Data: Following a series of accusations on data charges by customers, Bhutan Telecom has introduced a new system whereby B-Mobile prepaid customers will now be periodically notified about their data usage.

The notifications will either be time-based (duration of usage in hours), or quota-based (volume of data used in MB) – whichever comes first. For 2G and 3G services, the time-based notification occurs after every four hours while the quota-based notification happens after the use of every 50 MB data.

For instance, if a customer uses the Internet for four hours but the volume of data used is less than 50MB, then there will be a time-based notification. Similarly, if the data usage exceeds 50MB before reaching the time limit of four hours, there would be quota-based notification.

For 4G services, the time-based notification occurs after every two hours and quota-based notification after every 100MB approximately. Officials from the telco said that this difference in time and data in case of 4G services is set because of the fact that the Internet speed for 4G services is much faster than 2G and 3G. Officials added that the new feature in the system is being introduced to keep customers informed about their data usage while accessing the Internet.

Officials said that it is important to note that these notifications are cumulative, meaning that the notification will be inclusive of the usage of the prior session and not just the information on the usage of the current session. However, the remaining balance information will provide clarity on the charges for the session.

Keeping a track of the data usage through the data monitoring features in smart phones, according to the telco, will also help customers know how and where the data is being used.

Officials urged the consumers to be mindful of push notifications, automatic video play on social media apps, video streaming and switching off the mobile data when not in use.

Meanwhile, the telco is also exploring measures to introduce similar feature for postpaid customers.

Younten Tshedup