By Sumi Khan

Dhaka, Mar 2 (IANS): The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has banned the sale of mobile network operator Robi's e-SIM within one week of launching the service, an official said on Wednesday.

"The division concerned found that Robi launched the service without taking the commission's approval. Therefore, we asked them to stop selling the e-SIM services," BTRC Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder told a leading media outlet on Wednesday.

Mobile operators are obliged to take the telecom regulator's approval before launching any services, the BRTC said.

On February 22, Robi Axiata Limited announced the start of an e-SIM sale, following two other private telecom operators - Grameenphone and Banglalink.

Launching the service, the company said customers will enjoy the best Internet experience in the country.

When contacted, Robi officials said that they have not received any letter from the BTRC to stop the service. However, they acknowledged that they have been discussing with the regulator some issues regarding the approval for marketing e-SIM.

Currently, Robi is the country's second largest mobile operator with a 5.46 crore subscriber base, while Grameenphone is the top operator with 7.93 crore subscribers.

Banglalink is in the third position with 4.01 crore users.

The total number of SIM subscribers in Bangladesh stands at 18.08 crore.

In March last year, Grameenphone introduced an e-SIM service in Bangladesh for the first time.