Mobile Telecommunication Industry in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has currently six mobile phone operators in Mobile Telecommunication Industry, of
which five are in operation and the sixth, Warid Telecom, is expected to begin operation in
April, 2007 (Rahman, 2007). Though the industry is relatively new yet the growth is much
faster in comparison to other industries due to aggressive market oriented business strategy
(Yousuf et al., 2006). Bangladesh’s phone sectors witnessed a 120 percent growth from
January 2006 till now, with the numbers of users rising to 22 million from 10.8 million in 13
months.

GrameenPhone, the largest mobile operator in the country, reached 10.76 million at the end of
2006 with the addition of nearly 5.22 million customers in a year, while the second largest
operator, AkTel, acquired 6 million subscribers, adding some 3.93 million to its total at the
same time.

The third largest operator, Banglalink, acquired 3.64 million subscribers, adding 2.61 million
customers in the same period, while the only CDMA operator, CityCell, acquired nearly one
million customers at the end of the year, more than double its 4.4 lakh customers in 2005.
The government-owned Teletalk acquired nearly 4 lakh customers in 2006.
Bangladesh is presently one of the top 10 mobile phone markets in the Asia-pacific region in
terms of the number of subscribers. Industry people said the number of mobile phone
subscribers will top 50 million in the next three years as the start-up cost as well as call tariff
will be constantly shrinking because of cutthroat competition among the operators to woo new
customers (Rahman, 2007).

Table - 1: Major Mobile Phone Networks in Bangladesh According to their Market

Share

Name of the Companies Technology Used Subscribers (Approx.) till the

end of June, 2008
GrameenPhone (GP) GSM 10.8 million
Aktel (Telekom Malaysia) GSM
Banglalink (formerly GSM
Shebatel)
Pacific Bangladesh Telecom CDMA 1.5 million
(CityCell)
Teletalk Bangladesh GSM
Warid Telecom GSM

Competition in Mobile Telecommunication Industry in Bangladesh

As mentioned it earlier that GrameenPhone is the market leader with approximately 63%
market share (http://press.telenor.com). From the market share and technical capability point
of view, GP is clearly ahead of other competitors. Although Aktel was the challenger but its
activities was not so much threat for GP. Since the market payers designed their strategy with
traditional armors therefore, the culture and practice of innovation was not appropriately
nurtured in this industry. Aktel tried to be innovative and to provide unique value to the
customers but it could not be effectively successful as GP responded immediately in
unconstructive ways. Even sometimes in a very negative way (e.g. network jamming, price
cut and so on), which was to some extent unethical, too. For example, when Aktel planned to
provide augmented service to customers, GP would create an unannounced barrier in case of
calling and messaging from Aktel to GP subscribers to create an impression that Aktel’s
network is not as efficient as GP. Ultimately, the innovative efforts of Aktel were not fully
successful.

The company (GP) used to enjoy almost a monopoly until and unless the threat was created
by other competitors.
Consequences of this Uneven Competition
The influence of mobile telecommunication is multi faceted. It has become an indispensable
part of urban life. Certainly nowadays mobile telecommunication services serve not only for
traditional communication purposes but also as a new channel for existing entertainment and
new types of entertainment (Kornak, et al., 2004). The uneven competition in the
telecommunication service industry of Bangladesh is working as barrier in providing this type
of value adding services to the customers. The adverse consequences, in addition to network
jamming and sudden price cut, are various call rates for similar service, problem in internet
connectivity, failure to make mobile phone as a means for entertainment whereas these are
very common and familiar all over the world. Mobile phone network is not appearing with
dynamic features as per demand of the situation rather they are trying to be more traditional
with modern technology. The service providers of this industry are now fighting for the
existing customers in the same market instead of developing new market and new innovative
products.
The overall competency and capability of this industry is not enhancing due to the lack of
adequate research and development for innovativeness. No company is growing with a proper
potential to challenge the market leader. Ultimately, customers are being deprived. Here the
point to be noted that the mobile call charge in Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world.

This is because of the monopolistic competition in this industry.

Warid Telecom (Bangladesh)

Warid Telecom International Ltd. is a GSM-based cellular operator in Bangladesh. Warid is the
sixth mobile phone carrier to enter the Bangladesh market. It is wholly owned subsidiary of
Warid Telecom International LLC which is the part of an Abu Dhabi based consortium led by
His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, a Member of the Royal Family of Abu
Dhabi, and the Honorable Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the United
Arab Emirates.

Warid officially launched their commercial services in Bangladesh on the 10th of May, 2007,
with a GSM Mobile Cellular network covering 64 districts of the country and encompassing
70% of the mobile phone using population- the single largest launch the country has ever
seen.

On 19th July, 2007 Warid Telecom announced in major dailies of having achieved one million
subscribers in the first of 70 days of operation.

As of May, 2008 Warid has secured 3.13 million subscribers and is ranked fourth among the
six operators.

Warid Telecom International Ltd.

Type Private
Founded 2005
House 34, Road 19/A, Banani, Dhaka
Headquarters
1213, Bangladesh
Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan,
Key people Chairman
Mr. Muneer Farooqui, CEO
Industry Telecommunication
Products Telephony, EDGE, GPRS, GSM
Website www.waridtel.com.bd

[edit] History
Warid Telecom sales and customer services and their Head Quarters at Tajwar Center in
Banani, Dhaka.In December 2005, Warid Telecom International LLC paid $50 million
dollars(US) to obtain a GSM license from the BTRC and became the sixth mobile phone
operator in Bangladesh.

In a press conference on August 17th 2006, Warid announced that his network would be
activated two months ahead of schedule, in October, 2006. Again in October, 2006 Warid
Telecom put off the launch of its cellphone services in Bangladesh until April, 2007 after its
major supplier Nokia walked out on an agreement over a payment dispute.[2]

Warid had a soft launch at the end of January, 2007. It gave away complimentary
subscriptions among a selected group of individuals, who's job was to make 'test calls' and the
operator adjusted its network's quality based on their comments.

The official website of the company www.waridtel.com.bd, was launched on the 30th of April,
2007.

On the 14th of April, 2007 (Pohela Boishakhi day) Warid Bangladesh kicked off its
advertisement campaign titled "Salam Bangladesh Salam". A few days later on the 29th of
April, they launched their website.

On May 9th 2007, Warid in an advertisement in some daily newspaper stated that it would be
launching publicly on May 10th 2007. However, no call rate nor any package details were
revealed. The advertisement included an announcement for the people interested to buy Warid
connections to bring the documents like ID Card, etc, to the designated franchise and
customer care centres.

On Oct 1st 2007, Warid Telecom has expanded its network to five more districts raising total
number of districts under Warid coverage to 56, says a press release. Mymensingh, Jamalpur,
Sherpur, Rajbari and Narail towns are now under Warid network.

On Nov 10th 2007, 61 districts under Warid network coverage.

[edit] NGN (Next Generation) Network

The network that has been deployed in Bangladesh by Warid is based on the NGN or Next-
Generation Technology- a future-proof architectural system which ensures optimum utilization
of frequency and enhances speed and quality of both voice and data services.

[edit] Network Technology

Network Status Date
GSM1800 Live/Active May, 2007

[3]

[edit] Numbering Scheme

Warid Bangladesh uses the following numbering scheme:

+880 16 N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8

Where, 880 is the ISD code for Bangladesh and is needed only in case of dialling from outside
Bangladesh.

16 is the prefix for Warid Bangladesh as allocated by the government of Bangladesh. Omitting
+880 will require to use 0 in place of it instead to represent local call, hence 016 is the general
prefix.
N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8 is the subscriber number.

Products Offered
Warid provides both post-paid and pre-paid connection plans. The post-paid plan is branded
and marketed across the country under the name Zahi Post-paid, which means leader or
royalty. The pre-paid segment is branded and marketed as Zem Pre-Paid.

The Zem Prepaid category is divided into four segments:

Zem (startup)
Zem 1 Sec
Zem 24 hrs
Zem FnF
The Zahi Postpaid category is divided into three segments:

Zahi Classic
Zahi Supreme
Zahi Royal

Zahi-Post-paid and Zem Pre-paid user enjoy various value added services(VAS), such as SMS,
MMS, GPRS, 64K SIM, Dual SIM product, Corporate packages for product advertising via SMS,
and a host of other features.

However International Roaming is available only to Zahi (post-paid) users.

banglalink - making a difference

When banglalink entered the Bangladesh telecom industry in February 2005, the scenario
changed overnight with mobile telephony becoming an extremely useful and affordable
communication tool for people across all segments.

Within one year of operation, banglalink became the fastest growing mobile operator of the
country with a growth rate of 257%. This milestone was achieved with innovative and
attractive products and services targeting the different market segments; aggressive
improvement of network quality and dedicated customer care; and effective communication
that emotionally connected customers with banglalink.

Products and Services

banglalink entered the market with a promise of making mobile phone affordable for people.
This promise was kept and banglalink was the first operator to introduce a flat rate for all calls
(inside own network and to other operators) for the convenience and ease of customers. Thus
"desh" was launched - the best prepaid package for making calls to any network.

In addition, a new prepaid package, banglalink desh "rong" has also been launched. This
package offers attractive tariff plan for customers who need to talk within the banglalink
network. "Rong" is a Bengali word that means "color" - the objective is to give customers a
brand that they can refer to as colorful and lively. banglalink desh is already a very popular
and well-liked brand - banglalink desh rong is a brand extension to enrich the brand.

Targeting the corporate and SME segments, banglalink has launched "banglalink enterprise"
with state of the art services including GPRS, corporate SMS broadcast, dedicated customer
relationship management, and customized packages. banglalink enterprise offers customized
telecom solutions for different businesses as per their requirements and the objective of
banglalink enterprise is to assist the clients at every step as their businesses grow.

banglalink also offers extensive range of value added services for customers. Recently,
interactive voice portal has been launched for customers who are not SMS savvy. banglalink
'amar tunes' (CRBT) service is extremely popular with customers with a rich library of English,
Hindi, Bengali and Arabic songs - all ready to be set as caller ring back tones. banglalink has
also been the first operator to launch Missed Call Alerts for customers. In addition services like
Song dedication; logo and ring tone download; and i'bubble (voice message) make the
portfolio rich. banglalink has also launched GPRS in most major cities and will extend to major
districts by end of 2007.

banglalink continues to offer products and services approaching different consumer segments
with distinct communication needs. banglalink focuses heavily on enhancing service and
quality as well. In 2006, enhancements were done in terms of network quality and customer
service. There was aggressive improvement of indoor coverage, and wherever necessary,
especially in-building solutions were installed in case of enterprise customers and corporate
clients. To provide better customer service, a new, expanded, state of the art call center has
also been established. At the end of the 2006, there have been a six customer care centers
and 63 franchise centers across the country attending various customers with different
queries.

In 2006, banglalink also became a leader in terms of its advertising quality and setting very
high standards for competition and others. The corporate TV commercial of "din bodol" based
on the theme "making a difference in people's lives", touched everyone through out the
country and was adjudged the best TVC of the year according to the leading dailies of the
country like Prothom Alo and New Age. This TV Commercial has become a matter of national
pride for Bangladesh as it has been nominated for the best TV Advertisement of the year with
4 other international television commercials at the GSMA Award 2007. GSMA Award is
considered to be the Oscar of mobile industry. In line with this, 'making a difference' has been
formally launched in 2007 as the tagline for banglalink - enhancing the corporate platform for
the mother brand. This year, the corporate brand strategy is to establish 'making a difference'
as the platform for the brand. The communication strategy is to produce television
commercials based on true stories of Bangladeshi people who started with nothing, have
achieved success and glory in their respective fields and have made a difference in life. To
support this, events, sponsorships and activations under the corporate brand have also been
chosen with ones that have the essence of 'making a difference'.

TM International (Bangladesh) Ltd. (TMIB), established in 1996, is a joint venture company

between Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) and A. K. Khan & Co. Ltd. It operates under the brand
name ‘AKTEL’, which is one of the most dynamic end-to-end countrywide GSM mobile
communications solutions brands.

Under the stewardship of TM, AKTEL is one of the fastest growing mobile communication
brands offering comprehensive range of solutions to more than six million subscribers
nationwide. Today, AKTEL boasts of the widest International Roaming service in the market,
connecting 440 operators across 185 countries.

By leveraging on TM’s extensive expertise in the international communications

implementation, AKTEL became the first mobile operator to connect Tetulia and Teknaf, which
is the northern and southern most points of Bangladesh, and first to provide seamless
coverage along the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

With a network covering all 61 allowable districts of Bangladesh, coupled with the first
Intelligent Network (IN) Prepaid Platform in the country, AKTEL is geared to provide a wide
range of products and services to customers all over Bangladesh.

Vision:
To be a leader as a Telecommunication Service Provider in Bangladesh.

Mission:
AKTEL aims to achieve its vision through being number ‘one’ not only in terms of market
share, but also by being an employer of choice with up-to-date knowledge and products
geared to address the ever changing needs of our budding nation.

Theme:
AKTEL always strives to uphold the dictum ‘Customer First’.

Quality Policy:
AKTEL is committed to achieving leadership in customer satisfaction by continually improving
its processes, products and services to ensure they consistently exceed customers’
requirements. We will develop and implement technology and infrastructure that enable us to
be clearly ahead in Bangladesh and to enhance the mobility experience of our customers.

November 28, 1996

Grameenphone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications

March 26, 1997

Grameenphone launched its service on the Independence Day of Bangladesh

November 5, 2006

After almost 10 years of operation, Grameenphone has over 10 million subscribers

September 20, 2007

Grameenphone announces 15 million subscribers.

Grameenphone is now the leading telecommunications service provider in the country with
more than 16 million subscribers as of December 2007.
Presently, there are about 30 million telephone users in the country, of which, a little over one
million are fixed-phone users and the rest mobile phone subscribers.
Starting its operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh,
Grameenphone has come a long way. It is a joint venture enterprise between Telenor (62%),
the largest telecommunications service provider in Norway with mobile phone operations in 12
other countries, and Grameen Telecom Corporation (38%), a non-profit sister concern of the
internationally acclaimed micro-credit pioneer Grameen Bank.
Over the years, Grameenphone has always been a pioneer in introducing new products and
services in the local market. GP was the first company to introduce GSM technology in
Bangladesh when it launched its services in March 1997.The technological know-how and
managerial expertise of Telenor has been instrumental in setting up such an international
standard mobile phone operation in Bangladesh. Being one of the pioneers in developing the
GSM service in Europe, Telenor has also helped to transfer this knowledge to the local
employees over the years.
The company has so far invested more than BDT 10,700 crore (USD 1.6 billion) to build the
network infrastructure since its inception in 1997. It has invested over BDT 3,100 crore (USD
450 million) during the first three quarters of 2007 while BDT 2,100 crore (USD 310 million)
was invested in 2006 alone. Grameenphone is also one the largest taxpayers in the country,
having contributed nearly BDT 7000 crore in direct and indirect taxes to the Government
Exchequer over the years. Of this amount, over BDT 2000 crore was paid in 2006 alone.

Since its inception in March 1997, Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the
country with over 10,000 base stations in more than 5700 locations. Presently, nearly 98
percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.

Grameenphone was also the first operator to introduce the pre-paid service in September
1999. It established the first 24-hour Call Center, introduced value-added services such as
VMS, SMS, fax and data transmission services, international roaming service, WAP, SMS-
based push-pull services, EDGE, personal ring back tone and many other products and
services.

The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to high-speed
Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently nearly
3 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network.

Grameenphone nearly doubled its subscriber base during the initial years while the growth
was much faster during the later years. It ended the inaugural year with 18,000 customers,
30,000 by the end of 1998, 60,000 in 1999, 193,000 in 2000, 471,000 in 2001, 775,000 in
2002, 1.16 million in 2003, 2.4 million in 2004, 5.5 million in 2005, 11.3 million in 2006, and
it ended 2007 with 16.5 million customers.

From the very beginning, Grameenphone placed emphasis on providing good after-sales
services. In recent years, the focus has been to provide after-sales within a short distance
from where the customers live. There are now more than 600 GP Service Desks across the
country covering nearly all upazilas of 61 districts. In addition, there are 81 Grameenphone
Centers in all the divisional cities and they remain open from 8am-8pm every day including all
holidays.
GP has generated direct and indirect employment for a large number of people over the years.
The company presently has more than 5,000 full, part-time and contractual employees.
Another 100,000 people are directly dependent on Grameenphone for their livelihood, working
for the Grameenphone dealers, retailers, scratch card outlets, suppliers, vendors, contractors
and others.

In addition, the Village Phone Program, also started in 1997, provides a good income-earning
opportunity to more than 280,000 mostly women Village Phone operators living in rural areas.
The Village Phone Program is a unique initiative to provide universal access to
telecommunications service in remote, rural areas. Administered by Grameen Telecom
Corporation, it enables rural people who normally cannot afford to own a telephone to avail
the service while providing the VP operators an opportunity to earn a living.

The Village Phone initiative was given the "GSM in the Community" award at the global GSM
Congress held in Cannes, France in February 2000. Grameenphone was also adjudged the
Best Joint Venture Enterprise of the Year at the Bangladesh Business Awards in 2002.
Grameenphone was presented with the GSM Association's Global Mobile Award for ‘Best use of
Mobile for Social and Economic Development' at the 3GSM World Congress held in Singapore,
in October 2006, for its Community Information Center (CIC) project, and for its HealthLine
Service project at the 3GSM World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2007.
Grameenphone considers its employees to be one of its most important assets. GP has an
extensive employee benefit scheme in place including Gratuity, Provident Fund, Group
Insurance, Family Health Insurance, Transportation Facility, Day Care Centre, Children's
Education Support, Higher Education Support for employees, in-house medical support and
other initiatives.