Keep your Bangladeshi phone number active while abroad
Keep a Bangladeshi number active abroad. Unused SIM: 11 months, then notice. Grameenphone's matrix may suspend 60 days. Another file may suspend 365 days.
Checked against official pages on September 29, 2026. Rules move; when this one does, it goes on the changelog.
| Carrier | Accounts | If you do nothing | Cheapest hold | Roaming for codes | Twelve months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grameenphone | prepaid | Recharge matrix. Tk 20-149 is 30 days, 150-299 is 60 days, 300 and above is 365 days. After expiry, Grameenphone may suspend 60 days, incoming call and SMS only. Leftover only inside validity or that 60 days. Reactivate within 12 months (365 days). Useful Information may suspend 365 days after expiry | A recharge in a listed band. Tk 20-149 is 30 days | Unverified | unverified as an annual retention charge. Tk 300 and above is 365 days of validity, not a published retention fee |
| Robi | prepaid | Recycle page. Unused 11 months, the number will be recycled. The FAQ also writes 11th Months (330 unused days), then a notice of 30 or 90 days as applicable | unverified as a published Robi validity table. The recycle page is a number search, not a recharge table | Unverified | unverified as a published annual retention charge |
Keep a Bangladeshi number active abroad on three clocks that do not add together. The unused-SIM recycle, as The Daily Star and Robi state it, is 11 months unused and then a notice. Grameenphone's recharge matrix is a separate clock: after recharge validity, Grameenphone may suspend the line for 60 days. Useful Information may suspend for 365 days after recharge expiry, and that file is not the matrix.
The regulator recycle is not the recharge table
The Daily Star of 18 December 2024 states: "The new directive mandates 11 months of inactivity, followed by a 30-day notice period before operators can recycle the unused numbers." The same article says the commission shortened the recycling period for inactive SIM cards from 18 months to 12 months. It also quotes Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi Axiata, welcoming a cut in the unused-SIM retention period from 540 days to 360 days. Those two pairs are that newspaper's account.
Robi's recycled-numbers page says Robi numbers unused for 11 months will be recycled, and its FAQ writes that unused stretch as 11 months (330 unused days), with a notice of 30 days or 90 days. We could not open the BTRC site on 9 October 2026. Use the newspaper and the Robi page for the day count.
Grameenphone's notice of 15 May 2024 said prepaid and postpaid lines unused since 14 March 2023 or earlier, and skitto lines unused since 10 January 2023 or earlier, would be closed three months after that notice. That closure is not the matrix suspend of 60 days, and it is not the 11-month recycle.
The two cards split the documents: Grameenphone is the recharge matrix plus Useful Information, Robi is the 11-month recycle page.
Grameenphone may suspend for 60 days on one page and 365 on another
Grameenphone's recharge validity matrix lists Tk 20-149 as 30 days, Tk 150-299 as 60 days, and Tk 300 and above as 365 days. After that validity the same page states: After the expiration of the recharge validity (main account validity), GP may without any notice, suspend prepaid customer’s account for 60 days. During suspension period, prepaid customers can avail only Incoming call and SMS service. After the suspension period, all services including Incoming call and SMS service will be stopped, any outstanding emergency balance dues will be adjusted from main account balance. GP is not liable to inform subscriber about the suspension of his/her account.
Reactivation is a later sentence on that matrix: "After expiry of recharge validity, prepaid customer can easily reactivate the number by recharging anytime within 12 months (365 days). After this period, Grameenphone prepaid connections will be permanently deactivated." Those 12 months (365 days) sit after the 60-day suspend. They are not the 60 days, and they are not added to the 60 days.
Grameenphone's Useful Information, Additional Terms Prepaid item 7, states: After the expiration of the validity of the recharge, GP may without any notice, suspend a subscriber’s account for 365 days. GP is not liable to inform a subscriber about the suspension of his/her account. Item 3 on that page says those stages, taken together, shall not exceed 365 days. That 365-day suspend is a different Grameenphone file from the matrix's 60 days.
Grameenphone's Emergency Balance terms say Grameenphone may suspend the connection 60 days after recharge validity ends. That 60 days matches the matrix, not Useful Information's 365 days.
The matrix 60 and the T&Cs 365 stay two files. Matrix 12 months (365 days) is not Useful Information's 365-day suspend. Neither 365 is Robi's 11 months.
Leftover taka are not the number
The matrix states: "The main account balance can be carried forward only if a customer recharges within the validity period of the previous recharge or within the suspension period of 60 days. Any recharge after the expiry of the mentioned period shall not be refundable nor shall revive the connection." That is the window in which leftover credit can be carried forward. After it, a recharge does not bring the line back on that sentence.
Useful Information item 6 uses the same shape with the other suspend: "The balance of an account can be carried forward only if a subscriber recharges within the validity period of the previous recharge or within the suspension period of 365 days. Any recharge after the expiry of the mentioned period shall not be refundable nor shall revive the connection."
Nepal can already show leftover rupees on a barred line. Taiwan leftover NT$ is a transfer or refund after the number is recovered. On those Grameenphone pages, leftover credit moves only if a recharge lands inside the previous validity or the suspend period. Leftover taka are not the 11-month recycle.
Holding, parking, porting or letting the number go is compared on the options page.
Validity packs
The Grameenphone card is where the 997-taka, 3-year pack and the 1,498-taka, 5-year pack are set out. After those packs expire, that page says the customer falls under the recycle process.
Open Doors 2025 Fast Facts puts Bangladesh at 20,156 students in the United States in 2024/25, 1.7 percent of the total, up 17.9 percent from 17,099 in 2023/24. When a rule on this site moves, it is logged on the changelog.
Questions people ask
Is 365 days how long I keep a Bangladeshi prepaid number?
No. Grameenphone's matrix lists 365 days as main-account validity for Tk 300 and above, then a 60-day incoming-only suspend, then 12 months (365 days) to reactivate. Useful Information may suspend for 365 days after recharge expiry. The Daily Star and Robi state 11 months unused and then a notice, and Robi also writes that unused stretch as 330 days. Those 365-day figures and the 11 months are not one clock for keeping a Bangladeshi number active abroad.
Does leftover prepaid credit keep a Bangladeshi number active?
No. On the matrix, leftover carries forward only inside previous validity or the 60-day suspend; after that window a recharge shall not revive the connection. Useful Information says the same shape with a 365-day suspend. Nepal leftover rupees can already sit on a barred line. Taiwan leftover is money after the number is recovered.
Is 15 months still how long operators wait before recycling?
No. The Daily Star states 11 months of inactivity and then a 30-day notice, and Robi's recycle page states 11 months unused. The Grameenphone notice is a separate closure for lines unused since 14 March 2023, three months after the notice.