Teletalk to give free 2 million free SIMs to women

Mobile phone operator Teletalk will distribute free SIMs among two million women for their ‘empowerment’ and to ‘improve their living standards’.

State Minister for Telecoms Tarana Halim inaugurated the ‘Aporajita SIM’ distribution programme at an event at the Secretariat on Sunday, saying each woman would be allowed two free SIMs.

“The SIMs will offer an affordable rate for calls and internet.”

“We hope the Aporajita SIMs will play a far-reaching role in the development of women’s social and economic situation in the country.”

“Each Aporajita user will get Tk 10 of free talk time for three months as a ‘startup bonus’.”

The users will also get 1GB of free data, ten minutes of free Teletalk-to-Teletalk calls and five minutes of free Teletalk to separate operator calls, which can be used in the first seven days after the activation of the SIM.

Aporajita users can also purchase 1GB of internet data for seven days for Tk 8 and 2GB of data for Tk 14 for three months after the SIM’s activation.

Those users with a SIM from a different provider can also ‘migrate’ to the Aporajita SIM.

The SIMs will be available from Sunday at all Teletalk customer service centres and official retail points.

Asked about the limited Teletalk network, Tarana Halim said the network would improve after an expansion.

“Approval for the ECNEC Teletalk expansion project is still pending. Two of the prime minister’s orders regarding 4G permissions and discounts are still at the finance ministry.”

The state minister said 4G service will start in Bangladesh by December.

“The operators had raised 24 points. Most of the conflicts have been explained and solved. We are still discussing two of them, but I believe they will be resolved soon.”

Teletalk Managing Director Kazi Md Golam Quddus was also at the meeting.