Unethical business moves by telcos

WHEN the whole nation is being deceived with ‘Free Gifts’ offered by the companies for buying their services, the move of the telecom regulatory body (BTRC) to warn cell phone operator Robi for violating promotional campaign law is no doubt a welcome one. The telecom regulator asked Robi to stop its campaign Dekhiye Dao Quiz Show as the offer violated relevant laws. Customers of the mobile operators are most often becoming the victims of such bizarre offers. Though the regulatory body has set a guideline for the telcos for their campaign, but it is apprehending that very few go by the rules. If BTRC’s present initiative, though apparently targetting a company, continues in an honest manner, then no company doing the business of selling talk-time will get rid of the images of deceiving consumers.The defying of laws by the telcos has proved that they are maintained in paper only and for lax execution they have become ineffectual. In theory, the telcos are not allowed to offer high-value products, but by making an unholy nexus with the BTRC personnel, they often announce offers to make quick bucks. The telecom business in Bangladeshis is one of the highly profitable ones with low investment. It is publicly considered as making a business by selling air. The companies sell airtime to the customers to talk but they have no right to prey the customers into a talking trap by offering unethical bonus. In Robi website, the Dekhiye Dao Quiz Show was put under the current offer segment which said, ‘Robi subscribers using Tk 10 in every hour may WIN a 3G Handset and subscribers using Tk 20 in a day (everyday) shall have the chance to WIN a Bike /TV.’ According to Clause 7 of BTRC’s Interim Directive on Tariff and Marketing Promotion, mobile phone companies are barred from offering any reward other than free talk-time, SMS and mobile handsets.Moreover, there are allegations of dodging tax against telcos. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has already launched investigation into the alleged tax evasion by Robi. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) also sent documents accusing three others mobile operators. NBR said, although ACC had sought information about Robi, they sent documents relating to similar allegations of tax evasion by three other mobile phone operators, Grameenphone, Banglalink and Airtel.The dispute between the revenue authority and cell phone operators over alleged tax evasion started in 2012. The revenue authority had claimed SIM replacement tax worth Tk 30 billion from the four companies after launching a probe by a committee. As per estimate, the Grameenphone owes Tk 15.80 billion while Banglalink 7.74 billion, Airtel Tk 820 million and Robi Tk 6.67 billion in evaded tax to the government.We cannot ignore the necessity of quick communication, but the whole nation should not be put in a trap due to the immoral profit-making attitude of the 4 mobile Mughals. The government must exercise authority under the existing laws to check such deception. If necessary, new laws should also be enacted soon.