42% of SIMs inactive: Palak

Around 42% SIM cards of the country are now inactive, State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak told in Parliament today (24 June). 
 
Responding to a question of Independent MP elected from Mymensingh-6 Constituency M Abdul Malek Sarker, the minister said the total number of registered SIMs in the country is 33.27 crore. 
 
Among them, the number of active SIMs is 19.37 crore while the number of registered inactive SIMs is 13.90 crore. 
 
He also said that around 55% of the registered SIMs of Teletalk, the only state-owned mobile operator, are inactive. 
 
According to the information of the state minister, the gross registered SIM of Grameen Phone is 11.95 crore while 8.39 crore are active and 3.56 crore are inactive. 
 
He said Banglalink's total registered SIMs are 9.07 crore. Of these, 4.47 crore are active and the number of inactive SIMs is 4.60 crore. 
 
The total number of Robi SIM is 10.79 crore. Of the number, the number of active SIMs is 5.85 crore while the number of inactive SIMs is 4.94 crore. Teletalk's registered SIMs number is 1.44 crore. The number of active SIMs is 65.50 lakh while the number of inactive SIMs number is 79.11 lakh. 
 
The state minister said that the current call rate has been determined in 2018 after reviewing the market and analyzing the socio-economic context and Market related review is ongoing. 
 
"As of now there are no prior plans to revise call rates," he said.
 
In response to the question of Independent MP elected from Jhenaidah-2Md. Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, the Minister said thatcurrently the number of licensed internet providers in Bangladesh is 2,650. 
 
In response to a question from reserved seat MP Farida Yasmin, Palak said that in 2019, the number of BTCL customers was 5.19 lakh. 
 
Currently, as of 12 June, that number has decreased to 3.73. That is, in the last 5 years, the number of BTCL customers has decreased by 1.45 lakh.