Around 42 percent SIM cards of the country are now inactive, State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak told in Parliament on Monday.

Responding to a question of Independent MP elected from Mymensingh-6 Constituency M Abdul Malek Sarker, the Minister said that the total number of registered SIMs in the country is 33,27,56,970. 

Among them, the number of active SIMs is 19,37,30,000 while the number of registered inactive SIMs is 13,90,26,970.

He also said that around 55 percent of the registered SIMs of Teletalk, the only state-owned mobile operator, are inactive.

According to the information of State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the gross registered SIM of Grameen Phone is 11,95,67,925 while 8,39,50,000 are active and Inactive number is 3,56,17,925.

He said that Banglalink's total registered SIMs are 9, 07,65,962. Of these, 4,47,20,000 are active and the inactive number is 4,60,45,962. 

The total number of Robi SIM is 10,79,61,800, of the number, the number of active SIMs is 5,85,10,000 while the number of inactive SIMs is 4,94,51,800. Teletalk’s registered SIMs number is 1,44,61,283. The number of active SIMs is 65,50,000 while the number of inactive SIMs number is 79,11,283.

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.”

In response to the question of Independent MP elected from Jhenaidah-2 Md. Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, the Minister said that currently 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 5,19,922 people. 

Currently, on June 12, 2024, that number has decreased to 3,73,950 people. That is, in the last 5 years, the number of BTCL customers has decreased by 1,45,972.