The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Undertakings at a meeting observed that the authorities concerned should follow sincerely and honestly its recommendations on the cellphone service, the soft-launch of which had been held last week.

The meeting asked the ministry and Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) to appoint adept and technically efficient persons to the board of directors of Teletalk, the company that would run the mobile phone operation.

It underlined the need for rationalising call tariffs of private cellphone operators.

The meeting also discussed the overall performance of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and its subsidiaries including production, income, expenditure and audit reports in the last six years, besides a number of issues like vacancies and additional manpower needed at the corporation.

Committee chairman Abdul Aleem, members Whip Rezaul Bari Dina, Salah Uddin Ahmed, Alamgir M Mahfuz Ullah Farid, Faruk Khan, Wadud Bhuiyan and Syed Abdullah M Taher attended the meeting. Secretaries of the posts and telecommunications, and energy and mineral resources ministries, chairmen of the BTTB and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), and senior officials concerned were also present.