Mobile operators were yesterday instructed to offer seven-day data packages at the price of the discontinued three-day packages until the national election scheduled in January.

The instruction came in a meeting involving the top officials of the telecom ministry and the telecom regulator, The Daily Star has learnt from people familiar with the discussion, who requested anonymity to describe a sensitive conversation.

The operators have until November 10 to amend the prices of their seven-day data packages to that of the highly popular three-day packages that were discontinued on October 14 to much criticism from users.

Mobile operators said the government-ordered tariff is not commercially viable for them.

"An FMCG company will not sell a 25-gram shampoo pack at the price of a 10-gram pack," said a top executive of a mobile operator, who requested anonymity to disclose sensitive deliberations.

Contacted, Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said the mobile carriers have raised the price of the seven-day package by two- to threefold after the three-day packages went off the air on October 15.

"We cannot permit this -- it is unethical," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

At the meeting, Jabbar said the price hike of the seven-day packages was a deliberate attempt by the operators to discredit the government ahead of the election.

Subsequently, he directed the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to promptly enforce strict measures. He also said the telecom ministry will not permit any alteration to data prices before the election.

In response, the operators told the meeting that it would be challenging for them to implement the directive. Besides, they have taken permission from the BTRC before the roll-out of each data package.

Jabbar told The Daily Star that the operators sought three months to implement the directive.

"But we told them you will not get even three seconds. It is because we deem their logic baseless. There will be no discussion with the operators regarding this issue before January 15."

Asked if the instruction is intended to earn goodwill among the electoral ahead of the polls, he said: "Election is another issue because we don't want our young generation to be discouraged from using data during this time. It is also our aim."