Mobile users face roaming woes abroad
Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association (BMPCA) has urged the telecom regulator and mobile operators to strengthen oversight of international roaming services amid complaints of activation failures, poor connectivity and inadequate customer support faced by Bangladeshi travellers abroad.
In a statement on Saturday, BMPCA President Mohiuddin Ahmed said customers were increasingly encountering difficulties while using international roaming services offered by Bangladeshi mobile operators.
He said complaints included delays in activating purchased roaming packages, failure to connect to foreign networks, extremely slow internet speeds, unclear package validity and benefits, and difficulties obtaining effective support during emergencies.
Mohiuddin said he experienced some of the problems during a recent visit to China. He also said several businesspeople told him they had bought 15-day roaming packages from Grameenphone but received service for only three days.
According to him, some other customers reported purchasing packages from Robi and Banglalink but failing to receive proper network connectivity.
“During a recent visit to China, I also experienced some of these problems with international roaming,” Mohiuddin said.
He stressed that mobile connectivity abroad was not limited to entertainment or social communication. Travellers depend on mobile services for banking, email, office work, online payments, maps, emergency communication and contact with family members.
“As a result, when roaming services fail, a customer can effectively be left at risk of losing essential communication while abroad,” he said.
The BMPCA said a Bangladeshi traveller in India also contacted the association on Saturday after a Grameenphone roaming package reportedly failed to activate.
The customer contacted the operator but did not receive a solution, according to the association. Following the operator’s advice, the customer later purchased another, smaller package and was able to use mobile internet for some time.
The BMPCA said the incident was an individual complaint, but argued that repeated problems reported by multiple customers should be examined at the regulatory level.
It called for reviews of both the quality of roaming services and customer support.
The association urged the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to require operators to provide customers with immediate and clear confirmation after a roaming package is purchased and whether it has been successfully activated.
It also demanded automatic refunds when customers are charged for packages that fail to activate.
The BMPCA called for customers to receive clear information about partner networks available in each country, supported 4G or 5G technologies and expected service quality.
It also urged operators to make roaming advertisements clearer by specifying not only data allowances but also service limitations and other factors that could affect usability.
The association further called for a 24-hour international roaming support system capable of providing prompt technical assistance to customers abroad.
It said customers should be able to establish whether a service failure was caused by their package, the Bangladeshi operator or a foreign partner network.
The BMPCA also urged operators to regularly provide the regulator with data on the number and types of roaming complaints and the time required to resolve them.
It said existing telecommunications guidelines already include provisions for consumer-friendly complaint mechanisms and the maintenance and reporting of complaint-related information.
The association called on operators to investigate the technical causes of recurring roaming problems rather than simply advising customers to purchase another package.
The BMPCA noted that mobile operators were promoting international roaming packages and new technologies. It cited Grameenphone as an example, saying the operator offers roaming packages payable in Bangladeshi taka and provides services in various countries.
According to the association, Grameenphone says roaming availability depends on partnerships with foreign networks as well as network and service coverage in individual countries.
The BMPCA, however, said customers purchasing a roaming package expected reliable communication services rather than simply a commercial product.
It also raised the issue of 5G, saying Grameenphone’s current roaming information does not list 5G as available for its outbound international roaming service, despite ongoing discussions about 5G deployment in Bangladesh.
The association said practical usability, reliability and customer support for existing roaming services should receive adequate attention alongside the promotion of newer technologies.
“We urge the BTRC and mobile operators to assess the actual quality of international roaming services and take prompt and effective measures to reduce customer suffering,” the statement said.
