Robi lets rip at the ongoing price war
Within an unprecedented move, the country's second largest mobile operator yesterday blew off its pent-up resentment against the market leader over its offer of free voice call minutes and bonus data packs on humanitarian grounds during the pandemic.
Without mentioning the name of Grameenphone, Robi officials said such a cost war waged by the leading operator will push smaller carriers to the brink of collapse.
In an online press conference, Robi's CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed also expressed dismay over the regulator's approval to the Grameenphone package with some initiatives, one of these being 10 crore free minutes to 1 1 crore customers (ten minutes per user).
Grameenphone also offered monthly 30GB data to the 25,000 registered doctors of the Directorate General of Health Services with a token Tk 1 monthly for the next half a year.
The top player has gone out to grab the market in the pretext of COVID-19 crisis which is a clear exemplory case of price war declared by the marketplace leader, said Ahmed, also the president of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh.
"We expect that the market leader will be sensible regarding their offers and can keep their belief in co-existence," he said while calling upon the federal government and the regulator to look into what he conditions an unhealthy competition.
Ahmed also warned that if the regulator will not part of to discipline the marketplace leader, it will continue to cash in on the pandemic to further its business interests.
"Unless the regulator and the federal government believe that the country's interest is most beneficial served by having only 1 operator available in the market, they need to make their move at this time, because we will not be in a position to sustain our business if the marketplace leader is not made to adhere to significant market power (SMP) regulations now," he added.
The rift between Grameenphone and the others started to widen when Robi, Banglalink and Teletalk demanded some free spectrum for the moment to handle the surge in data use amid the shutdown.
Grameenphone had also later sought additional spectrum for the same purpose but maintained a stance against the thought of free allocation of spectrum.
Ahmed yesterday said different countries like the US awarded free spectrum with their carriers to greatly help ensure better service and promote social distancing.
Robi does not have any other option but to make retaliatory offers to secure their market share and some packages were already underway, like 10-minute talk-time and 50MB free data for customers who used to recharge regularly but now cannot do so as a result of the public health crisis.
The operator will pursue aggressive data bundle offers and already chalked out an idea to support stakeholders in the business's sales and distribution channels with food supply, credit facilities and health insurance.
As Grameenphone can be an SMP operator, the regulator should keep this at heart while approving its packages; otherwise, the market must brace for dire consequences, said Shahed Alam, Robi's chief corporate and regulatory officer.
In the Indian market, there were 12 carriers even a couple of years ago, but only four now exist due to an unfair competition brought about by an operator with huge financial muscle.
About the complaints of Robi, Grameenphone said this is the time to stand next to the country with collective efforts and act responsibly.
"It really is regrettable that such remarks are created. We appreciate that others are inspired and coming forward," said Md Hasan, head of its external communications.
