Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission yesterday opened its official call centre to allow customers to lodge complaints on the service quality of telecom operators.

Customers can dial 2872 between 9:00am and 5:00pm to get assistance.

“If users find no remedy on any specific issue they can register complaints here,” BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood told reporters at his office.

Through the system it can resolve any complaint within a week and the time will be reduced after all necessary training and processes are completed.

Mahmood said the system would operate as a secondary call centre. “If customers fail to get a solution from the related operators' call centres, we will deal with the matter.”

The BTRC launched the call centre on May 17 on a trial basis. So far, it has received 164 calls.

Most of them are not real complaints, said Iqbal Ahmed, director general of the BTRC.

“We have received only 12 complaints and seven suggestions. The rest are unwanted calls,” he said.

As most of the callers were found to be unwanted, the BTRC has imposed a call charge, which is Tk 0.25 a minute, he added.

Mahmood said he would be tough on the service quality issue. “It has to improve.”

He said the mobile operators submit reports every month and claim their call success rate is up to the mark.

“The report is not satisfactory to me. I need people's satisfaction. People can't suffer long for call drops and substandard services.”

Officials said the regulator would also introduce a “query” option where customers can get information and suggestions as well.

Apart from the newly launched call centre, the telecom regulator will continue to receive complaints via emails and its website, according to Ahmed.

At present, there are 13.2 crore active SIMs, more than 6.2 crore active internet connections and about 10 lakh land phone lines. And 32 lakh people use broadband services through internet service providers.