (i.e. regular / converted regular / new / premium-rate /

promotional)

6 BILL Bill and/or Payment information including the option of Payment

Summary



7 BALANCE Balance Enquiry

8 INDEX

The end consumer receives information from the Service Owner in the

form of a description of using the service and the indication of how to

use the service and the indication of where or how a detailed service

description and tariff-plan may be obtained (e.g. from the web-portal, by

email, on request etc.)

9 KAM Contact Information of the Key Account Manager for the subscribed

service(s)

10 CANCEL To cancel all the subscribed services other than the originally built-in

default service(s).

12. Notification of Usage

After each outgoing voice or video call made by a pre-paid consumer, s/he shall be

notified, through USSD or SMS, about talk-time used and charge deducted for that

call, and the credit balance remaining thereafter. In case of a data-volume based

service the consumer shall be notified about the usage through USSD each time s/he

disables the data connectivity.

13. Response to Incorrect Requests

Where an incorrect request is made by SMS/USSD, the end-user/consumer shall be

helped with the necessary information and/or correct form of request via SMS/USSD

and thereby could be charged with the tariff of that particular service’s on-net SMS

for SUG.

14. Extra-Usage Tariff

If the usage of a regularly subscribed data-volume based internet service exceeds the

admissible limit before expiration of a given Charging Interval, the consumer shall be

notified of that fact along with the tariff applicable for onward usage of extra volume.

15. Validity of Data-Volume

In case a consumer subscribes the same offer of a data-volume based internet service

for more than one Charging Intervals:

a. If the consumer consumes less volume of data than is admissible in one Charging

Interval, the unconsumed amount of data-volume shall be carried forward and

added to the admissible data-volume of the next Charging Interval opted-in by the

consumer, wherein the carried forward data shall be consumed first.



b. The amount of data-volume carried-forward from one Charging Interval shall

remain valid for consumption within next 06 (six) consecutive Charging

Intervals.

16. Upgrading Volume-Limit or Charging Interval

In case of a service where multiple volume-limits or Charging Intervals of data usage

are available for subscription:

a. The Service Provider shall create provisions so that

any consumer can upgrade his/her respective volume-limits via customer care

center, SMS, USSD, email and/or personal communication with KAM etc.

b. The request of upgrading the volume-limit shall be handled instantly. In such

case, however, the consumer shall be made aware of the new tariff and the

service-modality.

c. The Service Provider shall also make provisions so that the consumer(s) can

check the consumption of data-volume limit through USSD, web-portal, SMS

and/or personal communication with KAM.

17. Submission of Business Report/Information

The Service Provider shall submit the business report and/or information

regarding any service/offer (regular, converted regular, new, value-added, premium-

rate, promotional, etc.) and Market Communications whenever asked by the

Commission. Such report/information may include, inter alia, the followings:

a. Service-modality, tariff-structure, terms and conditions, etc. implied to

the consumers;

b. Quarterly Business Statistics regarding sales, all forms of promotional activity

and market promotion, consumer, gross revenue, government revenue, profit-loss

calculation, fee and charges, feedback from consumers, customer-care, customer-

complaint, contribution to the society and economy, public awareness program,

etc.

c. The Service Provider shall share information about its Annual Gross Revenue (as

Revenue Share; and, as Social Obligation Fund) with the Commission (as per the

applicable license) maintaining separate account for each and every service and

keep that information up to 3 years.



IV. TARIFF AND CHARGING

1. Tariff Structure and Cost Model

All the tariff structures, irrespective of service modality, promotional activity, network

type, (on-net, off-net, international, roaming, etc.), charging mechanism

(static/dynamic charging, Charging Interval), SUG, etc., shall comply with the cost

model provided by the Commission from time to time. Tariff of any service, or relevant

offer thereof, which lies beyond the approved tariff structure shall require prior approval

of the Commission. (The existing “Cost Model” is enclosed herewith this Directives).

2. Maximum Tariff

Unless any tariff is specifically approved either as a maximum/minimum/fixed tariff or as

a range of tariffs, it shall be considered as the ‘maximum tariff’.

3. VAT

VAT, where applicable, shall be added ‘in addition’ to the tariff/price/fee/charge given or

approved by the Commission.

4. Revenue Sharing with the Government

The Service Provider shall share its Annual Gross Revenue (as Revenue Share; and, as

Social Obligation Fund) with the Government (the Commission) as per the

license applicable, maintaining separate account for every service.

5. Revenue Sharing for Promotional Offers

If the whole or part of an offer entails any service/product (airtime, talk-time, etc.,

whether on-net or off-net) as freebies or at a rate lower than the lowest rate approved

through the relevant tariff structure or cost model, the revenue share and VAT for that

free or discounted service/product actually consumed shall be calculated considering the

approved lowest rate for that service/product (Taka 0.25 per minute of talk-time, for

example).

6. Homogeneity of Tariff and Charging Mechanism

For any given service (regular, converted regular, new, value-added, premium-rate, etc.)

the tariff and charging mechanism shall be homogeneous throughout the country;

discrimination based on geographic location is strictly forbidden.

7. Special Arrangements

The Commission shall make rational arrangement(s) such as Differential Baseline Tariff

to the best of the interest of the industry, on case to case basis, governed by specific

regulatory frameworks issued by the Commission time to time. Such arrangement(s) shall

remain valid for all applicable entities within the stipulated condition(s).

8. Billing Period

The Billing Period for any service/product shall not exceed one month.



9. Push-Notification for Charging

In case of charging for any data-volume based service, the Service Provider shall push-

notify the consumer by:

a. At least 1 (one) push-notification at the time of actual charging for an unlimited

data-volume or for a volume of 100 MB and below.

b. At least 2 (two) push-notifications in case of a data-volume between 100MB-500

MB: one after consumption of 50 percent of the data-volume being charged for,

and the other at the time of actual charging.

c. At least 3 (three) push-notifications in case of a limited data-volume above

500MB: one after consumption of 50 percent and another after 80 percent of the

data-volume being charged for, and the other at the time of actual charging.

10. Charging Intervals and Charging Units

The reference Charging Intervals and Charging Units of some services (whether regular,

converted regular, value-added, new, or premium-rate) are as under:

Type ofService Provider Charging Interval(maximum) Charging Unit

Cellular Mobile Phone Operator (CMPO) 10 (ten) Seconds 1 (one) Second

Public Switched Telephone Network

(PSTN)

10 (ten) Seconds 1 (one) Second

Internet Protocol TelephonyService

Provider(IPTSP)

10 (ten) Seconds 1 (one) Second

11. Migration Charge

No migration charge, whatsoever, shall be applied if an existing consumer desires to

migrate to another service (e.g. within any pre-paid or, any post-paid service-pack).

12. Multiple Charging

For the same service, other than in case of an internet based one, the Service Provider

shall not charge the consumer more than once in any form (for example, charge for line

rent except for postpaid connection, connection to the platform, setup or initiation,

installation, etc. or any other implied fee/charge). In case of internet service, however,

charge applicable to IPR may be allowed in addition to the charge for the data browsing.

13. Static Charging

For static charging:

a. The tariff of a service/product in any given offer shall be homogeneous, i.e. same

for every charging unit, within a stipulated time-slot of the day.



b. The length of each time-slot (consisting such homogeneous tariff) shall be of at

least 4 (four) consecutive hours.

c. The number of time-slots (each of which consists of homogeneous tariff) shall not

exceed 4 (four) in one whole day (24 hours).

d. `The period between 0000 and 0600 hours shall form part of one time-slot of at

least 10 (ten) consecutive hours.

14. Dynamic Charging

a. Methods such as SMS, IVR, and USSD shall be used for registration/opt-in and

de-registration/opt-out Free of Charge (FoC). Moreover, instant opt-in and instant

opt-out shall be introduced in accordance with Dynamic Pricing.

b. Approved service and tariff shall be offered, based on BTS Utilization of

operator’s lone/single network-region (area/region under each BTS). The

information regarding the tariffs and BTS utilization shall be preserved by the

operators.

c. When a service is charged under the dynamic charging method, the tariff

applicable for a particular consumer shall not change until that current-usage

ends, even if due to the change in network-utilization the respective tariff has

been changed as a consequence for that location (BTS coverage) for all other

available consumer(s).

d. The applicable tariff [calculated and updated from last 24 (twenty four)

hour’s] should be displayed through cell-broadcast channel along with percentage

(%) of discounted-tariff the consumer is going to enjoy (against the maximum

applicable tariff as per the cost-model and this Directives).

e. The dynamic charging method cannot be used to offer special tariff for any

specific geographical area/region.



V. PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY

1. Promotional Offers

a. Promotional offers shall conform to the Laws of the Land, and shall be made only

by the Service Provider and only with respect to the services that have valid

approval of the Commission.

b. The freebies/bonus/discount/gift/reward/prize associated with any promotional

offer shall be given either to all who opt-in to that offer, or to all who obtain/attain

a clearly articulated and transparently measurable given benchmark (such as an

amount of recharge, usage, point, etc.) entirely by an act of choice, and neither by

chance (such as lottery) nor by comparison with other consumers (such as ‘best’,

‘highest’, ‘first’, etc.), with the exception provided for in Sub-Clause 1(c).

c. In case of an offer involving any product other than Own Product as incentive

(gift/reward/prize) but limited in number, Sub-Clause 1(b) shall equally apply

except for that the product(s) other than the Own Product(s) as incentive(s) may

be given on ‘first-arrive” basis. In such case, however, the number of total

gifts/rewards/prizes to be given and the validity of that offer shall be clearly and

emphatically mentioned in all relevant Market Communications. In addition,

the Service Provider shall, in the same platform(s) through which the consumers

are to opt-in to that offer, make real-time information available about the number

of consumers already opted-in.

d. Any promotional offer shall be reasonably consumable. The freebies (talk-time,

SMS, MMS, data-volume etc.) offered, for example, shall be reasonably

consumable by consumers within the time stipulated, if any.

e. The Effective Rate of tariff of a service/product, considering all promotional

offers involving Own Product (in the form of discount, bonus, gift, reward, prize,

etc.) shall always conform to the approved tariff circuit/cost model. It

is encouraged that such promotional offer shall be applicable for both on-net and

off-net usage.

f. In case of conveying offer(s) of a third party to own consumers, the Service

Provider shall conspicuously mention the sponsorship of the third party concerned

and ensure that the offer(s) does not appear to be made by the Service Provider.

g. In designing a product, offer, or the Market Communications thereof, the Service

Provider shall avoid using such addictive element that is likely to lure

the consumers to indulge in irrational/unnecessary heavy usage or recharge; or

such pernicious element that is likely to foster moral or behavioral distortion

amongst any faction of the society.



2. Validity and Re-Launching of Promotional Offers

a. Any promotional offer shall remain valid for minimum 3 (three) and maximum 60

(sixty) consecutive days. It can, however, be extended up to another 15 (fifteen)

days with the Commission’s approval obtained before expiration of its validity.

b. A daylong promotional offer shall be allowed only on internationally or nationally

recognized special days (such as 21 February); but every consumer who opts-in to

any daylong offer shall be allowed to avail the entire offer for at least 24 hours

from the moment s/he actually opts-in to it.

c. Any product/service, even if launched as promotional or irregular one, that

continues to remain valid for more than 60 (sixty) consecutive days shall,

therefore, be considered as a “converted regular service” and continued to be

offered accordingly.

d. A promotional offer can be re-launched after (not before) the completion of 90

(ninety) consecutive days from the date of its termination. In case of re-launching

the offer before the date of its termination, respective Service Provider shall take

prior permission from the Commission.

VI. MARKET COMMUNICATIONS

1. Market Communications for Various Services and Offers

a. Any forms of Market Communications shall contain unambiguous and

comprehensive description of relevant offer(s), without exaggeration or

omission of any critical information that may affect cost and benefit of the

offer at the consumer’s end.

b. Critical information in a Market Communication shall always conform to that

approved by or intimated to the Commission.

c. The conditions of the offer, along with the phrases like “conditions apply”, shall

be emphasized, clear, conspicuous, and easily accessible.

d. In case the whole or part of a Market Communication is limited by time or space

(on radio, TV, front/cover page, etc.), the main/prime Communication shall

clearly and emphatically indicate the location where relevant details of the offer

are made available.

2. Information and Procedures



a. For convenience of the consumers, the Service Provider shall

include information about and procedure of service registration, subscription, opt-

in, opt-out, status inquiry, complaints, customer care, etc. in relevant Market

Communications.

b. If the process of activation of/opting-in to a service/offer is mentioned in

any Market Communications other than in radio or television, the process

of deactivation of/opting-out from the same shall also be included therein with

equal emphasis.

c. The Service Provider in their web-site shall maintain an updated list of, along

with critical information about, all available services and products, including this

very service.

3. Push-Notification

Push-Notifications (particularly those related to promotional activities) in the form of

SMS to international roaming consumers, which is likely to incur cost to

the consumer, shall NOT be sent to the consumer without his/her consent, and

hence, shall be turned off by default. The roaming agreement document for the consumer

shall include the option to opt-in when specifically requested. However, the

internet settings should be communicated through SMS to the roaming consumers (if

roaming agreement permits).

4. IVR/Call-Agent-Based Market Communications No voice-based market communication shall be played before the default-tone / RBT /

RRBT of the concerned consumer commences; this shall be equally applicable for missed

call alert, switched-off or out-of-network devices.

5. Ethical Conformity of Market Communications

Market Communications in any form, as well as other promotional activities, shall

conform to the socio-cultural values, norms, practices, beliefs and heritage of

Bangladesh.

By the order of Chairman

(Lt Col Mohammad Zulfikar, psc)

Director


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