South Asian Business news and information

Dear Razib Ahmed,

Thank you for the pointer to your blog.

I'm aware of four mobile operators in Bangladesh:
GameenPhone (GSM 900)
CityCell Digital (CDMA)
Banglalink (GSM 900)
AKTEL (GSM 900)
I've also read about TeleTalk, for example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4398493.stm , but can't find a website. Have they changed their names? Is there a fifth operator or only four?

You write " It is widely believed that right now there are 11 million mobile phone connections ." Do you have any sources that are public? In some countries the regulatory authority reports susbscriber numbers on a public website ( e.g. TRAI in India) and, with a 4 to 16 month lag semi-useful data shows up in the ITU's World Telecom Indicators database. I don't know where to find current subscriber data on Bangladesh. Do you?

From an RCR Wireless market study of mobile operators in Asia, I have these as Bangladesh operators in September 2003:

If I sum the subscriber according to that report, there were 1.43M mobile subscribers (1M/ 215K/ 44K/ 170K) in september 2003; 3.2M in September 2004 (2.08M/ 275K/ 71K/ 800K) and 8.4M in September 2005 (5M/ 318K/ 1M/ 2.073M ). I gather GrameenPhone has been around a long time.

When did the others launch? Is the upsurge in mobile telephony in 2004 & 2005 the apparent result of competition or were there other business or regulatory changes that happened in 2002 or 2003 that might have had an impact?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
- rbt

Dear Brought Turner,
Thanks for your queries. I am going to send you the info you sought from me.

Dear Brought Turner,
Here are answers to some of your queries:
1. There are now 6 mobile phone operators in Bangladesh. Grameen, Aktel, City cell, Bangla link, teletalk and Warid Telecom.
2. Citycell is the first mobile phone company not Grameen. Grameen came into existence in 1996/97.
3. I got the figure of 11 million subscribers in the website: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=78681&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24
4. IN 2004 and 2005 Mobile phone companies gave a number of attractive packages. For example, some phone companies gave the chance to its subscribers to talk after midnight to 6 AM at free of cost. There was a dramatic rreduction of call rates too (20%-30% or even 50%) in 2005. So the demand increased.
If you have any more question please feel free to ask.

dear mr razib ahmed
thanks for your information .it would be very helpful to me if u can tell me how this mobile phones helped for the economic dovelopment of bangladesh if they

best regards
sam

HTML

info@grameenphone.com

what is the offer of WARID TELECOM in Bangladesh?

Grameenphone alone currently has 12 million plus subscribers.

and warid hasnt started its operations yet. they have already paid for delaying their launching. rumour was on that they might launch on 26 march or 14 april but it is still unsure when they will see the light.

When I shall be able to purchase a warid mobile sets?

Please be kind enough to reply me.

with best regards,

engr.azad

Dear Mr. Azad,
I do not know when you can buy a Warid mobile phone set? We just know that it is near but we do not know the exact time.

Dear sir/ma'am, how long will it take to launch warid telecom. Waiting for your reply. And who would be the distributor/agent of mirpur from whom i can buy sim and set? waiting for your reply.

wht is da offer of warid telecom in bangladesh?

Iqvwi` †UwjKg ,
Kvm‡Uvgvi mviwf©m

Rbve,

h_vh_© m¤§vb cÖ`k©b c~e©K mwebq wb‡e`b GB †h , ÔÔIqvwi` †UwjKgÕÕ Avwg AvR 24-08-2007 Bs ZvwiL †ivR ïµ evi GKwU ‡Rg wmg µq KwiqvwQ hvnvi bv¤^vi n‡P&Q 01671749858 Gi g~j¨ 75 UvKv | Avcbv‡`i wbqg Abymv‡i 50 UvKv wd« UK UvBg cvIqvi K_v wQ‡jv wKš‘ Avwg Zvnv cvBbvB | GB wmg wU Avwg µq KwiqvwQ KjvevMvb evmóvb , 1 †jKm©vKvm, evnvi ‡÷vi †_‡K| ‡m ewjqv‡Q †h, fvB Avgiv wK Kie| ‡Kv¤úvwb UvKv bvw`‡j Avgvi wK Kivi Av‡Q|

AZGe , Iqvwi` †UwjKg Gi Kv÷gvi mvwf©m †m›Uv‡ii Kv‡Q Avgvi we‡li Avby‡iv` ‡`‡k †Kvb hvqMvq wKsev †Kvb ‡÷v‡i Gfv‡e wmg weµq Kivi c‡i ‡µZvMb hvnv‡Z nqivwb w¯^Kvi bv nq Ges †Kvb †Kv¤úvwbi e`bvg bv nq †mw`‡K `„wó ivLvi Rb¨ we‡kl fv‡e Aby‡iv` Kiv nj Ges Avwg hvnv‡Z Avgvi cÖvc¨ 50 UvKv Lyi Zviv Zvwi cvB‡Z cvwi †m e¨e¯’v MÖn‡b AvÄv nq|

wewbZ wb‡e`K
‡gvt †iRvDj Kwig
dvBevi wjsK AbjvB
avbgwÛ, XvKv-1205|
‡gvevBjt 01721257590

Iqvwi` †UwjKg ,
Kvm‡Uvgvi mviwf©m

Rbve,

h_vh_© m¤§vb cÖ`k©b c~e©K mwebq wb‡e`b GB †h , ÔÔIqvwi` †UwjKgÕÕ Avwg AvR 24-08-2007 Bs ZvwiL †ivR ïµ evi GKwU ‡Rg wmg µq KwiqvwQ hvnvi bv¤^vi n‡P&Q 01671749858 Gi g~j¨ 75 UvKv | Avcbv‡`i wbqg Abymv‡i 50 UvKv wd« UK UvBg cvIqvi K_v wQ‡jv wKš‘ Avwg Zvnv cvBbvB | GB wmg wU Avwg µq KwiqvwQ KjvevMvb evmóvb , 1 †jKm©vKvm, evnvi ‡÷vi †_‡K| ‡m ewjqv‡Q †h, fvB Avgiv wK Kie| ‡Kv¤úvwb UvKv bvw`‡j Avgvi wK Kivi Av‡Q|

AZGe , Iqvwi` †UwjKg Gi Kv÷gvi mvwf©m †m›Uv‡ii Kv‡Q Avgvi we‡li Avby‡iv` ‡`‡k †Kvb hvqMvq wKsev †Kvb ‡÷v‡i Gfv‡e wmg weµq Kivi c‡i ‡µZvMb hvnv‡Z nqivwb w¯^Kvi bv nq Ges †Kvb †Kv¤úvwbi e`bvg bv nq †mw`‡K `„wó ivLvi Rb¨ we‡kl fv‡e Aby‡iv` Kiv nj Ges Avwg hvnv‡Z Avgvi cÖvc¨ 50 UvKv Lyi Zviv Zvwi cvB‡Z cvwi †m e¨e¯’v MÖn‡b AvÄv nq|

wewbZ wb‡e`K
‡gvt †iRvDj Kwig
dvBevi wjsK AbjvB
avbgwÛ, XvKv-1205|
‡gvevBjt 01721257590

Dear Sir:

Thank you very much for sharing the information with us.

It will be highly appreciated if you can provide me the name for some most popular or biggest mobile phone distributor and it's detail contacts.

We are one of the leading mobile phone company in the world, and we are looking for good parter to work together in Bangladesh market.

if you can help me on this, pls send me to my mail address: jd.tony@gmail.com

Best Regards
Tony Jiang