Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission

(BTRC)

Cost & Tariff in Bangladesh

--------------Md. Yakub Ali Bhuiyan.
Deputy Director
BTRC, Bangladesh.
Email: yakub.ali@btrc.gov.bd

Bangladesh
Telecommunication Sector
&
the activities of BTRC

Bangladesh

Population: 146.6 M

Area: 144000 sq. KM

(Census 2011)

Per Capita
Income: USD 772

GDP Growth Rate: 6.32%

(2010-11)

Telecommunication Market
BANGLADESH
Competition : Intense
Call charges : Declining
Customer service : Improving
Geographic coverage : Expanding
New value-added services : Improving
All these indications suggest a healthy &
robust Telecommunication industry
with promising growth in the area
of technology, services and
consumers choices

Wireless Network Coverage

1997
3 /64 Districts

2000
30 /64 Districts

2002
50 /64 Districts

2004
61 /64 Districts

At present
64 /64 Districts

Telecom & ICT Applications

E Commerce Services
Basic Voice Service

E-Education

Telecom & ICT

Enablers

Telemedicine Services

Voice Mail

Emergency Services

E-mail
Internet Access
Community Radio

Gateway Operators
Data Communications

Fax
Video Conferencing
Chat Services

FNOs

E-Governance Services
ISPs

ICT
Drivers

SMS

MNOs

IP VPN

Software Developers
Directory Services PC/Tablet
Manufacturers/Reselle
Phone/PDA
rs
Manufacturers/Reselle
Training Centre
rs
CD & CP
Research Services
Electronic Media

Tele-centre services
6

Telecom Indicators
ICT Indicators
(as of May12)

Tele-density is more than

62%

62%

Internet Penetration is more

27%
Over 90 M Telecom

27%

than

Subscribers

40 M

More than
Internet users.

Tele-Penetration
Internet Penetration

Growth of the Industry

100000000

90 million

Voice Subscriber

90000000
80000000
70000000
60000000
50000000
40000000
30000000
20000000

BTRC Starts

10000000
0

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Data Subscriber

35000000

2012

40 million

45000000
40000000

2011

30000000
25000000
20000000
15000000
10000000
5000000
0

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Tariff: Affordability for the Subscribers

1 USD=BDT 82.00

11.37

SMS Charge MAX (BDT/SMS)

0.5

2009

2010

Voice Tariff Reduction Trend

4.31

3.55
2.43

Dec-01

Jan-04

2.09

Oct-05 Dec-06 Jan-07

Average Tariff (BDT)/min

1.7

Jul-07

0.97

0.88

0.92

Dec-07 May-08 Jun-09

0.83
Dec-11

Expon. (Average Tariff (BDT)/min)

9

Internet BW Price
Affordability for the Subscribers
Internet BW Price Reduction Trend Internet Price is now
more affordable.

75,000

2006

36,000

36,000

27,000

18,000

10,000

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

BW Price

Expon. (BW Price)

Interconnect Termination Rate(BDT/Min)

0.9

2004

0.66

2007

0.4
2008

Termination rate
reduced to make the offnet voice service more
affordable
0.18
2009
10

Brief History about Cost Modeling project for Interconnection in Bangladesh:

March 28, 2010 Start of ITU funded project on cost modeling, interconnection
framework and tariff policy.
March 30, 2010 Start of phase-1 of the project with a multi-party (all
stakeholders) Project-Workshop run by the Commission.
Dec 9, 2010
Completion of phase-1 (non-disclosure agreement, data
collection, administrative works with project-consultant) of
the project.
Dec 13, 2010
Start of phase-2 of the project with a individual-party (every
kind of licensee/operators singly) project-workshop run by
project-consultant (Mr. Jim Holmes).
October 29, 2011 Submission of mobile network cost model data sheet.
End of Dec 2011 Completion of project.

LRIC: Bottom Up Model for Interconnection in Bangladesh:

* Basically we considered Bottom Up Model for Fixed, Mobile and ISP
Networks.
* We need considerable data from Licensed Operator to do this.

Project Outcome: Voice Call Tariff

(1 USD= BDT 82.00)

Tariff for Internet Protocol Telephony Service Provider (IPTSP)

SL

Description

1 Tariff Range

Existing IPTSP Tariff

(Excluding VAT)
Maximum BDT
2.00/min
Maximum BDT
0.20/min

New/Revised (approved by BTRC)

for IPTSP Tariff (Excluding VAT)
Maximum BDT 2.00/min

Maximum BDT 0.10/min

2 IPTSP (On-net) & IPTSP to
IPTSP
(within the same network &
other IPTSP network)
Maximum BDT
Maximum BDT 0.30/min
3 IPTSP (Off net)
0.40/min
(Termination in the other
network)
4 IPTSP to International
Rate to be approved by
Rate to be approved by BTRC
outgoing
BTRC
BDT 0.40/min (Originating
5 Interconnection charges
BDT 0.40/min
operator 45%, Termination
(Originating operator
operator 45% & ICX operator 10%)
0.18, Termination
operator 0.18 & ICX
operator 0.04/min

Project Outcome Voice Call Tariff

(1 USD= BDT 82.00)
Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN Tariff):
SL

Description

Existing PSTN Tariff (Excluding

VAT)

New/Revised (approved
by BTRC) for IPTSP Tariff
(Excluding VAT)

Tariff Range

BDT 0.25 to 2.00/min

Maximum BDT 2.00/min

BDT 0.25 to 2.00/min

Maximum BDT 0.10/min

Minimum BDT 0.65/min

Maximum BDT 0.40/min

PSTN (On-net)
(within the same network)
PSTN (Off net)
(Termination in the other
network)
PSTN to International outgoing

Rate to be approved by BTRC

Rate to be approved by
BTRC

Interconnection charges

BDT 0.40/min (Originating BDT 0.40/min (Originating

operator 45%,
operator 0.18, Termination
operator 0.18 & ICX operator Termination operator 45%
& ICX operator 10%)
0.04/min

Project Outcome: Voice Call Tariff

(1 USD= BDT 82.00)

Mobile Tariff:
SL

Description

1 Tariff Range
2 Mobile (On-net)
(Within the same network)
3 Mobile (Off net)
(Terminating in other
network)
4 Mobile to International
outgoing
5 Interconnection charges

BDT 0.25 to 2.00/min

BDT 0.25 to 2.00/min

New/Revised (approved by
BTRC) for IPTSP Tariff (Excluding
VAT)
Maximum BDT 2.00/min
Maximum BDT 0.25/min

Minimum BDT 0.65/min

Maximum BDT 0.60/min

Rate to be approved by
BTRC
BDT 0.40/min
(Originating operator
0.18, Termination
operator 0.18 & ICX
operator 0.04/min

Rate to be approved by BTRC

Existing Mobile Tariff

(Excluding VAT)

BDT 0.40/min (Originating

operator 45%, Termination
operator 45% & ICX operator
10%

Project Outcome-Voice call Tariff

SMS Tariff for IPTSP, PSTN & Mobile Operator
(1 USD= BDT 82.00)

SMS Tariff:
SL

Description

1 Subscriber to Subscribers
SMS
2 Subscriber to International
outgoing
3 Other VAS SMS
4 Interconnection charges

BDT 0.25 to 2.00/min

New/Revised (approved by
BTRC) for IPTSP Tariff
(Excluding VAT)
Maximum BDT 0.50/min

BDT 0.25 to 2.00/min

Maximum BDT 2.50/min

Existing PSTN Tariff (Excluding

VAT)

Rate to be approved by BTRC Rate to be approved by BTRC

BDT 0.10/SMS (Originating
BDT 0.40/min (Originating
operator 45%, Termination
operator 0.18, Termination
operator 0.18 & ICX operator operator 45% & ICX operator
10%)
0.04/min

Thanking Your Patience

17