Introduction

Banglalink is one of the leading cellular company in Bangladesh. It starts irs operation since
2000. Within one year of launching it has become one of the leading cellular company by its
effective marketing mix. Effective segmentation and target market strategy it easily go to the
knock of the people by introducing various package for the customers.

The company sets the price effectively. As a result people from various societies can get the
facilities of cellular company. For the promotional sector banglalink presents itself as a icon to
the other companies. Within a very short time it spreads its network coverage and maintain an
indirect distribution channel to reach the consumers.

It is very important to evaluate the marketing mix of banglalink.

As a student of Management we feel it is very important to study a reputed company in order to

match theoretical knowledge with real world situation.
Objectives

The objectives of this paper are as follows:

• Provide an overview of the banglalink

• To evaluate the marketing plan of the banglalink.

• To identify the factors influencing on the marketing plan of the company.

• To find out the strategies need to implement for achieving its long term goal.
Services Offerings

Packages of Banglalink

Banglalink currently offers one plan for all packages. Connections are provided through GPRS
and all connections are standardize (T&T incoming and outgoing with NWD and ISD).

Pre-paid package

1) Banglalink Play: The package is especially designed for the young generation. To keep
connected the package offers 16 fnf to all operators, the best rate 4.17 paisa/10 sec to a special
banglalink number.

2) Banglalink Desh: It is one of the oldest packages still offered by banglalink and is
available in the market. The package was launched with a slogan “EkDeshEk Rate”. It has 3
fnffacility to any operator.

3) Banglalink Desh Hello: The name confers that it was redesigned from thedesh package
according to the market demand. It gives the lowest tariff with 4.17 paisa/10 secin one
banglalink number and 10 paisa/10 sec in other operators.

4) Banglalink DeshEk Rate: “Ek Rate” means constant rate. The package comes with 18.5
paisa/10 sec to any operator including banlglalink.

5) Banglalink DeshEk Rate Darun: Only the call rate was changed in this package. Instead
of 18.5 paisa in „deshek rate‟ it is 14 paisa/10 sec in this package.

6) Banglalink Desh 7 fnf: it has 7 fnffacility, with lowest call rate 10 paisa/10 sec. But the
call rate change with different time slot.

7) Banglalink Desh 10 fnf: To accommodate large friend list banglalink presents this 10 fnf
pack. Customers can enjoy 4.5 paisa/10 sec to a especial banglalink number and as low as 9
paisa/10 sec to other operator

8) 1 second pulse: The package charge only 2 paisa/ sec. This is introduced with the concept
of customers will only pay as much as they talk.
9) ManikJor: It is a peer sim pack. Which means customers need to buy two sims together to
activate this service. Within those two numbers customers can talk at a very low tariff. The
numbers are sequential of this pack. For example if one number has 23 in its last digit the other
number will have 21 or 24 in its last digit.

Post-paid Package

Banglalink segmented their post-paid package into three criteria- i) for personal use ii) for
business use iii) for corporate clients

1) Banglalink Inspire: Banglalink inspire brings special new features for post-paid
subscribers with remarkably low call rates, along with the lots of fnf numbers and many other
services and facilities. One can also reduce mobile expenses through loyalty discount program.
The monthly loyalty discount amount is calculated based on customer‟s length of stay with
banglalink and usage per month.

2) Banglalink SME: Banglalink sme package offers attractive tariffs and a complete
package customized to suit the needs of small and medium enterprises. The package is designed
such a way to flourish customers business by minimizing cost.

3) Banglalink Call & Control: This package comes with the benefits of post-paid packages
but the usage patterns are most likely of pre-paid. Unlike other post-paid packages in this
package customers need to recharge certain amount to actively use the sim card.

ICON Package

ICON is a premium telecom brand in Bangladesh. The package is designed only for those
customers who are very high users. Generally the minimum criteria to own the package is to
expend 3500tk. Per month. This package have carry forward facility of all monthly freebies such
as Minutes, SMS, Data and ISD talk time for 1 month or bill cycle. For example, if a customer
uses 2000 minutes out of 3000 in February, for March, s/he will have free minutes of 4000 (3000
regular + 1000 carried forward). The ICON users get extra facilities in different aspects. Such as
there are discount offers in hotels, airways, resorts, restaurents, mobile phones etc.
Services of Banglalink

Banglalink services include 3G, VAS (value added services), banglalink internet, international
roaming and mobile financial services. Among all these services below the first two will be
discussed and the MFS will be coered next.

3G

3G is the third generation mobile telecomunication technology which is faster and advanced than
2G technology. Recently banglalink has launched the service and covered the main districts
which are Dhaka, Comilla, Chittagong, Barishal, Bogra, Khulna, Gazipur, Tangi, Munshiganj,
Mymensingh, Narayanganj, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sylhet,Tangail. Sooner the coverage will spread
to the whole country. With 3G connections customers can browse faster than before, can do
video call, there is also mobile TV service available in the service. To accumulate the 3G service
customers do not need to change their sim card only they have to dial to *5000#.

VAS

Banglalink has divided the value added services into three measures; information based serives,
entertainment based services, call management services.

Information based VAS are: wikipediazero, facebook on ussd,krishi news, travel guide,
bibaholink, jobs link,islamic service,banglalinkkrishibazaar, banglalink emergency, blood bank,
healthlink,banglalinkjigyasha, i´info, railway junction, yellow pages,sms (text, quotes & jokes
...), international sms,namaz alert.

To enhance the power of knowledge Banglalink provides the wikipediazero service for free.
Now, customers can visit m.wikipedia.org or zero.wikipedia.org for free and can know whatever
they want to. In addition to this service if customers use their handset‟s default facebook browser
to only browse facebook they won‟t be charged for data usage.

Entertainment based VAS are: banglalink local radio, priyo tune, bbc bangle, banglalink timer
sms, friend finder, amar tune, song dedication, power menu, music station, voice portal, ring
tones, logos, picture messages.

Call management VAS are: banglalink easy divert, voice message, call block, call me back,
missed call alert, conference call.
Corporate Social Responsibility of Banglalink

Banglalink is committed to play its role as a responsible corporate citizen to contribute in making
a difference in the socio-economic development of Bangladesh. The company undertakes several
projects each year for the welfare of community and preservation of the environment. Banglalink
social activities include the following initiatives:

Cox‟s bazar sea beach cleaning project and international coastal cleanup day

Since 2005, Banglalink has been cleaning world‟s longest sea beach, Cox‟s bazar. Under this
project, 26 female workers clean the 3 km long beach 363 days a year in 2 shifts. In addition to
that there is another team of 7 male workers who support to move all heavy dirt and rubbish from
the beach. Banglalink has been truly making a difference in preventing environmental pollution
at Cox‟s bazar beach and preserving the environment. Moreover, Banglalink is educating and
generating awareness among the visiting tourists and encouraging them to join hands in making a
difference. Also, Banglalink observes international coastal cleanup day‟ since 2005. Almost 500
volunteers from prominent universities, colleges and different organizations from Dhaka,
Chittagong and Cox‟s bazaar joins hands to clean the beach-which makes this the largest
voluntary initiative. Through this initiative, Banglalink seeks to make positive change and
promote water pollution prevention efforts.

Donating blankets at orphanages

Since 2009, to help underprivileged children, Banglalink has taken this special initiative to
distribute blankets among the orphan children of many orphanages around the country- which
are in great need for it during winter season. In 2013 Banglalink distributed 5,000 blankets
among the destitute children of 101 orphanages across the country. The districts covered were-
Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barisal, Narayanganj, Mymensingh, and
Tangail.

Special arrangements for hajj pilgrims at the hajj camp

Since 2009, Banglalink took several initiatives to provide free services to hajj pilgrims at hajj
camp where they gather to depart for hajj. This includes arranging air-conditioned busses for
pilgrims, water distribution zone, phone counter for making free phone calls, free charging units
etc.

Water and Date distribution and iftar at orphanage during Ramadan

Banglalink distributed free water and dates for the fasting people who got stranded at major
traffic points of selected metro cities around iftar time during ramadan. This social activitu is
been introduced from recent years. Banglalink also took initiative of arranging regular iftarand
dinner in different orphanages around the country. In 2011, the company provided water and
dates to almost 85,000 people and iftar and dinner for more than 12,000 orphans of 123
orphanages across the country.

ICT support for underprivileged children: computer lab set up

To remove the curse of illiteracy from society and to enlighten the students, Banglalink has
successfully set up computer labs in 270 underprivileged schools at different parts of the country
in 2011. The computer labs are equipped with pc, laptop, internet modem, multimedia projector,
speakers and microphone. This is how Banglalink is making difference and in the process aiding
the government in achieving its vision of ‟digital Bangladesh‟.
Target Market

Organization that sells to consumer and business markets cannot appeal to all buyers in those
markets or at least not to all buyers in the same way. Buyers are too numerous, too widely
scattered, and too varied in their needs and buying practices.

In case of BANGLALINK, from teenager to any age group; from lower-middle class to upper-
upper; from Teknuff to Tetulia regardless to race, religion, gender literacy level, life style or
personality any and every single person who is in need of a telephone line backed with
affordability spend the expense of possessing a mobile phone is their target market.

This indicates that in choosing market segment, segmental marketing is appropriate for them.
That means the company should recognize that buyers differ in their needs, perceptions, and
buying behavior.

For this BANGLALINK have made a various type of customization in phone lines and phone set
along with different prices are charged against each segment of the target market. Below the
various types of mobile phone sets, lines, prices and the billing system offered by
BANGLALINK are discussed related to geographic, demographic, and psycho-graphic
segmentations.

Market Segmentation

Banglalink has the following segmentation bases:

If we look at to the segments from the geographic angle we find that it started its service from
the capital of Bangladesh – Dhaka city. Then it extended its coverage area into Chittagong,
Sylhet, Khulna, and gradually the 61districts of the country. Although Banglalink is covering
most of the part of the area, still they left 3 more districts. There are government restriction for
the network coverage of those hill traces areas

22-30 4,500-10,000 Desh & LF

30-35 10,000-25,000 Desh & Enterprice

35 & above 25,000 & above Enterprice

As to segment the cellular phone consumers’ psychographic segmentation plays the most
important role. Psychographics segmentation divides consumers into different segments based on
social class, life style or personality. It is very important to design the products and services of
mobile company according to the consumers’ psychographic factors.
Promotion Activity

Advertising & Promotion

Banglalink basically undertakes advertisement on basis of their product. They use mainly non
personal advertisement communication like

1. Print Media (Newspaper, Magazine, etc.)

2. Broad Cast Media (TV Media, FM radios)

3. Online Media (Internet)

4. Display Media (Sign Board, Bill Board, etc)

Their advertising strategy is like Brand Promotion, Sales Promotion, Good Will building,
Network extension notice, Inform Value added service etc.

They also use personal or direct marketing only for their corporate client’s usage; this will help
them to get discounts in different shops and stores.

On the occasion of different religious and cultural festivals Banglai nk can provide greetings
through leaflets, festoons, banners and so on as a public relation to their existing and potential
customers.

Another kind of promotion they can initiate to make their existing customers loyal who make a
remarkable level of revenue, Banglaink can provide offerings, such as Discount Card. They will
provide subscribers discount cards, as a reward of their substantial use of the service.

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 throughout 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.
Service Quality Dimensions

Customers perceive quality in a dimensional way and researchers have found five dimensions
that consumers focus on for quality assurance, they are-

Reliability: is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. In its
broadest sense, reliability means that the company delivers on its promise- promises about
delivery, service provision, problem resolution and pricing.

Responsiveness: is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

Responsiveness is communicated to customers by the length of time they have to wait for
assistance, answers to questions, complaints and problems. To truly distinguish on
responsiveness, companies need well-staffed customer service departments as well as responsive
front-line people in all contact positions.

Assurance: is defined as employees‟ knowledge and courtesy and the ability of the firm and
its employees to inspire trust and confidence.

Empathy: is defined as the caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers.
The essence of empathy is conveying, through personalized or customized service, that
customers are unique and special. It is mostly preferable for small companies with limited
customer base.

Tangibles: are defined as the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, communication

materials, advertisements and billboard stuff etc. All of these provide physical representations or
image of service that customers will use to evaluate quality.

Among the five dimensions „Empathy‟ is not used for the research as because it is not
appropriate for the company. Hereby, firstly Banglalink has a huge customer base of MFS and
secondly there is no customization option available for the customers. Even there is no option for
customization for Banglalink, as it does not own the service; Banglalink only provides the
network to banks for their M-banking services.
Findings
Modern corporate world started to use software based financial transaction system & financial
statement system and started to abandon traditional book keeping style. Traditional ledger
system is necessary for learning accounting and financial format but to compete in present world
our Department of Accounting and Finance should offer software based accounting and financial
learning course.

Our own academic courses should not bind their focus only on Microsoft Office software, rather
statistical software, financial software and project profiling software (like SPSS, POS system
etc.) and those should teach them properly so that can be helpful for students in adapting and
using this knowledge to corporate life easily and they can implement them in their professional
life, as most of the students have lacking on these fields.

Regarding Banglalink I would like to say that, Point of Sale (POS) software system is too
sensitive in a way that even a single space while transacting remuneration to Telesales caller or
Business Development Officer create mistake and will not reach to that precise employee’s
monthly payment account.

Banglalink should modify their POS system which is more user friendly and saving the chance
of mistranslations. In ICON department employees need to improve their efficiency of marketing
activities by improving their advertising style like revising their advertisement (TVC &
billboard) which have not changed in around last eight years.

Moreover, it would be better for them to get closer to their potential customers to better
understand the factors which influence their purchasing decision.
Recommendations

The mobile industry in Bangladesh is still facing an oligopoly competition. In order to be

competitive in this industry in future, the only important option is to build up a strong brand
image. In this research it was observed that Banglalink is now staying in the third position in
terms of brand image among the four mobile phone companies. At the end of this research, the
researcher has come up with the following recommendation.

 Product’s naming should not be based on social class: Banglalink’s has launched its new
product in August which they named “Upper Class”. Banglalink has already started to
promote this package in different media coverage. This product is basically a customized
post paid package with different added values. Whatever the product is, this kind of name
“Upper Class” poses a question towards customers mind. A product name which is based on
the differentiation of the social class is not a good idea in such a country like Bangladesh
where most of the population is still living in a lower standard. With the name “Upper Class”
Banglalink is going to divide its customers base in two parts --- Upper Class and Lower
Class. This kind of naming may prove inappropriate in future because none of the
multinationals or public and private limited companies of Bangladesh have come up with
such an unique product name yet.

 Television advertisements should be understandable and better if based by focusing on

local culture: Banglalink’s some years ago launched its new package named “Upper Class”.
Many of the respondents have claimed that these types of advertisements are really confusing
for them to understand. Many television viewers became confused whether the advertisement
is about Banglalink or not. This type of advertisement proved very much less efficient
because Bangladeshi people do not see the flavor of local culture in the advertisements. Even
in the “Upper Class” advertisement, it is confusing what the advertisement would like to tell
the audience. Banglalink should not try to come up with these sorts of advertisements where
it won’t grab by the local people of Bangladesh.
 Build up strong network first, then go for International Roaming: Currently Banglalink’s
network coverage is still in the preliminary stage. Even inside Dhaka City there are huge
problems to get the network connections from one zone of Dhaka to the other zone. There are
also other complains that it seems tough to get connections from Banglalink to Aktel or City
Cell. Where the network situation is still in the baby stage, Banglalink launched a new
service named “International Roaming”. Banglalink did huge promotion of this new service.
In the television advertisement of “International Roaming” it showed that people are using
this new service by staying even at Hong Kong or London and continuously saying “Hong
Kong, Banglalink”, “London, Banglalink”. Where the network situation is still under
complain, an advertisement like this is rarely acceptable to the audience. This kind of service
could be launched later. Banglalink needs to bring more attention to these sorts of issues.

 Stick into one color in order to branding: Banglalink has started all of its promotional
campaign with the orange color. In the newspaper, magazine, television, billboards
everywhere the color “orange” was extensively used. The color orange became the core color
of Banglalink. In such a situation Banglalink launched its new package “Upper Class” with
the use of purple color in all the advertisements. Many customers have claimed that the color
purple is a duplication of GP’s Flexi Load’s advertisement. Banglalink needs to be more
cautious in this color issue without which the core literature of branding will not be fulfilled.
Conclusions

Banglalink is one of the largest foreign director investments in Bangladesh. The company, after
its inception in February 2005, has grown rapidly into the leading mobile phone service of the
country.

Banglalink operates in a very fast growing and increasingly competitive in the market. The
decisions made by the company at this stage are crucial in securing its future position as the
leading mobile phone service provider in the country.

The company uses a set discount rate based on the weighted average cost of capital and adjusts it
by adding risk premiums to suit different risk characteristics of the projects. There are set
guidelines for categorizing projects based on their risk profiles. The timeframe they use is
basically based on government regulations on the estimated lifespan of the equipments and
infrastructure. The cash flow is estimated based on input from the different divisions regarding
the profitability and market potential of the project. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate
the impact of different variables on the projects outcome.
 References

Websites from which Secondary Information were gathered

The Daily Star http://www.thedailystar.net/

Dainik Janakantha http://www.janakantha.com/

Online news papers http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/banglade.htm

Bangladesh Observer http://www.bangladeshobserveronline.com/

Dainik Bhorerkagoj http://www.bhorerkagoj.net/

Dainik Jugantor http://www.jugantor.com/

Daily New Age http://www.newagebd.com/

Bangla Link www.banglalinkgsm.com

Grameen Phone www.grameenphone.com

Aktel www.aktel.com

City Cell www.citycell.com