The government has decided to scrap land phone connection fee of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) on the occasion of ‘Mujib Year’, the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

BTCL will offer land phone connection to its applicants free of cost throughout the year of 2020, said its Managing Director Md Rafiqul Islam Matin at its office on Tuesday.  

BTCL is providing this offer in order to retain its subscribers.  In Dhaka, it was needed to deposit Tk 1,000 for land phone connection, Tk 1,000 for connection fee and Tk 150 for value added tax, while the connection fee was Tk 500 in Chattogram and Tk 300 for other places across the country.

However, now the land phone connection is free of cost. Earlier, monthly line rent of Tk 180 has been withdrawn and the service recipients can talk throughout the month with Tk 150 only.

According to BTCL, it has just over five lakh land phone across the country. There were about 8.6 lakh subscribers across the country in 2009. It lost more than three lakh subscribers in the previous three years.