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Chapter One

Introduction

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WHAT IS TELECOMMUNICATION
Telecommunication links via satellites are bringing about revolutionary changes in
the fields of communication. The barriers of spaces and time have totally
collapsed. Not very long ago it took days to the communicate to someone through
a letter but the new STD and ISD facilities have made communication an
instantaneous process. The world appears to have contracted or been squeezed into
a small room in which, given certain facilities, it is possible to communicate with
anyone in any part in the world.

THE MOBILE PHONE TECHNOLOGIES

GSM: GSM stands for "Global System for Mobile Communications." GSM is
mostly a European system and is largely unused in the US. GSM is interesting in
that it uses a modified and far more efficient version of TDMA. GSM keeps the
idea of timeslots and frequency channels, but corrects several major shortcomings.
Since the GSM timeslots are smaller than TDMA, they hold less data but allow for
data rates starting at 300 bits per second. Thus, a call can use as many timeslots as
necessary up to a limit of 13 kilobits per second. When a call is inactive (silence)
or may be compressed more, fewer timeslots are used. To facilitate filling in gaps
left by unused timeslots, calls do "frequency hopping" in GSM. This means that
calls will jump between channels and timeslots to maximize the system’s usage. A
control channel is used to communicate the frequency hopping and other
information between the cell tower and the phone. To compare with the other
systems, it should be noted that GSM requires 1 Watt of output power from the
phone.

CDMA: CDMA stands for "Code Division Multiple Access" and is both the most
interesting and the hardest to implement multiplexing method. CDMA has been
likened to a party: When everyone talks at once, no one can be understood,
however, if everyone speaks a different language, then they can be understood.
CDMA systems have no channels, but instead encode each call as a coded
sequence across the entire frequency spectrum. Each conversation is modulated, in
the digital domain, with a unique code (called a pseudo-noise code) that makes it
distinguishable from the other calls in the frequency spectrum. Using a correlation
calculation and the code the call was encoded with, the digital audio signal can be
extracted from the other signals being broadcast by other phones on the network.
From the perspective of one call, upon extracting the signal, everything else
appears to be low-level noise.

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As long as there is sufficient separation between the codes (said to be mutually

orthogonal), the noise level will be low enough to recover the digital signal. Each
signal is not, in fact, spread across the whole spectrum (12.5 MHz for traditional
cellular or 60 MHz in PCS cellular), but is spread across 1.25 MHz "pass-bands."
CDMA systems are the latest technology on the market and are already eclipsing
TDMA in terms of cost and call quality. Since CDMA offers far greater capacity
and variable data rates depending on the audio activity, many more users can be fit
into a given frequency spectrum and higher audio quality can be provide. The
current CDMA systems boast at least three times the capacity of TDMA and GSM
systems. The fact that CDMA shares frequencies with neighboring cell towers
allows for easier installation of extra capacity, since extra capacity can be achieved
by simply adding extra cell sites and shrinking power levels of nearby sites.
CDMA technology also allows lower cell phone power levels (200 miliwatts) since
the modulation techniques expect to deal with noise and are well suited to weaker
signals. The downside to CDMA is the complexity of deciphering and extracting
the received signals, especially if there are multiple signal paths (reflections)
between the phone and the cell tower (called multi path interference). As a result,
CDMA phones are twice as expensive as TDMA phones and CDMA cell site
equipment is 3-4 times the price of TDMA equivalents.

GSM VS. CDMA: A TECHNICAL COMPARISON

Advantages of GSM
 GSM is already used worldwide with over 450 million subscribers.
 International roaming permits subscribers to use one phone throughout
Western Europe. .
 GSM is mature, having started in the mid-80s. This maturity means a
more stable network with robust features. CDMA is still building its
network.
 GSM's maturity means engineers cut their teeth on the technology,
creating an unconscious preference.
 The availability of Subscriber Identity Modules, which are smart cards
that provide secure data encryption give GSM m-commerce advantages.

Disadvantages of GSM
 Lack of access to burgeoning American market.

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Advantages of CDMA include

 Increased cellular communications security.
 Simultaneous conversations, less call drops, strong network.
 Low power requirements and little cell-to-cell coordination needed by
operators.
 Extended reach - beneficial to rural users situated far from cells.

Disadvantages of CDMA include

 Due to its proprietary nature, the engineering community for solving
does not know all of CDMA’s flaws.
 CDMA is relatively new, and the network is not as mature as GSM.
 CDMA cannot offer international roaming, a large GSM advantage.

TELECOMMUNICATION CYCLE
The transmission of the sender’s ideas to the receiver and the receiver’s feedback
or reaction to the sender constitute the telecommunication cycle. The main steps o
this cycle is as follows;
1. Input: the information or ideas the sender wants to gives the receiver.
2. Channel: fax, phone call, electronic mail, etc.
3. Massage: the actual massage that in sent.
4. Output: the information the receiver gets.
5. Feedback: the receiver’s response (or non-response) to the massage.
6. Brain drain: the possibility of misunderstanding at any step.

We can illustrate this cycle with the help of the following illustration:

SENDER RECEIVER
Input channel massage output

Idea Fax, phone Call, Email etc Idea

Feedback

Brain drain Brain drain Brain drain

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There are several barriers to the understanding of a massage and as the figure
suggest,
Misunderstanding can occur at any stage:

Input Massage Output

I want to know the Kindly send me a He needs a statement of
balance statement his
In my current account at Of my transactions in Transactions in current
account current
The end of October Account no… during No… during October
October

WHAT IS TELECOMMUNICATION MARKETING

As we know the definition of Marketing - “Marketing is a process by which
individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by creating and exchanging
products and value with other.” Thus we can say that Telecommunication
Marketing is a process by which Telecom Company or operator’s presents their
products & services. Telecommunicating has a great role in modern economy &
society. Without telecommunication we can thing about the prosperity of the
society. The base of the modern progressive society is telecommunication.
Telecommunication makes the whole world as a global village. So people can
communicate with each other from a long distance. Here long distance means from
any where of the world. Now-a- days in most of the country’s telecom industry
contribute a huge share of national income. Without marketing telecom industries
can’t bring their products and services to their customers. So Telecom Marketing
has a great importance in modern society.

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Chapter Two

A small history on
Mobile operators in Bangladesh

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TM INTERNATIONAL (BANGLADESH LIMITED) AKTEL

TMIB, a joint venture between Telekom Malaysia Berhad A.K.Khan & Co. Ltd,
was established in 1996. The company launched its cellular services in 1997 under
the brand name AKTel.

Telekom Malaysia (TM), the majority shareholder with 70 percent, is financially

strong and internationally renowned for its successful venture like MNT, the
market leader in the telecom industry of Srilanka. TM has a global presence in 11
countries with staff strength 30,000 groups wide. TM has a 27.3 % stake in PT
excelcomindo pratama, Indonesia’s third largest mobile operator, and a 47.7 %
stake in Idea cellular of India. Chittagong based A.K.Khan group is one of the
oldest industry house of Bangladesh. During the Pakistan days, it was renowned as
one of the twenty-two business dynasties of Pakistan.

Since it commencement, AKTel soon become second biggest operators, offering

comprehensive GSM mobile solutions to more than a million subscribers. It was
the first operator to offer it’s customers the 30 second pulse recently it is offering
“10 second pulse” from the first minute of talk time. Today AKTel climes to have
the widest international roaming service in the market. Connecting 315 operators
across 170 countries.

Domestically, it network covers all 61 allowable districts of Bangladesh, and with

the first intelligent network (IN) pre-paid platform in addition, AKTel was the first
mobile operator to connect Tetulia to Tecnaf of Bangladesh, and provide seamless
coverage along the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

In February of this year, TMIB managing director, Md. Nasir Baharom, said AKTel
will launce the first ever GSM-based “phone booth service” soon across the
country. This booth will have chip line powered pay phone connected to AKTel
network, ’ Chip cards’ for use in this phone will be available in the market. Anyone
can use these cards to call any number around the world.

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TMIB, which has invested $200 million in Bangladesh so far, will invest a further
$300 million by 2006. It has a plan to double its subscribers base to 3.0 million by
the end of this year, from just over 1.5 million now. Just this month, TMIB signed
$200 million equipment deal with Huawei of China to upgrade its network to the
GPRS system. Which will support higher data transfer rates intended for
applications other then voice. With the new protocol in place AKTel will be in a
position to offer a range of additional service like MMS (multi-media messaging)
and faster mobile internet service.

GrameenPhone
Jamirun Haq is a 41 years old living in the typical agricultural heartland of
Jolarpar, and hour’s drive from Dhaka. The lack of the modern amenities in her
home is made up a mobile phone, the only telephone within 4 village area
inhabited by 3,500 people. Haq charge about Tk 13/ minute for local call, more for
long-distance and international connections, making a profit of about Tk 6,500 a
month, more than many urban offices works’ pay. She is saving for her to younger
daughters, who aspire to become lawyers. These things all possible only because of
her participation Village phone service.

The program assists woman borrowers of Grameen Bank to the GSM technology
through the village phones. Commencing in 1997, the VP program has sustained a
robust growth over the years. There are now more than 110,000 Village phone is
operation in some 40,000 villages around the country.

It was Iqbal Quadir, a Wharton MBA, who in 1994 conceptualized the mobile-
phone company called Grameen Phone with the help of micro-credit pioneer Dr
Yunus of Grameen Bank. Quadir renounced his banking career in New Work,
moved back to Bangladesh and for 3 years worked out of your house and car,
without pay. He traveled the world trying to persuade potential investors that rural
Bangladesh was a gold mine for cellular technology. Finally, Quadir convinced
Norway’s state back telecom company, Telenor, to take a 51% stake in GP. Later,
with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation on board and $65 million in loans from aid
agencies and development banks, GP stared operations on Independence Day 1997.

Of the five mobile operators, GP has the largest subscriber’s base. It took six years
to reach the one million subscriber mark in august 2003, about one more year to

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reach the second million mark in the more years to reach the second million mark
September 2004 at just about six months to attain the present three million
subscribers mark. GP has the widest coverage in Bangladesh, 61 districts and 352
upazilas, with plans to increase network coverage to 80 percent of the population
within in this year. After four years losses, GP began making a profit in 2001.
Today is the Bangladesh’s largest corporate taxpayer.

Recently Telenor and Grameen Telecom both increased their stakes in GP, to 62
percent and 38 percent, respectively. Telenor is the largest mobile phone company
in Norway, a country with highest mobile phone densities in the world. In addition
to Norway and Bangladesh, Telenor owns GSM companies in Denmark, Austria,
Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Montenegro, Thailand, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Grameen Telecom is a non-profit organization and a sister concern of Grameen

Bank. Grameen Telecom with the help of Grameen Bank administers Village
phone service to the villagers and trains the operators as well and handles all
service-related issues. Grameen Bank covers 42,127 villages through its 1,181
bank branches.

Pacific Bangladesh Telecom (CITYCELL)

Pacific BD Telecom's origins are closely linked to Bangladesh's first mobile phone
license. In 19S9, during the last leg of the Krshad era, a company called
Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL) was awarded a license to operate cellular,
paging, and other wireless communication networks. In April 1990, BTL and
Hutchison Telecommunications (Bangladesh) Limited created a joint venture in the
name of Hutchison Bangladesh Telecom Limited (HBTL). HBTL began
commercial operation in Dhaka in August, 1993, using the AMPS technology.
Interestingly, this became the first cellular operation in South Asia. As the sole
operator, HBTL chose the high margin-low volume approach, charging a price of
Tk 1 lak per package. Only the privileged few were seen in the possession of
HBTL mobile phones.

In December 1993, Pacific Motors Limited, owned by Mr. Morshed Khan. The
current Foreign Minister acquired the entire 50% share holding of Hutchison
Telecom. HBTL was renamed as Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited and its

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cellular products were launched under the brand name "CityCell Digital". 1-our
year’s later, commercial operation started in Chittagong. In 1999 CityCell was the
first, and only, operator in Bangladesh to introduce the newer CDMA technology.
The others relied on the more widespread GSM technology.

CityCell was spared the interconnectivity problems that plagued Grameen Phone,
as it had sufficient connection switches with BTTB. This was a definite
competitive edge that CityCell could not exploit to the fullest. In spite of having a
four year head-start, CityCell watched Grameen Phone pass it by. Very soon, the
second newcomer, Aktel, overtook it. One wonders whether CityCell can hang on
to its third position, in the face the aggressive launch by newcomer Banglalink.
In face of steep competition from its peers, CityCell eventually adopted a new
growth strategy, incorporating advanced customer service and choice of budget-
friendly packages with affordable peak and off-peak rates. The price of its
packages fell by a minimum of 95%, a further indication of how expensive they
were in the first place. The company focused on improved customer care, and
started a 24 hours call centre with over 86 well-trained operators to respond to
customer queries.

CityCell is the first operator in Bangladeshi to introduce IDD and NWD for
prepaid subscribers. Its network coverage includes 51 districts. Recently, it
launched RIM-based handsets, giving its subscribers the freedom to switch sets. It
also introduced a 'call to cash' feature, under which subscribers get Tk 0.25 added
to their account for every minute when they receive calls from other CityCell
users. More than a decade after its launch, CityCell has finally reached the masses
with an active mobile subscriber base of over 330,000.
CityCell recently gave notice that it would be formidable contender for the market
leadership within 2006. The company was behind the race over the years due to
lack of investment, a problem which is now being addressed.

Orascom Telecom Holding (banglalink)

Orascom, an Egyptian based operator, entered in Bangladesh market last October
after buying up Sheba telecom, the poorest performer in the robust mobile

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telephony sector. Sheba telecom, a Malaysia-Bangladesh joint venture, had lofty

prospects when it obtained a cellular license in 1996 and launched operation in the
last quarter of 1997.

However, the relationship between integrated services Ltd (ISL), the Bangladesh
partner, and Technology Resources Industries (TRI) of Malaysia, turned bitter
almost from the begging. This distraction proved costly for Sheba, hemming in
investment and growth plans. While Grameen phone for AKTel took their client
base to over a million each, Sheba, with 195 staff, struggled to reign in 95,000
users, of whom 49,000 were regular.

Then, in October 2004, in a complex in hush-hush deal, Egyptian operator

Orascom effectively acquired 100 percent of Sheba, paying in reported price of
$60 million in setting outstanding loans to Standard Chartered Bank, Dhaka. It
inherited a 25,709 subscribers, representing a paltry 1 percent of market.

A relatively new company, set up in 1998, Orascom in the largest and most diverse
GSM network operator in the middle, East, Africa and Asia, holding nine license in
the region and having 15 million subscribers world-wide. It is the dominant
cellular operator in Pakistan, Algeria, and Iraq, and Egypt. The Sawiris family of
Egypt owns the majority stake in the company (56.9%). It is the largest capitalized
company in the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchanges. Its initial public offering
IPO raised US$320 million during the year 2000, and was the largest offering on
the Egyptian stock market at the time its GDR is listed on the London stock
Exchange.

After taking over the helm, Orascom wasted no time in re-branding its service
under the name “Banglalink”. It announced plans of investing $250 million
towards accelerated network deployment and launched new pre-paid packages in
nine cities. It has embarked on one of the most ambitious expiation strategies
Bangladesh has ever seen, involving well over a 1000 people with experts from 15
different countries.

It plans to extend network coverage from the existing 9 districts to 61 districts by

the end of 2005, using up-to-date telecom communications sourced from Siemens
and Huawei. It has set up 24 hours call center to help and inform the 140 exclusive

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Banglalink dealers. Customers can visit anyone of over 1,000 outlets for
recharging their pre-paid card.

One of the agendas of Bangla Link is to help make a difference in people’s lives by
providing affordable and reliable connectivity solutions. Towards this end,
Banglalink offered new subscribers a stunning deal of only Tk 3,800 for a mobile-
mobile package. This has forced other operators to sit up and take notice. As a
result, the competition level in the operators, including the omnipotent Grameen
Phone, all followed up with lower rats and attractive packages. Orascom’s
aggressive entry into the sector could very well lead to protracted price war.

Chapter Three

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TM International (Bangladesh)
Ltd (AKTEL), an Overview

BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY

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TM International (Bangladesh) Limited (TMIB), a joint venture company of

Telecom Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., of Malaysia and A. K. Khan & Company Ltd. of
Bangladesh has started its commercial operation in Dhaka, the Capital city of
Bangladesh as a GSM 900 cellular phone operator on 15th November 1997 the
tremendous success in Dhaka. TMIB has started its operation in Chittagong in
March 26, 1998. TMIB uses the Global System for Mobile (GSM)
communications as the digital cellular system, which is fully featured with services
like Basic Telephony, Data and Value Added Services, (VAS). TMIB has an
integrated and fully computerized Customer Care Billing System (CCBS), which
supports virtually all subscriber-related functions.

VISION, MISSION and THEME of the company

The Vision: To be the most preferred GSM cellular service provider in
Bangladesh.

The Mission: To provide total customer satisfaction as the company strives to

become the most preferred GSM cellular service provider in Bangladesh. TMIB
will achieve this through developing people, products, and services of the highest
quality and meeting the needs of its employees, shareholders and the nation.

Theme: “Customer First”

The AKTEL Service- “Clearly Ahead”

The whole is the sum of parts and when the best come together; the results can be
truly spectacular. TMIB brings AKTEL Mobile phone service, a digital cellular
phone service which will prepare better for life in the fast lane. AKTEL GSM
always keeps so near, even when so far.

CORPORATE SUMMARY

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The over all company growth and satisfactory performance has been achieved
under the dynamic leadership of Mr.Nasir Bin Baharom, Managing Director of
'Telecom Malaysia International (Bangladesh) Limited'.

TMIB received license to operate GSM cellular phone services in Bangladesh in

1996. It is a joint-venture company formed between Telekom Malaysia Berhad
holding 70% of the equity capital and 30% local shareholding by let A. M.
Zahiruddin Khan (ex, Chairman, T M International Bangladesh Ltd.), the
present chairman yet no selected. M/s A. K. Khan & Co., Limited. The
directors are a.Mr.Yb Tune Joseph Salang Gardum b.Mr.Yb Dato Ir.Hj. Mohd.Zin
Bin Hj.Mohamed.

The success story started with the commercial launch of AKTEL services in
Bangladesh in November 15, 1997. TMIB provides standard mobile connections
with NWD and IDD facilities. They also provide mobile-to-mobile services. It has
fully covered the Capital city Dhaka, and started functioning in the Port city
Chittagong from 26th March 1998. Now AKTEL is covering 61 districts of
Bangladesh.

It was not only a service launching ceremony but also worked as renewal of
friendship between two brotherly countries - Malaysia & Bangladesh. The
ceremony gathered ministers and dignitaries of both the countries where they had
an opportunity of exchanging views of bilateral trade and cultural interests.

At present The Company employing Five Hundred Fifty (500) Staffs in total to
serve more than 600000 subscribers.
TM is a full-fledged business enterprise with a corporate head office; Finance
Department, Human resource Department, Technical Department and Marketing
Department, Corporate Affairs, all are functioning under efficient and highly
qualified Persons.

CAPITAL STRUCTURE

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 The Company AKTEL Bangladesh,

with a full title being: Mobile
Telecommunications was founded as a
CAPITAL STRUCTURE OF AKTEL
joint company of the Telecom
Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. from Malaysia
and the A. K. Khan & Co. of Dhaka,
A. K. Khan A. K. Khan & Bangladesh.
& Co. Co.
30%
 It operates as a Limited Liability
Telecom
Telecom
Malaysia Malaysia Sdn.
Company, where a founder and a
Sdn. Bhd.
70%
Bhd. majority shareholder, the TMIB-
member of the Telecom Malaysia,
owns 70% shares, while the minority
share of 30 % is being controlled by
the A. K. Khan & Co. Bangladesh.

AKTEL’S BELIEFS

 AKTEL strongly believes that subscribers are the most valuable assets.
The company has a strong Customer Service. To always be with
customer, AKTEL "Help Line' is there.

 AKTEL has successfully migrated to a new switch with higher

capacities in terms of accommodating higher customer base and as well
as to let them use all the basic and supplementary services under GSM
technology. It introduced the both-way national roaming all through its
network coverage. The Prepaid services with enhanced features have
been commercially commenced successfully and now the company
taking some projects to accumulated more advanced technological
features in network.

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 In term of Network Quality, the company will ensure the equipment of

world-class standard but more importantly its size or capacity is catered
to the right dimensioning of customer base, in order to overcome the
drop calls problem or call congestion. All these are done through proper
planning, control and schedule maintenance program.

 The company maintains the benchmark for providing the quality

services. It monitors these through generating regular report and on site
survey. If any weak signal or drop call comes to notice, skilled
engineers are providing services round the clock and resolve the
problem instantly.

 The most important key resource factor at TMIB is its efficient human
resource. Moreover, its decisions are based on facts from market
research and coverage survey. Furthermore, the entire thing can only be
achieved through the right people. AKTEL has put its sharp eye in
developing its employees through proper training, as it believes that the
most important asset for TMIB is its staff members. The company is
trying its best to ensure the quality services by quality people.

 It has the plan to give opportunity to every household to use cellular

service in the country at the competitive price providing unparalleled
quality service and customer care. In achieving this goal, the company
can't wait for more interconnection facilities with the fixed network.
The company is planning to enforce strong efforts to create its own
independent network. It has already started Dhaka-Chittagong AKTEL
backbone. The company’s future plan is to vigorously expand network,
which can be called cell-to-cell expansion, covering almost all the
regions of Bangladesh within the year 2005.

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SERVICE FEATURES OF AKTEL

 Total commitment to the needs of our customers.

 Following the highest ethics standards.
 Continual improvement of all work processes.
 Permanent improvement of all the employees’ knowledge and skills.
 Securing quality of the service to match the quality of services offered by
the world’s most successful companies in the field.
 Preserving the Company’s leading position in the national market of
mobile telecommunications.

MAJOR MILESTONES OF AKTEL

 First time introduced the 'Mobile Plus (PSTN Incoming Connectivity

only) Services' in Bangladesh.
 First time introduced the Tele-Ramadan (Timing of Iftar and Sehri
during Ramadan) under Tele-info Services in Bangladesh.
 First time introduced the Seamless Coverage throughout the Dhaka-
Chittagong Highway and named it as 'Chittagong Dhaka Corridor
(CDC)'.
 First time introduce the full-fledged IVR based Customer Services
(Call Center) in telecom market.
 First time introduced cellular services in the most northern part of
Bangladesh by launching AKTEL Service in Rangpur and Dinajpur
in 2002.
 TMIB brought Sixty one (61) Districts during May 2004
successfully.
 Introduced the automatic system generated bill amount and payment
request for the Post-paid subscribers in 2002. The automatic
unbarring facility, after necessary payment making by the
subscribers, is also a part of this system.
 Introducing GPRS for the first time in Bangladesh.
 Introducing 10 sec, pulse in billing system from the first minute.

BUSINESS DEFINITION OF TMIB

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TMIB is in the Digital Cellular Telephony business. With the technological

development in future, TMIB will adopt any cost effective and more efficient
technology to provide a state of the art and comprehensive service to its customers.
TMIB's vision is to continuously monitor its customers' needs, wants and to plan
accordingly. It will monitor the development of the technology and update itself to
meet customer demand.

PRODUCT PACAGES OF AKTEL

AKTEL POST-PAID PRODUCTS

Standard
AKTEL Standard Connection allows both-way BTTB Outgoing and Incoming
facilities along with the mobile connection facility.
This is a zonal subscription with National Roaming Facility. Local, NWD and IDD
call facilities are available under this subscription.

Mobile Plus
AKTEL Mobile-Plus Connection allows BTTB Incoming facility along with the
regular nationwide mobile-to-Mobile connection facility. This product has been
first introduced by AKTEL in Bangladesh and has enjoyed great popularity since
inception.

Mobile link

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This is the most basic product of AKTEL featuring both Outgoing and Incoming
Mobile –to- Mobile Connection facility and a host of Value Added Services.

Tariff of post paid services:

Peak Off -Peak Night Bird

All fi gures in Tk. Per
minute* 8am – 8pm 8pm – 12mn 12mn –
8am
AKTEL 3.50 2.50 1.50

AKTEL 1.50 1.50 1.50

F ’n’F
Outgoing to Other 4.00 3.00 1.50
Mobile
BTTB 4.00+BTTB 3.00+BTTB 1.50+BTT
B
Any FREE FREE FREE
Mobile
BTTB 1 s t Minute FREE then
Incoming 2.00 1.50 1.00
from

*All rates exclude VAT

 1 second pulse from the very 1st minute.
 You can now pay your AKTEL Post-Paid bills through Pre-Paid recharges.
 Avoid long queues and save precious time to stay connected. Pay your bills
any time, anywhere!

AKTEL PRE-PAID PRODUCTS

1. Pre-Paid Service (Mobile to Mobile)

Introduction of AKTEL's One Pre-Paid Service (OPPS) is another development
of mobile telephony in Bangladesh. OPPS have National Roaming facility and a
flat airtime charge of Tk. 6.90 per minute. There is no incoming charge.
This service helps the subscriber to control costs. It keeps free from the hassles of
paying bills, security deposits and line rents to the subscriber.
To start with, you have to buy the “One” Starter Kit and a handset. The Starter kit
contains a pre-activated SIM card and a One Pre-Paid card.

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2. Pre-Paid Plus (Mobile to Mobile + BTTB incoming)

Another AKTEL's new One Pre-Paid Service (OPPS) is latest version of mobile
telephony in Bangladesh. OPPS have National Roaming facility and a flat airtime
charge of Tk. 6.90 per minute. There is no incoming charge from M2M but a
charge of Tk. 1.50 per 30 sec. for incoming from BTTB.

3. Ashol Phone: (Mobile to Mobile + BTTB incoming outgoing Local, NWD,

ISD)

Ashol Phone is latest version of mobile telephony in Bangladesh. Ashol phone has
National Roaming facility and a flat airtime charge of Tk. 6.90 per
minute to mobile outgoing and Tk.6.9+BTTB charges for Local,
NWD and ISD outgoing call. There is no incoming charge from
M2M but a charge of Tk. 1.50 per 30 sec. for incoming from BTTB.

“One” Pre-paid feature

Unique Features of pre-paid standard
 Both-way connectivity with any Mobile and Land Phone
Worldwide (Local/NWD/ISD)
 10 Seconds pulse for Charging
 Pre-Activated SIM card with Pre-Loaded amount for ensuring the
instant access
 No monthly line rent and credit limit
 Unique Charging even while Roaming
 Freedom to Roam under AKTEL Network (61 districts)
 Minimum Registration Costs and wide range of handsets option
 Pre-Paid Information Center – like IVR services
 1st minute BTTB incoming free.

Unique Features of pre-paid mobile plus

 Exclusive Nationwide Mobile-to-Mobile connection facility
 Allows any incoming call from BTTB number
 Global incoming facility
 No monthly line rent and credit limit
 No incoming charge for receiving call from any mobile
 Introduced by AKTEL for the first time in Bangladesh

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 1st minute BTTB incoming free.

New Pre-Paid Tariff

 Three time bands
 Peak : 8am-8pm
 Off Peak : 8pm-12am
 Night Bird :12am-8am

 Reduced Tariff for AKTEL-AKTEL outgoing call charges

 10 sec pulse from 1st minute
 1st minute free for BTTB incoming
 Up to 3 numbers under F&F package.

New Pre-Paid Tariff

New Pre-Paid Tariff

Peak Off Peak

NBTP
All Figures in Taka per min*
8am-8pm 8pm-12mn 12mn-8am

To AKTEL 4.30 4.00 2.00

Mobile

AKTEL F’n’F
2.00 2.00 2.00
Outgoing
To other 4.90 4.90 2.50
operator

To BTTB
4.90+BTTB 4.90+BTTB 2.50+BTTB

From Mobile FREE FREE FREE

Incoming First minute FREE

From BTTB
2.00 1.50 1.00

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SUPPORTING SERVICES

Caller ID: Display of the phone number of an incoming call in your handset
before the call is answered.

Call Waiting: While talking to the first caller, you will hear a special tone
informing you about the second call on the line. At that moment you can put the
first caller on hold and talk to the second caller.

Call Conference: Receiving calls from multiple callers can be supplemented by

joining these multiple callers so as to enable them to talk to each other. You will be
able to communicate with a group consisting of maximum five callers.

Call Divert: Call Divert lets you redirect or re-route your call to another AKTEL
mobile or any other fixed (if you have BTTB connectivity) or mobile phone.

Call Barring: Enables you to restrict certain types of calls to be made from your
mobile. This feature is especially important for security purposes.

VALUE ADDED SERVICES

The following additional services are available upon request:
Voice Mail Service (VMS)
* VMS is a unique answering machine.
* It provides you with a personal electronic mail box in our voice mail
center.
* It records your personalized greetings as well as stores your incoming
voice messages.
* It records incoming voice messages if you are:
Outside AKTEL's coverage area or busy or simply switched off your
mobile.

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* It provides 24-hour automatic secretarial service

* Makes you available to your calling party anytime

Short Message Service (SMS)

* SMS in your mobile acts like an advanced pager.
* You can send and receive text messages of up to 160 characters, directly
from one AKTEL mobile to another AKTEL mobile.

Additional Services
 Calling Line Identification Presentation (CLIP)
 Call Forwarding/Diverting
 Call Waiting/Holding
 Itemized Bill
 Location Based Tele Ramadan
 Pre-Paid Billing Information through SMS
 SMS based Content Service (News, Weather, Ring tones,
Logos, Pictures etc)
 AKTEL Mobile – Stock
 Mobile-Banking Facility
 Voice Mail Service (VMS)
 Short Message Service (SMS)
 Nationwide Roaming (Throughout Country Flat Rate)
 24 Hours Customer Care
 IVR (Interactive Voice Recorder) Service (Toll free Call
Center).

Toll Free Help line 123 (from AKTEL Number) or 0189-400400 (from
any number)

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Service charge is as follows

Service Charges

General Service Fees

SL Service Fees (Including VAT)

Post Paid Pre Paid

1 SIM Change in Case of Lost & Damage Tk.100 Tk.100

2 Re-connection / Re-initialization Tk.100 Tk.100

3 Ownership Change Tk.500 N/A

4 Regional Transfer Tk.500 N/A

5 Corporate to Individual Transfer Tk.500 N/A

Migration Fee (Pre-Paid

to Pre-Paid) *Conditions
Applied

SL Subscription Category Fees (Including VAT)

1 Mobile Link to Standard Tk.1150

2 Mobile Link to Mobile Plus Tk.776

3 Mobile Plus to Standard Tk.374

4 Standard to Mobile Link Free

5 Standard to Mobile Plus Free

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6 Mobile Plus to Mobile Link Free

Marketing Division (Organogram)

Marketing
Division

Customer
Care

Front
Service

Activation

Procurement &
Dealer Mgt

Help line & call center

NPD Unit

UNITS SERVING AT MARKETING DIVISION:

1. Front Service
2. Activation
3. The procurement & Dealer Management
4. Fraude Management

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5. Help Line

SERVICES PROVIDED BY MARKETING DIVISION

a. Services Provided by the “Front Customer Care Unit”

1. SIM Change (Due to lose or damage of SIM card).

2. Accounts recharge due to temporary account lock.

3. Address change.

4. Transfer of ownership of the mobile service.

5. Recording the request for Itemized Bill for regular or particular month.

6. Selling mobile connection direct to customers.

7. Providing the customer about the various facilities and package service.

8. Record of payment to open the temporarily blocked services.

9. Receiving the application for permanent de-activation of mobile service

confirming the service.

10. Various tariff information to the subscriber.

11. Receiving line block due to sim lost.

12. Sim unlock request in retrieval case subject to producing of original

subscription copy and payment of bill.

13. Receiving application for converting a service into IDD/NWD service

scheme and issuing the services.

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14. Receiving application form of security deposit increase & confirming the
service.

15. Issue of duplicate document copy in lost or damage case.

16. Reporting to the respective division in-charge.

These are services provided by the different functional units of AKTEL Chittagong
branch. The well-trained staffs of this unit are strongly committed to provide the
best quality to their customers, as the mission of the company is to provide total
customer satisfaction. TMIB is trying to achieve this through meeting the needs of
its employees, shareholders and the nation.

b. Service Provided By the “Activation” Unit

1. Activation of new connection.
2. Activation of changed sim.
3. Change of address.
4. Issuing invoice for security deposit increase, NWD deposit,
ISD deposit.
5. Activation of various services.
6. Reporting about all the activities to marketing in-charge.

c. Service Provided By “The Procurement & Dealer Management” Unit

1. Issuing packages for the dealer as well as the direct customers.

2. Keeping records of the documents of the subscriber of post-
paid mobile service.
3. Issuing duplicate copies of original documents in lost or
damaged case.
4. Managing the store.
5. Keeping all the records of transactions with dealers.
6. Reporting the divisional in-charge.

Various Complaints frequently come in front service

A) Accounts Complaints:

1. Bill not received

2. Delay receive received bill

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3. Disputed bill
4. Delay posting
5. Payment made before locking.

B) Credit Control Complaints:

1. Not informed before locking

2. Payment entry still lock
3. Fax made still lock

C) It Complaints:

1. Bill not prepared in time

2. No massage before locking
3. Wrong massage
4. Repeated massage
5. Pending problem

D) Technical Complaints:

1. Coverage problem
2. Call drop
3. Call congestion
4. IDD incoming problem
5. IDD outgoing problem.

E) Prepaid Complaints:

1. Recharge problem
2. Stuck problem
3. Sim problem
4. Complain against dealer
5. Any other problem.

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 The enquiries by the customer in the hotline

 New connection
 Lost of functioning
 Tariff rate
 Change of address
 Change of ownership
 Payment procedure
 Voicemail mail/ Short massage service
 Roaming service
 Itemized bill
 Payment made still lock
 Billing amount
 Locking information
 Any other information

There are sheets to record the call received from the customer. Every staff is
supposed to fill targeted sixteen sheets each day of the customer. Each of the sheets
contains twenty-five call records. At present this service is open for the customers
from 8 am. to 8 pm. There are two shifts prevailing there consists of 8 am to 5 pm
and 11 am to 8 pm.

e. Service Provided by “Fraud Management” Unit

This unit specially engaged to look after any shorts of fraud ness against the
company.

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PROCEDURES OF GETTING VARIOUS SERVICES

(In Customer Care Division)

 SIM replacement (prepaid)

In the replacement procedure of prepaid sim card the subscriber has to come to the
office to fill the sim replacement application form. The subscriber has to pay an
amount of Tk. 100 as replacement charge. After filling the application form the
staff of the Front Service Unit will verify the original documents. Then if the
documents seem right Front Unit will deliver the Sim right away.

The following documents have to be included by the customer while submitting

the application form:

1. Blocked or damaged sim card.

2. GD copy (for lost case).
3. One copy passport size color photograph (applicable for individual
subscriber.
4. Copy of the original registration form.
5. Authorization and Under Letterhead (as and when applicable).
6. Letter in Company Letterhead [subscription(s) under Company name–If
any].
7. Payment Slip.

 Sim replacement postpaid

The procedures of replacing postpaid sim card almost same as prepaid sim card
replacement. The special thing here is that the customer has to write the account
number of his mobile service.

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 Change of address

This service is due to change of billing address or due to inconvenience of

receiving the bill in time or in recorded address. To get the address changed the
consumer has to fill the address change application form accordingly. While
submitting the application the customer has to show the original documents to the
respective customer care executive for verification.

 Temporary lock

Lost subject to producing of original subscription copy/GD Copy, Unlock request

(Upon found case subject to producing of original subscription copy and payment
of bill), Regular itemized bill, Required itemized bill, Convert IDD (scheme),
Convert NWD (scheme), Security deposit increase, Reopening the connection if
the line is disconnected due to outstanding bill over credit limit:

To get these services the consumer has to fill the AKTEL service requirement form
as per requirement. In each case the honorable customer has to show the original
copy of service subscription copy to the front desk customer care executive. He or
she also has to pay service charge as per requirement.

 Transfer of ownership

To transfer of ownership of mobile service, an existing subscriber has to fill the

provided form with the signature of the new owner. In this case the company
charge has to pay. A copy of pp size photograph of each new and old customer has
to provide to the office.

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 Re-connection service

This service is for those customers whose services were disconnected for a
long time but want to re-enjoy the mobile service. To enjoy this service a
customer has to apply in the re-connection application form. The customer then
has to clear all the outstanding bill generated during this time interval. After
that the customer is supposed to record the bank payment copy. At the end
he/she is supposed to show the original copy of document of the service to the
front desk sales and customer relation executive, as proof, which was provided
by the company while taking the service in the beginning Incase of Prepaid
connection an amount of Tk.2250 is required to reconnect an expired sim.

 Duplicate copy of documents

This service is required if and when the subscriber of the mobile service lost the
original documents or if the documents are damaged by any means. To get the
service the consumer has to fill the service requirement form provided by the
company. While submitting the application form the customer has to submit the
following documents. No charge is made to get the service to the customer.
1. Photograph.
2. GD copy (in lost case).
3. Letter in the company letterhead (as and
when applicable).
4. Authorization and Undertaking letter (as
and when applicable).
5. Damaged copy (for damage case).
6. Invoice copy (incase of postpaid mobile
service).

 Letter of authority service

The service is provided for the valued customers who cannot effort to come to the
office to receive the required service. In this case the original subscriber needs to

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undersign the “Letter of Authority” application with the signature and name of the
person he/she authorized to take the service on behalf of the customer.

AKTEL NETWORK COVERAGE

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Covered area 61 district.

Dhaka
DHAKA , Dhaka City , Dhamrai, Savar, Nawabganj, Keraniganj, Dohar,
Demra,
BRAHMANBARIA, Brahmanbaria City, Akhuaura, Kasba, Nabinagar
CHANDPUR, Chandpur City , Hajiganj, Matlab, Shahrasti, Kachua
COMILLA, Comilla City, Gouripur, Meghna Ghat, Daunkhandi,
Homna, Muradnagar, Burichang, Debidhar, Chandina, Barura,
Miarbazar, Laksham, Falgunkhara, Ashuganj
FARIDPUR, Faridpur City , Char Bhadrashan
GAZIPUR, Gazipur City , Joydebpur, Tongi, Kaliganj, Abdullahpur,
Maona, Shafipur, Kaliakoir
KISHOREGANJ, Kishorganj City , Bhairab, Puran Thana, Gaital Bus
Stand, Station Rd
MANIKGANJ, Manikganj City , Shaingair
MUNSHIGANJ, Munshiganj City, Tongibari, Shirajdikhan, Srinagar
MYMENSINGH, Mymensingh City , Fulbaria, Trishal, Bhaluka,
Kashiganj
NARAYANGANJ, Narayanganj City , Rupganj, Araihazar, Sonargaon
NARSHINGDI, Narshingdi City , Polash, Sripur, Belabo
NETRONOKA, Netrokona City , Hiranpur Bus Stand, Madanpur,
Bangla Bus Stand, Rail Station
TANGAIL, Tangail City, Bashail, Shakipur, Mirzapur, Jamuna Bridge
GOPALGANJ, Gopalganj City
JAMALPUR, Jamalpur City
SHERPUR, Sherpur City
SHARIATPUR, Shariatpur City

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Chittagong
Chittagong, Chittagong City, Bariarhat, Barabkunda, Mirersharai,
Sitakunda, Kumira, Faujdarhat, Chittagong University, Chowdhury Hat,
Madanhat, Gahira, Fatikchari, Raozan, Hathazari, Sarwatali, Popadia,
Kadurkhil, Gomdandi, Kalurghat, Boalkhali, Dhalghat, Patiya,
Anowara, Gachbaria, Chandanaish, Dohazari, Satkania, Banshkhali,
Lohagara
Feni, Feni City, Parshuram, Phulgazi, Chagalnaiya, Daghanbhuiya,
Sonagazi, Lemua, Langalkot, Chauddagram
Coxs Bazar , Coxs Bazar City , Ukhia, Chakaria, Eidgaon, Chiringa
Noakhali, Noakhali City , Companiganj, Begumganj, Senbagh, Maizdi,
Bashurhat, Chatkhil, Shonaimuri
Laxmipur, Laxmipur City, Chandraganj, Raipur, Ramganj

Rajshahi
Rajshahi , Rajshahi City , ShahebBazar, University, Kajla, Upashahar,
BISIC, Laxipur, Sheroil, New Market,
Bogra, Bogra City , Santahar, Kahalu, Majaree, Shibganj
Rangpur , Rangpur City , Kaunia, Gangachara, Haragas, Taraganj,
Shampur, Paglapeer, Pairsband, Mitaphukur, Pirgacha
Lalmonirhut , Lalmonirhut City , Aditmari
Nilphamari , Nilphamari City , Syedpur
Naogaon , Naogaon City , Raninagar
Pabna , Pabna City, Ishwardi , Pakshi
Gaibanda*
Joypurhat , Joypurhat City , Panchbibi, Kalai
Thakurgaon , Thakurgaon City
Natore, Natore City
Kurigram , Kurigram City
Chapai Nawabganj , Chapai Nawabganj City
Sherpur , Sherpur City

Khulna

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Khulna , Khulna City , Rupsha, Dighallia, Fultala, Doulatpur, Boira,

Khalishpur, Royal More, Nirala, Shiromoni, Khan Jahan Ali Road,
Jessore, Jessore City , Benapole, Jhikorgacha, Navaron, Sharsha,
Avoynagar, Noapara
Jhenaidah, Jhenaidah City , Kaliganj
Kustia, Kustia City , Mirpur
Bagerhat, Bagerhat City , Chitalmari, Kachua, Fakirhat
Chuadanga, Chuadanga City , Damudda
Magura, Magura City
Satkhira, Satkhira City
Meherpur, Meherpur City
Sylhet, Sylhet City, Golapganj, Bianibazar, Biswanath, Goulabazar,
Dhaka Dakkin, Madhabkunda, Akhlia, Laldighir Par
Maulvi Bazar, Maulvi Bazar City , Barolekha, Afrozganj
Habiganj, Habiganj City

Barishal
Barisal, Barisal City , Babuganj, Muladi, Wazipur
Barguna, Barguna City , Amtali
Patuakhali, Patuakhali City , Mirjaganj
Potuakhali, Potuakhali City
Pirojpur, Pirojpur City
Jhalkathi, Jhalkathi City

THE OVERALL MARKETING PRACTICES OF TMIB

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Customer Segmentation

Individual businessman, entrepreneur professionals and established organizations

are the main customers of TM. They have also a target to take students and low-
income groups with their introduction of Mobile-to-Mobile and Prepaid services.
To serve the market more accurately their target market will be further segmented
based on psychographics and business size.

Marketing Strategies

TM always wants to achieve desired sales growth and customer base. TM wants to
encourage existing customers to use more and more of their services.
Their newly introduced package named “Durbar” is one of their successful
initiatives for the exiting customer It has a concept of “Goromer Tap Jy Hok
Aponan Cholar Jamon Shash Nae Kothar O Shash Nae……….Kotha chaluk
Durbar gotitay!”

Product Positioning

Initially their target was to reach the top. But others are targeting to the grass root
level, and increasing their customer. TM wants to be the leader with good quality
and is designing products for the middle class rage also.
TM should keep enough flexibility to design other components of marketing mixes
as well.

Marketing product mix planning

Product
Continuous quality improvement. Reposition of slow moving products to different
target markets. Always branding AKTEL with all packages with a GSM service.

Price
Necessary changes in tariff structure and changes in changes in terms and
conditions.
Penetration pricing in the face of competition.
Skimming policy where possible.
Place

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Make effective use of distribution. Make product and service delivery system more
effective and less time consuming. Wider distributing network to make service
more accessible.

Promotion
Brochures with all necessary information press advertisements, Television
Commercials in future, and Billboards.

Market Development
AKTEL GSM are trying to convert non-users to mobile phone users, stressing the
benefit of GSM services, and with the service benefit of AKTEL that will make
their life easier. To serve the market more accurately their target market will be
further segmented based on psychographics and business size.

Product Development
The strive to develop a better product will be a continuous process. Conducting of
Market research in every 3 months. They will use the input to develop new product
based on data they will get from survey. Thus the product will be designed to meet
the customers need.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES OF AKTEL

1) Cellular Phone Service

The whole is the sum of parts and when the best come together; the results can be
truly spectacular. TM International (Bangladesh) Limited brings you AKTEL
Mobile Phone Service. Fully digital cellular phone services that will prepare you
better for life in the fast lane. Always keeping you so near, even when you are so
far. AKTEL has been successful in bringing together the world leaders in various
technologies, giving Bangladesh cellular phone service that is world class.

2) Better Billing

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The whole is the sum of parts and when the best come together; the results can be
truly spectacular. TM International (Bangladesh) Limited brings you AKTEL
Mobile Phone Service. Fully digital cellular phone services that will prepare you
better for life in the fast lane. Always keeping you so near, even when you are so
far. AKTEL has been successful in bringing together the world leaders in various
technologies, giving Bangladesh cellular phone service that is world class.

3) Better Switching

AKTEL cellular switching system provides you the state of the art GSM
technology. AKTEL Mobile Phone Service is based on the GSM technology, which
will give you the winning edge all the way.

4) SIM-Card Identity Number

With the AKTEL Cellular Phone Service, you will have more than just a number.
Simply because the GSM standard lays emphasis on the Subscriber Identification
Module (SIM) card, a key component of the whole process. It is a computer chip
card, which is highly secured against fraud. A microchip embedded in the plastic
card stores PIN (Personal Identification Number), code personal telephone
directory and details of calls made. As a result, you can use the SIM card on any
GSM 900 phone. So, even if your cellular phone is not handy, you can borrow
another one; insert your SIM card and its business as usual. This electronic
SMART CARD also contains your unique Personal Identification Number (PIN),
just as an ATM card does, to prevent misuse, should it fall into wrong hands.

5) Consistent and High Voice

People who listen to music on compact disks are aware that digitized music results
in sharper and clearer audio quality. With GSM too, digitization of voices is done
so that high quality is maintained.

6) Security

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It is almost impossible for anyone to tap or listen in on a conversion in the AKTEL

cellular network. Digitization encodes speech and, and dynamic allocation of
frequency makes it impossible for outsiders to enter a call. Incidentally, the
technology that makes it possible for you to talk better also makes it impossible for
anyone to intrude into your privacy audio quality. With GSM too, digitization of
voices is done so that high quality is maintained.
7) Exciting AKTEL Service
AKTEL offers a very comprehensive range of value added services for those on the
move. Each service designed to help you in specific, frequently encountered
solution. Service like these will surely revolutionize the way you communicate

8) AKTEL Itemized Billing

This service entitles you to a detailed bill with an accurate breakup of the call
charges, including the date, duration and numbers of incoming and outgoing calls.
This is extremely handy in case you wish to keep track of expenses, or even to find
out whether your card is being misused.

9) International Roaming
Your AKTEL mobile Service will provide you with contractibility and the freedom
to make and receive telephone calls within those GSM networks all over the world
that have roaming agreements with AKTEL. So whenever you are within the
service areas of these GSM networks, you will still be able to keep in touch.

10) Choice of Handset

The AKTEL network has a chain of outlets where all the leading models, makes
and accessories of GSM compatible mobile phones are available. However,
subscribers are free to procure their GSM cellular phones from any other source
within the company or abroad provided these are duty paid and these would
connected to the AKTEL network.

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11) Advertisement
New idea, huge amount for promotional policy creating great awareness to the
market.

12) New packages and services

Creating new packages to grab amass potential customer. Like as extended time.
BTTB incoming in pre paid services. World class service like GPRS.

Marketing Department

a) Product & Planning

Product & Market Planning Department (P & MP) is a vital part of AKTEL in
terms of its importance and role.
The central innovation department of AKTEL is the P & M department. This
department facilitates communication between the departments and existing and
new product packages of AKTEL. P & MP also manages and co-ordinates
information about different products. P & MP evaluate the possibilities and
develop new products.
P & MP is responsible for communication with different departments about
existing products. P & MP get feedback from sales, Customer Care and Market
Communication departments regarding Customer needs and Market requirements.
Feedback helps in redefining an existing product.

New ideas are developed after evaluation of market demands. P & MP gives shape
and form to the vague ideas in the process of developing a new product. P & MP
is responsible to co-ordinate with Operation & Maintenance, Information System
and Billing departments to get solutions check the functionality of product features
and prices. Bundling and un-Bundling of services to create new packages can be
useful way of satisfying customer needs.

P & MP facilitates launch of the products within AKTEL. Training and support for
a product to all departments within AKTEL is also the responsibility of this
department. P & MP develops the main marketing message for products working
closely with marketing department. P & MP will also support sales and customer
care department about new product launch.

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b) Market Communication

Functions: The functions of marketing department are manifold. However the main
function can be articulated as to develop product and promote.
In order to accomplish this function, some steps have to be followed. They are:
 Need determination by market survey through secondary data.
 To develop product within AKTEL resources.
 Pricing of the product.
 To obtain necessary approval from the management.
 Competitor's activity analysis.
Concept building for promotional activities. It includes advertisement in the
leasing dailies in the most effective manner within a given budget, to arrange out-
door advertisement, hoarding, promotions of gift items like diary, pen, calendar
etc.
Marketing department also support various departments in performing their jobs.
After the market survey, for example, they can suggest Radio Planning department
about the approximate number of probable subscriber of a particular area and the
potential of International Roaming.
In the above-mentioned way, marketing department plays an important role in the
smooth functioning of AKTEL.

C. Customers Care

Customer care is making the bridge the customers and company. Besides Sales
division it is the only department who deals customers directly. Sales department
procures the business and Customers Care keeps the business with the company for
long period. Once relationship is established customer Care is doing the business
with the subscribers. It works with the objective to meet all kinds of queries from
customer and provide the optimum solution. The trained and friendly people are
serving for customer care from 09am-5.45pm in Dhaka office. There are two shifts.
One is start from 08am and end up at 05pm, another one is from 11am to 08pm.
Customer care department works to ensure customers satisfaction and also to
motivate the people in AKTEL service.
Responsibilities of Customer Care are unlimited.

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PURPOSE
The purpose of department encompasses the following.
 To receive queries
 To solve queries relating to AKTEL service.
 To provide all sort of information.
 To solve any problem regarding network.
To ensure smooth operation Customer Care is providing services from two
perspectives.
 Over HOTLINES
 Through Information Center

HOTLINE: Customer Care is committed to provide efficient, dedicated and

reliable service to it valued subscribers. For customer's convenience it has
introduce one HOTLINE services. Subscribers may call any time for all complaints
and queries.

D. Information Center
It provides on spot solutions as subscribers can physically go there and get
services. It deals with the following areas.
 Bill Clarification
 Preparation of manual bill
 Bill correction

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AKTEL International Roaming Services

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ROAMING COUNTRIES

Afghanistan Bolivia Dominica India Lebanon Niger

Albania Bosnia Egypt Indonesia Lithuania Nigeria
Antigua Botswana Estonia Iraq Masao Norway
Argentina Brazil Finland Ireland Macedonia Oman
Armenia Brunei France Israel Madagascar Pakistan
Aruba Bulgaria Gabon Italy Malawi
Palestine
Australia Burundi Gambia Jamaica Malaysia Paraguay
Austria Cambodia Georgia Japan Maldives Peru
Azerbaijan Cameroon Germany Jersey Malta Poland
Bahrain Canada Ghana Jordan Mali Portugal
Barbados Chile Gibraltar Kenya Mauritius Qatar
Barbuda China Greece Kirghiztan Mexico
Romania
Belarus Congo Grenada Korea Monaco Russia
Belgium Croatia Hawaii Kuwait Mongolia Senegal
Benin Cuba Hong Kong La reunion Morocco Slovenia
Bermuda Cyprus Hungary Lao Namibia Spain
Bhutan Denmark Iceland Latvia Nepal Sri
Lanka
St Lucia Thailand Tunisia U.S.A Zimbabwe
Sudan Tobago Turkey Canada Zambia
Sweden Togo Uganda Vietnam
Syria Trinidad Ukraine Yemen

NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF AKTEL

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GPRS

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enabled networks offer 'always-on',

higher capacity, Internet-based content and packet-based data services. This
enables services such as colour Internet browsing, e-mail on the move,
powerful visual communications, multimedia messages and location-based
services.

FUN DOSE

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FUN DOSE.
Choose your Voice Greeting, pass it to anyone, and even anonymously
send your DOSE through AKTEL.
Birthday. Hate. Flirt. Sorry . Heart 2 MON. Say You Love. Anytime,
anyone….

SPECIAL OFFER

Gift of Bangla New Year

Buy one, get one FREE!
ELECTRONIC REFILL

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AKTEL has launched the first ever ELECTRONIC REFILL system in Bangladesh
whereby Pre-Paid customers will be able to recharge their accounts via SMS,
available at dealers/outlets/designated agents around the country. ELECTRONIC
REFILL is a great new recharge option for Pre-Paid subscribers as it does not rely
on the availability of scratch cards for topping up any AKTEL Pre-Paid account.
The customer benefits from this system through extensive availability, convenience
to recharge Pre-Paid accounts anywhere, anytime, without the hassle of buying and
scratching cards. This service is great because it ensures that the credit you require
for your AKTEL connection is always available on demand. This service allows
customers to recharge their accounts in multiple denominations: Tk.600, Tk.300,
Tk.250, Tk.200, Tk.150, Tk.100, and Tk.50, which provide all AKTEL Pre-Paid
customers a freedom of choice.
For the vast demographic size of Bangladesh and for the complex physical
distribution system, sometimes our sales points have trouble keeping adequate
stocks of AKTEL Scratch Card, and as a result, the valued customer can't find the
Scratch card as per their requirements. On the other hand, due to frequent natural
disaster and hartal/ strike, distribution of physical scratch card becomes hard. We
believe that the new system can really give AKTEL Customers the opportunity and
convenience to buy airtime in the period of inconvenience. Apart from it, the
ELECTRONIC REFILL solution will allow our authorized sales outlets to
electronically generate a voucher for the denomination customer requires. AKTEL
customer can recharge their account by a dialing 111 or through simple refill
process.
In this system AKTEL customer pays cash to the retailer for his/her AKTEL Pre-
Paid account recharge, and in return he/she will get a SMS with a voucher number.

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This voucher number will have a 13-digit secret number, which will then be
inserted into the mobile similar to the scratch card process. This ELECTRONIC
REFILL allows our customers freedom to choose their desired Airtime according
to his/her need and affordability. This is a secured process and our channel partners
on demand would carry out the transaction.

INFOTAINMENT

Bangla Ring tones. English Ring tones. Hindi ring tones. Logos. Picture
Messages. Other services.

EXTENDED DAYS WITHPRE-PAID PACKAGE

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AKTEL has moved ahead of all cellular operators by launching an exciting

promotion through extending the validity period of Tk.300 Pre-Paid refill card
from 30 days to 180 days and that of the Tk.600 card from 45 days to 365 days.

POST PAID REFILL

Now one can pay his/her post paid bill by scarce card.

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Chapter Four

GrameenPhone, an Overview

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BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY

GrameenPhone has just completed its eighth year of operation. The GP network
went on-air on March 26, 1997 and it has grown from strength to strength since
then.

GP now has the largest network with the widest coverage around the country. And
plans are underway to further increase the coverage to 80 per cent of the
population within this year, from the current 55 percent.
The company has become one of the largest private sector investments and also
the largest single tax payer in the country. It may be mentioned here that the
shareholders of GrameenPhone have re-invested most of the earnings so far,
enabling the company to continuously increase the capacity and expand the
coverage area of its network.
 November 28, 1996: Grameen Phone was offered a cellular license in
Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
 March 26, 1997: Grameen Phone launched its service on the Independence
Day of Bangladesh
 After eight years of operation, Grameen Phone has more than 2.8 million
subscribers as of March 2005.

THE PURPOSE
GrameenPhone has a dual purpose: to receive an economic return on its
investments and to contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where
telecommunications can play a critical role. This is why Grameen Phone, in
collaboration with Grameen Bank, is aiming to place one phone in each village to
contribute significantly to the economic uplift of those villages.

THE STRATEGY
GrameenPhone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. In
contrast to the “island” strategy followed by some companies, which involves
connecting isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links, Grameen
Phone builds continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage
may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of
cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout Grameen Phone’s network.

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THE TECHNOLOGY
GrameenPhone’s Global System for Mobile or GSM technology is the most widely
accepted digital system in the world, currently used by over 300 million people in
150 countries. GSM brings the most advanced developments in cellular technology
at a reasonable cost by spurring severe competition among manufacturers and
driving down the cost of equipment. Thus consumers get the best for the least.

THE SERVICE
GrameenPhone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good
development. Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity.
This gain in productivity is development, which in turn enables them to afford a
telephone service, generating a good business. Thus development and business go
together.

THE RESULT
By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, Grameen Phone is
delivering the digital revolution to the doorsteps of the poor and unconnected. By
being able to connect to urban areas or even to foreign countries, a whole new
world of opportunity is opening up for the villagers in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank
borrowers who provide the services are uplifting themselves economically through
a new means of income generation while at the same time providing valuable
phone service to their fellow villagers. The telephone is a weapon against poverty.

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CAPITAL STRUCTURE

At first in 1997 the capital structures of Grameen phone were 51% Telenor,
35%GrameenTelecom, and 9.5% Marubini.4.5% Gonofone.

But now the capital structure is 65% Telenor, 35%GrameenTelecom,

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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Products
GrameenPhone offers a number of products and value-added services to its valued
subscribers.
These attractive products and services are designed to cater to the needs of the
individual subscribers. There are seven products currently being offered by
GrameenPhone.

The products are:

 GP Regular
 GP National
 Anytime 300
 Anytime 450
 Anytime 500
 EASY GOLD
 EASY Pre-paid
 Djuice.

In addition, GrameenPhone offers a number of Value-added Services (VAS) to its

subscribers. These include Text Messaging (SMS), Voice Mail, Fax/Data service
and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The SMS-based Push-Pull Service was
also launched in January 2003.

Products in details

1. GP Regular

GP Regular is a post-paid product with BTTB (Local, NWD and ISD) connectivity.
You can connect to all mobiles and BTTB lines. It has network mobility feature,
with which you can move around throughout the country with your GP mobile
phone (within GP coverage).
GP Regular Package includes: Handset and Starter Kit with SIM card.

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Features
 International Roaming: It will enable you to make and receive calls using
the same GP-Regular number, while you are outside the country (Visit
roaming page for detail information).
 Friends & Family: It will enable you to call up to three GP numbers
(activated as Friends & Family) for only Tk.1.5/min for 24 hrs.

Supplementary Features
 Caller ID*: It allows GP subscribers to view the caller's ID before
answering the call.
 Call Waiting: It enables you to receive a second call while you are online
with another call. When your call waiting feature is activated (on your
handset), you will be usually notified by a short beep sound. You can then
either rejects the second call or put the first caller on hold, talks to the
second caller and then returns to the first call.
 Call Conference: It allows you to make up to 5 calls (max) at a time and
connect all the calls to make a conference call. This feature is handset
dependent.
 Call Divert: It allows you to divert the incoming calls to any mobile
number or BTTB number.
 Call Barring: It allows you to restrict any unauthorized use of your mobile
phone by imposing restrictions on certain types of calls (incoming and
outgoing). This feature is handset dependent.

2. GP National

GP National is a post-paid product with mobile-to-mobile connectivity. You can

make and receive calls to and from all mobiles (within GP coverage area). It has
network mobility feature, with which you can move around the country with your
GP mobile phone (within GP coverage area).
GP National Package includes: Handset and Starter Kit with SIM card.

Optional Features

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Friends & Family: It will enable you to call up to three GP numbers (activated as
Friends & Family) for only Tk.1.5/min for 24 hrs.

Supplementary Features as same as regular. Except the roaming facility in

abroad.

3. Anytime 300
Anytime 300 is a post-paid product with mobile-to-mobile connectivity. Anytime
300 offers a monthly 300 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time free of charge. It
has network mobility feature, with which you can move around throughout the
country with your GP mobile phone (within GP coverage).

Benefits of Anytime 300

 Enjoy first 300 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time per month free of
charge.
 Compared to other post-paid mobile-to-mobile product, you can save up to
Tk. 450 every month.
 You don't have to pay any monthly access fee.

4. Anytime 450
Anytime 450' is a post-paid product with BTTB (Local/NWD/ISD) connectivity.
Anytime 450 offers a monthly 450 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time free of
charge. It has the network mobility feature, with which you can move around the
country with your GP mobile phone (within GP coverage).

Benefits of Anytime 450

 Enjoy first 450 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time per month free of
charge.
 Compared to similar post-paid products, you can save Tk. 500 every
month.

Optional Feature

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International Roaming: It will enable you to make and receive calls using the
same Anytime 450 number, while you are outside the country (conditions apply).

5. Anytime 500
Anytime 500 is a post-paid product with BTTB (Local/NWD/ISD) connectivity.
Anytime 500 offers a monthly 500 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time free of
charge. It has the network mobility feature, with which you can move around the
country with your GP mobile phone (within GP coverage).

Benefits of Anytime 500

 Enjoy first 500 minutes (billed duration) of talk-time per month free of
charge.
 Compared to similar post-paid products, you can save Tk. 500 every
month.
 Connectivity with 3 number only Taka 3 per minute.
 With another operator Taka 4 per minute on pick hours and 3 in off pick.
 No monthly rent. Pulse in one second.
 First minute BTTB incoming free.
 All value added services are included with this product.

6. EASY Gold

Easy Gold is a pre-paid product with BTTB (Local, NWD and ISD) connectivity.
You can connect to all mobiles and BTTB lines. It has the network mobility
feature, with which you can move around the country with your GP mobile phone
(within the GP coverage area).

Optional Features of EASY gold

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My Easy (will enable you to call one GP number for only Tk.3/min for 24 hrs).
My Time (will enable you to call any GP number for only Tk.3/min form 6 am to 9
am or 1 pm to 4 pm)

Supplementary Features
Caller ID (It allows GP subscriber's to view the caller's ID before answering the
call). Call Divert: It allows you to divert the incoming calls to your voice mail box.

7. EASY Pre-Paid

Easy Pre-paid is a pre-paid product with mobile-to-mobile connectivity. You can

make and receive calls to and from all mobiles (within GP coverage) using EASY
Pre-paid. It has network mobility feature, with which you can move around the
country with your GP mobile phone (within GP coverage).

Optional Features

My Easy (will enable you to call one GP number for only Tk.3/min for 24 hrs).
My Time (will enable you to call any GP number for only Tk.3/min form 6 am to 9
am or 1 pm to 4 pm)

8. Djuice

Djuice is a new product package GP. It is basically for the young generation. The
features and others are discussing bellow.

Benefits of Djuice
 20 sec pulse mobile during Off-Peak hours. Tk.1.66/pulse (peak)
 Group Message

 SMS content based services

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Taxi: Know the phone no. of Taxi Cab company

Crick: Know the scores of latest cricket match
Try: Know the top 05 Ring-tones and their code
Love: Get a love quote.
Joke: Get funny jokes.
Music English: Get the top 05 English Songs.
News: Get the latest Sports News.

 Voice based services: The following will be the voice based services

News service: Listen to the current news.

Channel I Quiz: You can win prizes by answering the quiz.
Information Service: Listen to the latest news (provided by Channel I)
Hotline: You will get customer service by dialing this menu.

 VMS

Voice mail service (VMS) works like an answering machine. When you are
not available or outside the coverage area or simply busy, the caller can
leave a message in subscribers voice mail box, which you may listen or
retrieve at your convenience.

The additional benefit that Djuice will provide

Beauty tips
Dictionary
Movie chart
Music top chart
Enhanced Phonebook:

Freedom to store up-to 200 friends’ numbers through this feature.

Group Message
FlexiLOAD.

With FlexiLOAD reload your pre-paid account with any amount starting from
Tk.50 to Tk.10, 000.

U & I:

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This feature gives you the chance to choose that someone special and talk to
that person at a more affordable rate:

XTRA Card
Hotline 707

This hotline gives subscribers all types of after sales service.

Djuice features

Also

The services provided by GrameenPhone

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Pre-Paid Services is given by the Grameen phone

GrameenPhone is proud to be the first mobile service provider in Bangladesh to
introduce the unique Pre-Paid service which is renowned as EASY. EASY gives
you the freedom to use your mobile within your budget and keeps you away from
billing formalities e.g. receive/payment of regular monthly bills etc. GP has 2
EASY products at present; EASY with mobile to mobile and EASY GOLD with
BTTB outgoing & incoming facility.

Both the products, EASY and EASY GOLD have network mobility feature which
helps a subscriber to move around where GP has its coverage. A Pre-Paid
subscriber can also enjoy GP’s Value-Added Services like Text Mail (SMS), Voice
Mail (VMS), WAP and other Information Services. A subscriber needs to recharge
his/ her account with EASY scratch cards to make and receive calls and to enjoy
GP’s Value-Added Services.

Activation
EASY Pre-Paid and EASY Gold subscriptions are Pre-activated e.g. you can use
the SIM right after you purchase it from the GP authorized dealer or agent. Simply
recharge the account with a new scratch card (EASY Card) and start using your
EASY subscription!

Easy Hour
For EASY and EASY Gold, the peak hours are between 6 A.M. to 12 A.M. daily.
Hours between 12 A.M. and 6 A.M. are Easy or off-peak hour. A reduced airtime
rate of Tk. 3 per minute is charged during Easy hour.

My EASY Number for EASY & EASY Gold

All Pre-Paid subscribers can avail one GP mobile as My EASY number, outgoing
calls to which will be charged at Tk. 3 per minute 24-hours a day. To get the
facility, first choose one GP number of your choice. Then send the GP number
through SMS at 2888 from your mobile. The number will be activated as My
EASY number within 72 hours and you will get a confirmation message in your
mobile. You can change My EASY number, if needed, after every two months.

Account Recharge

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* 555 * Hidden Number # and press SEND to recharge your EASY account.
Within a short time, you will see a confirmation message on the mobile phone
screen. You can also call 555 and follow the step-by-step procedure.

Account Balance
* 566 # and press SEND to get EASY account balance information. Within a short
time, you will receive your balance information on the mobile phone screen. You
can also call 566 and listen to the account status.

Validity of EASY Scratch Card

Validity of an EASY scratch card depends on the value of that scratch card. For
instance, a Taka 50 scratch card has 3 days validity period, a Taka 300 scratch card
has 180 days validity period and a Taka 600 scratch card has 360 days validity
period after recharge. Moreover, GP pre-paid subscribers will also be able to
receive incoming calls and messages from any mobile for seven days after the
expiry of validity period. When the validity period is over, your mobile will be
inactive for making and receiving calls. But you will be able to recharge your
account.

Expiry of EASY service

If the account is not recharged with a new scratch card within six months (180
days) after the validity period of the last EASY card ends, then the account will be
expired and permanently deleted from the system without any further information.

EASY Benefits at a glance

 Uninterrupted service up to full 31 days (For EASY Card worth of Tk. 300)
or 62 days (For EASY Card worth of Tk. 600) after recharging the EASY
Card
 50% reduced call charge during Off-peak hours e.g. from 12 A.M. to 8
A.M.
 Benefits of lower charge after 2nd minute during Peak Hours e.g. Tk. 4/min
from 3rd minute onwards during peak hour
 50% reduced call charge 24-hours a day for MY EASY number (pre-
selected GP mobile)
 Even if there is “0” Balance remaining, subscriber can continue to get the
incoming call facility from mobile phone only, even after 7 days of the end

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of the validity period of the card e.g. 31 days for EASY Card worth of Tk.
300 or 62 days for EASY Card worth of Tk. 600
 The remaining balance is carried forward to the next EASY Card even after
the validity period of a EASY card expires (31/62 days).e.g. the last
balance (only money) will be added to the new EASY Card value( if any).
 Pre-Paid subscribers can avail SMS, Voice Mail, WAP, Network Mobility,
EASY Hour, My Easy Number etc. facility

Supplementary Features of pre paid services

DISPLAY OF CALLING NUMBER

Display of calling number (Caller ID) means that the phone number of the caller
will be displayed* to the person being called before he/she answers the call.

CALL DIVERT/ FORWARD

It allows EASY Pre-Paid and EASY Gold subscribers to divert the incoming calls
to the Voice Mail Box. Please refer to the Information on Value-Added Services:
Voice Mail Service for further details.

Tariffs and Charges

 All tariffs are subject to change without assigning any reason
 15% VAT applicable to all Airtime charges, monthly fees & BTTB charges

The charges of various packages are given on the next pages

 GP Regular

Outgoing Incoming

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Mobile to Mobile
Mobile to BTTB
Zonal Inter-zonal
Friends
Monthly Off- Off- Off- From From
Peak Peak Peak & Family
Fee Peak Peak Peak Mobile BTTB
8am- 8am- 8am- (24 Hrs.)
8pm- 8pm- 8pm-
8pm 8pm 8pm
8am 8am 8am
Tk. Tk.
1st min.
4/min. + 3/min. +
free & Tk. Tk.
BTTB BTTB
Tk. Tk. 2/min. 1.5/min.
Tk. 350 Local/ Local/ Free
4/min. 3/min. from 2nd for 3 GP
NWD/ NWD/
min. no.s
ISD ISD
onwards
charge charge

 30 sec pulse in the 1st min

 15 sec pulse after 1st min
 During Friday, 24 hours Off-Peak rate applicable
 For ISD & NWD calls: BTTB's Peak (8am - 10pm) & Off-peak (10pm -
8am) rate will be applicable for BTTB charge

 GP National

Monthly Outgoing Incoming Friends

Fee GP-GP GP-Others &

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Peak Off-Peak Peak Off-Peak

8am-11pm 11pm-8am 8am-11pm 11pm-8am Family
Tk. 1.5/min to
Tk. 150 Tk. 4/min. Tk. 3/min. Tk. 6/min. Tk. 5/min. Free
3 GP no.s
 30 sec pulse in the 1st min
 15 sec pulse after 1st min
 During Friday, 24 hours Off-Peak rate applicable

 Anytime 300

Outgoing
Monthly
Within 1st 300 mins. After 1st 300 mins.
Bundle
Peak Incoming
Fee Off-Peak Peak Off-Peak
8am - 11pm 11pm - 8am 8am - 11pm 11pm - 8am

Tk. 1000 Tk. 0/min. Tk. 0/min. Tk. 4/min. Tk. 3/min. Free

 30 sec pulse in the 1st min

 15 sec pulse after 1st min
 During Friday, 24 hours Off-Peak rate applicable (after 1st free 300 mins.)

 Anytime 450

Monthly Monthly Outgoing Incoming

Fee Bundle Mobile to Mobile Mobile to BTTB From From
Fee Within 1st After 1st 450 Within 1st After 1st 450 Mobile BTTB
450 mins mins 450 mins mins

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Off-
Off- Off- Off-
Peak Peak Peak Peak Peak
Peak Peak Peak
8am- 11 8am- 8am- 8am-
11pm- 11 pm- 11pm-
11pm pm- 11pm 11pm 11pm
8am 8am 8am
8am
Tk. Tk. Tk. Tk.
1st min.
0/min 0/min 4/min 3/min
free &
+ + + +
Tk.
Tk. Tk. Tk. Tk. Tk. BTTB BTTB BTTB BTTB
Tk. 350 Free 2/min.
1,300 0/min. 0/min. 4/min. 3/min Local/ Local/ Local/ Local/
from
NWD/ NWD/ NWD/ NWD/
2nd min.
ISD ISD ISD ISD
onwards
charge charge charge charge
 30 sec pulse in the 1st min
 15 sec pulse after 1st min
 During Friday, 24 hours Off-Peak rate applicable (after 1st free 450 mins.)
 Easy Pre-paid

Outgoing My Time
Easy Hour My EASY 6am-9am
Peak Incoming
12am - (24 Hrs.) or
6am-12am
6am 1pm-4pm
GP - GP. GP- Others Tk. 3/min.
Tk. 3/min.
Tk. 3/min. Free to any GP
Tk. 4.40/min. Tk. 4.80/min. to 1 GP no.
no.
 30 sec pulse in the 1st min
 20 sec pulse after 1st min
 EASY Gold

Outgoing Incoming
My
Mobile to
Time
Mobile to Mobile BTTB
BTTB NWD My 6am-
Local/ISD
From From EASY 9am
Peak Mobile BTTB (24 Hrs.) or
Peak 6am- Easy Easy Easy Hour 1pm-
8am- Peak 8am-12am
12am Hour Hour 12am-6am 4pm
12am

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GP - GP -
GP Others
Tk.
6/min.
Tk. Tk. 1st minute
+ Tk. Tk.
3/min. 4/min. FREE Tk.
Tk. BTTB 4.8/min. Tk. 3/min. 3/min.
Tk. Tk. + + Free then Tk. 3/min. to
3/min. charge + BTTB (Flat) to any
4.4 / 4.8 BTTB BTTB 2/min. 1 GP no.
Tk. charge GP no.
min. /min. charge charge onwards
4/min.
+
BTTB
charge
 30 sec pulse in the 1st min.
 20 sec pulse after 1st min. (for mobile to mobile)
 For BTTB outgoing (ISD) the pulse is 30 sec after the 1st minute. For
NWD calls pulse is 60 sec. after 1st min.
 For ISD calls: BTTB's Peak (8am - 10pm) /Off-peak (10pm - 8am) rate will
be applicable for BTTB charge.

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Customer Service
The Customer Relations Division of GrameenPhone Ltd. provides a full range of
after-sales service customized to the needs of the valued customers. Efforts are
made to offer complete service through all the contact points dedicated for GP
customers at every opportunity through Call Center, Customer Relations Centers
and Customer Communication.
The trained team of Customer Relations Division strives to ensure service with an
aim to content the subscribers through “YOU FIRST” attitude and solution. Our
strategy is to connect Bangladesh with “Ease & Care” at every contact through
professional and pro-active service.

Value Added Services

1. SMS (Short Message Service)

With this service, you can receive and send Text Messages (a maximum of 160
characters per message) to any other GP or CityCell mobile and to foreign
operators' (international) mobiles as well (conditions apply).

How to activate SMS

The GP Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) number is +88 017 0000 600 and it
is by default stored in your SIM card. If your handset is configured with any other
SMSC number, then please reset your SMSC number as +88 017 0000 600.

SMS Push-Pull Services

With Push-Pull service, you can enjoy more than 160 contents (Ex: Usage Info,
Payment Status of last bill, Sports news, Emergency numbers, Restaurants, Airline
and Railway timing, travel info etc.).
For example, to know the contact numbers of taxi cab companies:

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 Go to the message option of your handset

 Write 'taxi'.
 Send the SMS to 2000.
 You will receive the list of taxi cab numbers in return.

Charges
SMS charge is Tk. 2 per outgoing message up to 160 characters. This service does
not charge for any incoming messages.

2. Voice Mail Service (VMS)

Voice Mail is a unique answering machine, which can record your personalized
greetings as well as store your incoming voice messages when your phone is busy
or if you are out of the coverage area or you have simply switched off your GP
mobile. This 24-hour electronic secretarial service makes you available to your
calling party anytime without affecting your daily schedule.

Activating Voice Mail Service against your subscription

Please contact Customer Relations Division (Hotline 121 for Pre-Paid, 122 for
Post-Paid) to activate Voice Mail Service against your subscription. The activation
may take a minimum of 72 hours.

3. Wireless Application Protocol

WAP is a worldwide standard developed specially to allow mobile phones to

access and display WAP-enabled Internet contents on mobile handset screen. GP-
WAP offers the access to a range of personalized services like e-mail, chat, news,
other information services and lot more.

4. Product Migration

(Applicable for GP National to GP Regular only)

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The subscriber is requested to visit the nearest Customer Relations Centers and fill
in the Migration Form with the authorized signature.

To Migrate from GP National to GP Regular, subscribers need to submit:

 Subscription Form
 Bank deposit slip after paying the Migration Fee of Tk. 3170 (Including
VAT)*
 Two (2) copies of passport-size photographs
 For Corporate clients, application is invited through company letterhead
pad with the signature of authorized signatory or high officials with
company seal.

Necessary notes to follow

Product Migration Fee from GP National to GP Regular is Tk. 3170 * including

15% VAT. Time frame for migration is three (3) working days after verifying the
signature & subscription form of the subscriber. Only GP National subscribers can
change the subscription type to GP Regular with existing product feature at
present. Mobile number will be changed as per the number plan of the preferred
zone

5. Friends and Family

Friends and Family for GP REGULAR and GP NATIONAL

GP has introduced a Friends and Family (F&F) option without any additional
monthly fee to its GP Regular and GP National subscription. Now a subscriber can
choose any three (3) GP numbers as his/her F&F numbers and avail the
opportunity of calling these numbers at a flat rate of Tk. 1.5 per minute from any
where within GP coverage area, 24 hours a day.

To install F&F numbers a subscriber simply needs to send an SMS to 2800

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mentioning the desired three F&F numbers collectively or individually. For

sending the numbers at a time, separate them with comma. Please do not leave any
space or use any symbol or characters. You will receive an acknowledgement SMS
on your F&F request followed by a confirmation SMS on successful activation.
Activation of F&F may take minimum 72 hours and the F&F tariff is applicable
only after receiving the activation confirmation SMS.

CORPORATE OFFERS
GrameenPhone Ltd. was the first telecommunications company in the country to
offer a Corporate Sales Package initiative, recognizing the importance of the
special needs of the corporate customers.

The Corporate Sales Section (CSS) of GP handles all sales and other related
services provided to the corporate subscribers. It delivers a total telecom solution
under a Corporate Sales Package agreement. Many leading local and multi-national
companies, international organizations and banks have corporate agreements with
GP. Under such contracts, CSS adds more value propositions to the clients’ mobile
communication package and forms a reliable and long-term partnership with the
client as its main telecom service provider.

CORPORATE VALUE-ADDED SERVICES

A full range of post-paid and pre-paid products with regular value-added services
are available for the corporate clients. Moreover, value-added services are specially
tailored to meet the specific needs of a corporate subscriber.

SPECIAL FEATURES FOR CORPORATE CLIENTS

DATA / FAX SERVICE

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Fax and Data service, with 9.6 KBPS speed, enables the use of a mobile phone to
send faxes or transfer data by attaching it to a computer. Fax services can be a
useful tool for quicker communication between branches or different locations at a
very low cost.

FIBRE OPTIC NETWORK

A unique service provided by GP through its authorized distributors, offering data
communication facilities in a very large scale with a bandwidth of 64KBPS – 2
MBPS.

Along with the above mentioned features, special Value-Added Service packages
and customized features are offered to the corporate clients when available. In
practice, CSS works for finding total telecommunication requirement of the client
and opts to provide the solutions accordingly. CSS also takes the initiative to
outsource some of the solutions (hardware/software) on behalf of the client, if
required.

EXCLUSIVE SERVICES FOR CORPORATE CLIENTS

I. SALES SERVICES
 A Key Account Executive works as a one-point contact for a particular
corporate client. He/she provides instant delivery of any number of
subscriptions as per client requirements. Special discounts on the start-up
cost are occasionally arranged for the corporate client.

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 The account executive acts promptly to resolve all the issues raised by the
clients regarding GP services. When required, he/she coordinates with other
departments to provide the total solution for the client.
 From time to time, specific handset upgrade requirements are met
according to clients’ request by mediating and arranging a special offer
from the respective handset vendors. Account executives also help the
client to choose specific handset models for the best results.

II. BILLING OPTIONS

Corporate clients are offered different billing options to avoid confusion and
problems:
 Single Billing
 Multiple Billing

III. UNLIMITED CREDIT FACILITY

IV. CORPORATE EVENTS

Periodically CSS arranges different types of corporate events for demonstrating
new products and features as well as meeting clients’ queries.

V. CORRESPONDING WITH OTHER DIVISIONS

CSS works closely with the Corporate Customer Care Unit which offers dedicated
after-sales service for the corporate clients. The unit features a dedicated Hotline
for the corporate clients. Prompt after-sales services are given for different types of
requirements. Both the teams work simultaneously to help the corporate clients for
solving problems.

SPECIAL SALES SECTION

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A dedicated unit within the Sales Department extends all the above mentioned
exclusive services toward VIPs, VIPs & CIPs, Defense Forces, Govt. Ministries
and other high ranked government officials of the country. Special Sales Unit
handles these issues with extreme professionalism and care.

Corporate Customer Services

The Corporate Customer Services aims to provide quality customer service to the
country’s preferential corporate clients. A professionally trained team is dedicated
to provide After Sales Services and Solutions customized to the need of the
Corporate Customers and initiate pro-active visits as a part of routine contact to
look into the needs with an aim to build long-term professional relationships.

BENEFITS & FACILITIES FOR CORPORATE CUSTOMERS

The Corporate Customers of GrameenPhone enjoys the following privileged
services:
 Special features are available from GrameenPhone that are given to certain
preferential Corporate Clients
 Corporate Clients will get special credit facilities for usage but the
connections might be barred for unpaid bills
 Special & dedicated Corporate Hotline Service
 Dedicated Sales Officer to facilitate Corporate Customer with further sales

Special Customized Package

GrameenPhone offers some special packages with attractive prices for preferential
Corporate Customers. These package plans are based on the Corporate Customers’
Billing trend, payment pattern, Security Deposit, reputation in the industry and
goodwill. For more information, please contact the nearest GP regional office.

Credit Policy and Billing Procedures

The usual rules of the Credit Policy do not apply for the Corporate Subscribers. All
Corporate subscriptions are included in the 3rd Bill Cycle. Corporate clients are

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requested to pay their due bill on the ‘due date’ specified in the monthly bills. The
credit limit of a Corporate Customer depends on the payment pattern, trend of
usage, Security Deposit and credit worthiness. Though the Corporate subscriptions
are not barred till the due date exceeds, we request our Corporate Customers to pay
their mobile bills on time.

Instant Quality Services

The Officers at Corporate Customer Services are dedicated to provide One-Stop
Customer Service on issues related to products, billing, network quality and many
more. Some of the instant services provided to our corporate customers are listed
below:
 Itemized bill
 Billing clarification
 Replacement of SIM card
 Change of address
 Transfer of Ownership
 Change of subscription Type ( Up-gradation or Migration)
 Special Fax Number for contacting Corporate Customer Services
 Separate E-mail address dedicated for Corporate Customers
 Coverage Information
 Handset Information
 Product Information etc.

Special Corporate Hotlines and Service hours

Corporate Customer Service has a dedicated hotline specially designed to serve the
corporate customers. The corporate customers can reach the dedicated officers at
corporate customer service by simply dialing 148 from their GP mobiles. This
hotline is FREE of cost and remains open from Sunday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m.

CORPORATE SUBSCRIPTION REQUIREMENTS

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The following criteria are required to be a Corporate Customer of GrameenPhone:

 A substantial number of GP subscriptions enlisted in the company name.

The minimum number of subscriptions required at the time of signing the
corporate contract is 50.
 Multinational or locally reputed company registered at the stock exchange.
 Foreign companies or foreign missions.
 Greater credit report.

After Sales Service

We have the following After Sales Service for our valued EASY Pre-Paid and
EASY Gold subscribers at present:

 In case a Phone/SIM card Lost or stolen

 Reconnection (if the Lost or stolen phone/SIM card is found)
 SIM Replacement
 WAP facility

It is necessary to submit the original subscription form (subscriber’s copy) to avail

the After Sales Service for EASY Pre-Paid and EASY Gold subscription.
Therefore, preserve the subscription form (subscriber’s copy) in a confidential and
secure place.
 Lost Phone
Incase of a Phone/SIM card is Lost or Stolen
In case a GP subscription is lost or stolen by any means, immediately inform GP
mentioning:
 Subscriber’s mobile number, name and address
 The reason & request for temporary suspension
 Contact number
 Signature of the subscriber (as singed on the original subscription form)

Then it may be solved by GP’s cordial assistant.

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RESTORATION PROCESS FOR A LOST OR STOLEN PHONE/SIM

If the lost/ stolen mobile phone/ SIM card is found, please inform GP in writing
with your valid signature (as signed on the subscription form) to reconnect the
subscription. The service shall be restored upon signature verification. In case the
mobile phone/ SIM card is not found, you need to collect a new SIM card against
the subscription through SIM Replacement procedure.
A subscription might undergo the process of permanent disconnection if it remains
inactive for more than three months (90 days) period.

 SIM Replacement
In case a subscription is lost/ stolen (not found) or the SIM card gets disabled or
damaged for any reason, then the subscriber needs to purchase a new SIM card
against his/ her subscription.

 Transfer of Ownership
To Transfer the Ownership of a subscription, presence of both the transferor and
transferee are required at any of GP’s Customer Relations Centers. Necessary
requisites are:
 Two copies (each) of passport-size photographs of both the transferor and
transferee
 The original subscription form along with purchase money receipt
 Transferor needs to fill up a Transfer Certificate with valid signature
 Transferee needs to sign up a new Application Form
 Transferor should pay the last bill and the current usage
 Corporate Customers need to fill up the Transfer Certificate Form along
with new Application Form with signature and company seal (they can
collect the forms by submitting a forwarding letter to the Customer
Relations Center)
 The transferor (corporate) needs to assign one authorized person who has
the signing authority
 A procurement letter on company letterhead while a corporate taking a
connection from private/ corporate
 A clearance certificate on company letterhead while transferring a
connection of a corporate customer to an individual to be signed by the
Managing Director/Chairman of the company with company seal.
 Itemized Bill

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Itemized Bill is the detailed call statement of your monthly bill. This bill contains
the list of all the outgoing and incoming (subject to availability of data) calls made
from your GP mobile along with the information on date & time called, duration of
each call, air-time (GP’s airtime charge) and land-line phone charges. The usage
/charges in the Itemized Bill are shown without calculating the 15%VAT.

 Insta-Care
GrameenPhone introduces INSTA-CARE, an automated service with Integrated
Voice Response (IVR) system to meet your GP service related queries, 24-hours a
day, 365 days in a year!
If you are a GP Post Paid subscriber and want to know your recent Billing Updates,
Account & Payment Status, Credit Limit & Policy, Billing Procedures etc.

*Simply call 123 or your desired Hot-code from your GP mobile

If any GP subscriber has a query on GP's After Sales Service procedures, Coverage
information, Existing Products, Tariff, Value Added Services, International
Roaming, GSM features or Information on Emergency numbers, Travel or even
Eating out and lot more.

*Please call 124 or your desired Hot-code from your GP mobile

INSTA-CARE opens the door to serve our valued subscribers even better. Through
Hotline 123 and 124, it offers INSTANT information at the tip of your finger.

ROAMING SERVICE OF GP

Introduction of International Roaming

International Roaming (IR) service enables a subscriber to use his/her own mobile
number in foreign operators’ networks and to enjoy the same facilities those
operators provide to their own subscribers.

Subject to International Roaming agreement between the Home operators and that
particular foreign operator.

About GP International Roaming

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GrameenPhone has been offering International Roaming facility to its subscribers

since March 1999. GrameenPhone is the first Cellular Operator providing this
premium service to its valued subscribers and till today it is the only company
offering International Roaming Service in Bangladesh.

While traveling abroad, a GP IR subscriber can use and enjoy all the operators’
network coverage and other facilities (with whom GP has International Roaming
Agreement). Subscribers of those Roaming Partner Operators’ can also enjoy
network coverage and facilities of GrameenPhone while visiting Bangladesh.

Currently GrameenPhone has 229 International Roaming partners with networks

spread across 81 countries in 6 continents as of December 2004.

GrameenPhone is a GSM 900 network and most of its Roaming Partners have
GSM 900 or 1800 networks. However GrameenPhone also has some GSM 1900,
CDMA, 2.5G, 3G and other types of operators as Roaming Partners.

International Calls
For international calls, the per minute airtime charges will be added to the IDD
Tariff shown below:

IDD call tariff per minute in BDT excluding VAT:

Off
Standard
Pick
Group Country (8:00-
(22:00-
22:00)
8:00)
Group1 India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri 18.00 15.00
Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Thailand, Hong Kong, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman,

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Kuwait, Indonesia
A. Any country of Asia which is not included
Group 1
Group2 B. UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, 24.00 18.00
Australia
C. USA , Canada
A. Countries of European, Australian, North
American Continent which are not included in
Group3 27.00 21.00
Group 2
B. Countries and Island of Pacific belt
Group4 South America and African rest of the countries 30.00 24.00

List of Roaming Partner country of GP

List of Active Roaming Partners for GrameenPhone

Country Country Country Country Country

Albania Denmark Kazakhstan Pakistan Switzerland
Australia Egypt Kenya Paraguay Syria
Austria. Finland Kuwait Philippines Taiwan
Azerbaijan, France Maldives Tanzania
Bahrain Georgia Macau Poland Thailand
Belgium Germany Liechtenstein Portugal Turkey

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Bhutan Greece Liechtenstein Qatar Uganda

Brazil Hong Kong Luxembourg Russia Ukraine
United
Brunei Hungary Malta Saudi Arabia, Kingdom
United States
Bulgaria Iceland Malaysia Singapore of America
Slovak United Arab
Cambodia India Morocco Republic Emirates
Cameroon Indonesia Mauritius Zimbabwe Vietnam
Canada Ireland Nepal South Africa Yemen
China Italy Netherlands South Africa Zimbabwe
Congo Jamaica New Zealand Spain
Cyprus Jersey Nigeria Sri Lanka
Czech Republic Jordan Norway Sudan
Denmark Japan Oman Sweden

NETWORK COVERAGE OF GP
GrameenPhone covered in Bangladesh: 61 Districts, 352 Upazilas.

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SOCIAL WORKS OF GP

GP is sponsor of Bangladesh cricket team.

Contribution to Society
GrameenPhone believes that good business leads to good development, since high
level of productivity is development. The activities of GP contribute to the socio-
economic development of Bangladesh in many different ways.

In addition to employing nearly 1500 people, more than 100,000 people are
directly dependent on GP for their livelihood, including the people working for the
dealers, agents, contractors, suppliers, and a major portion of that figure includes
the Village Phone operators.

According to the International Telecommunications Union, the Geneva-based UN

body, the addition of each new telephone in a developing country like Bangladesh,
adds USD 2,500 to the country’s GDP.

The Village Phone Program of GrameenPhone is a unique initiative which provides

access to telecommunications facilities in remote rural areas where no such service
was available before. The Program enables mostly poor village women to own a
Village Phone subscription and retail the phone service to her fellow villagers
while providing them with a good income-earning opportunity. It is administered
by Grameen Telecom in cooperation with Grameen Bank, the internationally
renowned micro-credit lending institution.

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Set up in 1997, the Village Phone Program has continued to grow at a robust pace
over the years. By the end of 2004, the number of Village Phone subscriptions
stood at 95,000, in 61 districts. The average earning of a Village Phone Operator is
about BDT 5000 per month, which is more than twice the per capita income.

GrameenPhone also actively participates in promoting different socio-cultural

activities and sports events in the country. It sponsored many activities over the
years including the Zainul-Quamrul International Children’s Art Competition, the
11th Asian Art Biennale, publication and launching of an anthology of
contemporary Bangladeshi paintings, the Independence Day '04 Photography &
Painting Exhibition, and many other activities.

Moreover, GP has also restored the exterior of the historic Old Railway Station
Building in Chittagong as per its original architectural design. It has sponsored a
scholarship fund for the poor and meritorious students of the Finance and Banking
Department of Dhaka University in cooperation with the Finance and Banking
Alumni Association. GP has also donated 16 computers to two schools for
underprivileged children.

In the sports arena, GP is currently sponsoring the Bangladesh National Cricket

Team for a period of two years through 2003-2005, and also sponsored the
National Under-19 and Under-17 cricket teams. It was also one of the main
sponsors of the Live telecast of “ICC World Cup Cricket 2003. GP also sponsored
the President Cup Golf Tournament, and sponsors the visits of newspaper reporters
abroad to cover major sports events.

GP mobiles for Fire Service Hotline

GrameenPhone Ltd. has recently presented two mobile phones to the Directorate of
Fire Service and Civil Defense.

The Directorate is using these mobile phones in there Central Control Room
Hotline where people can call to inform about fire incidents and other disasters.
The numbers are 0173038181 and 0173038182. Both these GP mobiles can be
reached from any other mobile and fixed-line telephones. The Control Room
remains open 24 hours a day, throughout the year.

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The Directorate of Fire Service and Civil Defense is an emergency service

organization which plays a major role to contain fire incidents, in rescue efforts
during natural disasters and other accidents. However, it is unable to respond to
many fire incidents or accidents due to lack of timely information.

The Directorate felt that as the use of mobile phones is widespread around the
country, it will be useful to have a Hotline with mobile phone numbers, to which
members of the public can call during an emergency.

GrameenPhone Scholarship fund at Grameen Shikkha

Grameen Shikkha, a non-profit organization, is providing scholarships to

meritorious students from poor financial backgrounds with money donated by
GrameenPhone.

The GrameenPhone Scholarship Program was first implemented in 2004. Twenty

students were awarded scholarships against GP's first contribution of One million
BDT.

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The Village Phone program of Grameen phone

The Village Phone program (a right way to grape rural subscriber)

The Village Phone (VP) Program has continued its rapid growth. VP Program
began from a social commitment made by the shareholders of GrameenPhone that
"good development is good business". The program is implemented by Grameen
Telecom (GTC) in cooperation with Grameen Bank, the internationally renowned
micro- credit lending institution.

The program facilitates women borrowers of Grameen Bank to the GSM

technology through the village phones. They become effectively mobile public call
offices. This not only provides rural poor with new, exciting income-generating
opportunities, but it also helps to enhance the social status of women from poor
rural households.

The VP works as an owner-operated pay phone. It allows the rural poor who
cannot afford to become a regular subscriber, to avail of the service with loans
from Grameen Bank. The loan usually is for BDT 12,000 and pays for a handset,
the subscription and incidental expenses. The VP operator receives training from
GTC about mode of operation, user charges etc.

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Initiated in 1997, the VP Program has continued to grow at a robust pace over the
years. As of December 2004, there are more than 95,000 VP subscribers.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) of VP subscribers is double that of the
average GP business user. The revenue growth has been significant over the years.
Beginning with BDT 0.53 million in 1997, the figure has risen to BDT 1,114
million in 2002 and to BDT 2,070 million at the end of 2003.

The GPs in operation now provide access to telecommunications facilities to more

than 6 million people living in rural areas of Bangladesh.

This unique venture has gained widespread global recognition and has been
featured extensively in international media. The success of the program won it the
"GSM in the Community Award" given by the GSM Association in 2000. Former
U.S. President Bill Clinton also lauded the innovative VP Program during his visit
to Bangladesh in the same year. According to some research studies, the
introduction of VPs has made a tremendous social and economic impact in the
rural areas, creating a "substantial consumer surplus" for the users.

One of the studies was jointly conducted by Jahangirnagar University and the
Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany. The other
study was conducted by the Telecomm Development Group (TDG) of Canada for
the Canadian International Development Agency. "The Village Phone Program
yields significant positive social and economic impacts, including relatively large
consumer surplus and immeasurable quality of life benefits, the consumer surplus
from a single phone call to Dhaka, a call that replaces the physical trip to the city,
ranges from 264 percent to 9.8 percent of the mean monthly household income.
The cost of a trip to the city ranges from 2 to 8 times the cost of a single phone
call, meaning real savings for poor rural people of between BDT 132 to BUT 490
(USD 2.70 to USD 10) for individual calls," noted the TDG multi-media case
study on the Village Phone Program."

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THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

This is the board of directors of GP

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Marketing division of GrameenPhone (The Organizational Structure)

Marketing
division

Customer relation New product development

Sales & dealer management
Division division

Call center Corporate sales Planning & NPD

Front desk
Procurement Research & development

Customer database mgt

This is the organizational structure of Grameen phone marketing division.

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Chapter Five

CITYCELL, an Overview

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BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY

CITYCELL (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is Bangladesh’s pioneering

mobile communications company and the only CDMA network operator in the
country. CityCell is a customer-driven organization whose mission is to deliver the
latest in advanced telecommunication services to Bangladesh.

The company offers a full array of fixed and mobile services for consumers and
businesses that are focused on the unique needs of the Bangladeshi community.
CityCell’s growth strategy is to integrate superior customer service, highest
standard technology and choice of packages at affordable rates.

The company operates a 24-hour call centre with over 86 well trained operators to
respond to customer queries. CityCell’s customer services are open 7 days a week
to ensure customers can access CityCell at any convenient time.

CityCell is focused on innovation and creating new ways for customers to stay in
touch and to do business. CityCell’s is offering a wide range of competitive prepaid
and postpaid mobile packages as well as Value Added Services such as SMS and
information based services.

CityCell is looking forward in introducing CDMA 1x technology in 2004 to

provide innovative multimedia features, including Multimedia Messaging Service
(MMS) and many more data based mobile features currently not available in
Bangladesh.

OWNERSHIP STRACTURE

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CityCell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is a privately owned company with

majority foreign ownership equity. Following lists the current owners of CityCell
(PBTL):

 Pacific Motors Limited

 Far East Telecom Limited
 Asian Infrastructure Development Company Limited (AIDEC)
 Fujitsu Limited (FL)

Products of CITYCELL

Post-Paid

Postpaid packages facilitate for the long time user.

In postpaid benefits are…

- You don't have to worry about your prepaid talk-time running out

- You can use the CityCell cash cards to pay your bills at your convenience

- You don't need to go hunting for prepaid card shops when your credit runs out

- You don't need to deposit money for special services like BTTB NWD/ISD

Conditions…

- You need to pay a minimum monthly line rent

- You need to have a security money amount deposited

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Post-Paid package are…

The three current postpaid offers

 CityCell 500
 Shabar Phone
 Aamar Phone
 Jana Phone

CityCell 500

This is the postpaid package with 24 hour mobile-to-mobile as well as BTTB

connectivity.

Under this plan, benefits are

 24 hour BTTB local/NWD/ISD incoming and outgoing facility

 The lowest tariff for a complete connectivity package
 Reduced call rates during off-peak (8PM-11PM) and super off-peak
(11PM-8AM) hours
 50% discounted tariff for calls to up to 3 CityCell numbers under the
One2One feature
 15 second outgoing pulse after first minute.

More benefits

 SMS and other value added service facilities

 Cash cards to lessen the hassle of bill payment

Shabar Phone

Shabar Phone is the convenient postpaid package with limited BTTB connectivity.

With Shabar Phone benefits are…

 A minimal monthly line rent

 No hidden charges for roaming

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 BTTB local/NWD/IDD outgoing facility during off-peak and super off-

peak hours
 50% discounted tariff for calls to up to 3 CityCell numbers under the
One2One plan
 15 second outgoing pulse after first minute

More benefits

 SMS and other value added service facilities

 Cash cards to lessen the hassle of bill payment

Aamar Phone

Aamar Phone is the convenient postpaid mobile-to-mobile service.

With Aamar Phone subscription will receive

 A low monthly line rent

 No hidden charges for roaming
 Reduced call rates during off-peak hours
 50% discounted tariff for calls to up to 3 CityCell numbers under the
One2One plan
 15 second outgoing pulse after the first minute

More benefits

 SMS and other value added service facilities

 Cash cards to lessen the hassle of bill payment
 Dedicated toll-free call center access

Jana Phone

Jana Phone is another convenient and cheap postpaid mobile-to-mobile service.

It has three categories:

 Jana Phone Economy

 Jana Phone Sever

 Jana Phone Super Sever

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Pre-Paid Packages
Package feature:
- You don't have to pay monthly line rent
- Don't need to deposit money for any special service (e.g. NWD/ISD)
- Don't have to wait in long queue to pay mobile bill

Types of packages
There are three prepaid packages:
 Aalap 24
 Aalap B
 Aalap Call Me (with call2cash feature)

Aalap 24

Benefits of Aalap 24

 Access to any mobile in Bangladesh

 24 hour BTTB connectivity
 24 hour NWD and ISD facility
 Very attractive and simple tariff plan
 Freedom to choose up to 3 CityCell numbers and make calls at 50%
reduced tariff under One2One scheme.

Aalap B

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Aalap B is only mobile-to-mobile package.

It’s a mobile to mobile service.

 Access to any mobile in Bangladesh

 Lower tariff especially at peak period
 Freedom to choose 1 CityCell number and make calls at 50% reduced tariff
under One2One scheme

Aalap Call Me

Aalap Call Me is a full BTTB connectivity package with the unique and innovative
call2cash feature.

Benefit of this package is

 Access to any mobile in Bangladesh

 24 hour BTTB local/NWD/ISD connectivity
 Under the call2cash feature Aalap Call Me subscribers will get Tk. 0.25
added to their account every minute when they receive calls from other
CityCell phones
 Freedom to choose up to 3 CityCell’s number and make calls at 50%
reduced tariff under One2One scheme
 CityCell to CityCell SMS at a reduced rate of Tk. 1.50

PRE-PAID TARIFF PLAN

Aalap 24

Call Type Call Charge

To Any Mobile Tk. 2.50

Outgoing 2
To BTTB Tk. 2.50
From Any Mobile Free
Incoming
From BTTB Tk. 1.00
1
For every 30 second pulse from the first 30 second
2
BTTB charges applicable

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* For One2One calls to up to 3 CityCell numbers, talk for as low as Tk. 1.25/pulse
* VAT applicable

Aalap B

Call Type Call Charge

Super Off
Peak Off Peak
Peak
(8AM-8PM) (8PM-11PM)
(11PM-8AM)
Outgoing To Any Mobile Tk. 5.00/min Tk. 4.00/min Tk. 2.00/min
Incoming From Any Mobile Free Free Free
* 20 second pulse after first minute
* For One2One calls to 1 CityCell number, talk for 50% of the above tariffs
* VAT applicable

Aalap Call Me

Call Type Call Charge

To Any Mobile Tk. 2.50

Outgoing
To BTTB2 Tk. 2.50
From CityCell Tk. 0.25 credit per
Mobile minute
Incoming
From Any Mobile Free
From BTTB Tk. 1.00
1
For every 30 second pulse from the first 30 second
2
BTTB charges applicable
* For One2One calls to up to 3 CityCell numbers, talk for as low as Tk. 1.25/pulse
* VAT applicable

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* CityCell to CityCell SMS @ Tk. 1.50

POST-PAID TARIFF PLAN

CityCell 500
Monthly Line Rent: Tk. 500

Call Type Call Charge

Super Off
Peak Off Peak
Peak (11PM-
(8AM-8PM) (8PM-11PM)
8AM)
To Any Mobile1 Tk. 4.00/min Tk. 3.00/min Tk. 1.50/min
Outgoing 2
To BTTB Tk. 4.00/min Tk. 3.00/min Tk. 1.50/min
From Any Mobile Free Free Free
Tk. 3.00/min Tk. 2.00/min Tk. 1.00/min
Incoming
From BTTB1 after free first after free first after free
minute minute first minute
1
Interzonal / Roaming charges applicable
2
BTTB charges applicable
* 15 second pulse after first minute
* For One2One calls to 3 CityCell numbers, talk for 50% of the above tariffs
* VAT applicable

Aamar Phone

Call Type Call Charge

Peak Off Peak
(8AM-11PM) (11PM-8AM)

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Outgoing To Any Mobile Tk. 3.00/min Tk. 1.50/min

Incoming From Any Mobile Free Free

* 15 second pulse after first minute

* For One2One calls to 3 CityCell numbers, talk for 50% less of the above tariffs

Shabar Phone

Monthly Line Rent: Tk. 250

Call Type Call Charge

Super Off
Peak Off Peak
Peak (11PM-
(8AM-8PM) (8PM-11PM)
8AM)
To Any Mobile1 Tk. 4.00/min Tk. 3.00/min Tk. 1.50/min
Outgoing 2
To BTTB N/A Tk. 3.00/min Tk. 1.50/min
From Any Mobile Free Free Free
Tk. 3.00/min Tk. 2.00/min Tk 1.00/min
Incoming
From BTTB 1 after free first after free first after free
minute minute first minute
1
Interzonal / Roaming charges applicable
2
BTTB charges applicable
* 15 second pulse after first minute
* For One2One calls to 3 CityCell numbers, talk for 50% of the above tariffs
* VAT applicable

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Jana Phone

Jana Phone Jana Phone Jana Phone

Economy Sever Super Sever

Line Rent 100 100 0

Outgoing (Any mobile) 2.00 / min 2.00 / min 2.00 / min

Incoming Free Free Free

Pulse 30 seconds 30 seconds 30 seconds

Monthly Bundle Fee 900 1400 2500

Monthly Free Minutes 450 700 1250

Security Deposit (Refundable) 2000 2500 3500

* Charges are in BDT

* VAT applicable

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Chronology of CityCell's Achievements

Date Event

Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL) was awarded a license to operate cellular,

1989
paging, and other wireless communication networks.

Hutchison Bangladesh Telecom Limited (HBTL) was incorporated in

Apr-
Bangladesh as a joint venture between BTL and Hutchison
90
Telecommunications (Bangladesh) Limited.

Apr-
Agreement with BTTB regarding PSTN links.
93

Aug-
1st cellular operation in the South Asian sub-continent
93

Aug- HBTL began commercial operation in Dhaka using the AMPS mobile
93 technology.

Dec-
Pacific Motors Limited acquired the entire 50% share holding of HBTL.
93

Feb- HBTL was renamed as Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (PBTL) and
96 launched the brand name “CityCell Digital” to market its cellular products.

Mar-
1st to extend coverage to Chittagong
97

Apr-
CityCell began commercial operation in Chittagong.
97

Mar-
1st to adopt CDMA technology
99

Apr- CDMA technology was first introduced by CityCell.

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99

Sep- Asian Infrastructure Development Company (AIDEC) and Fujitsu Limited

00 (FL) became shareholders in CityCell.

Jan-
1st to set-up a communications backbone to Chittagong
01

Apr-
Dhaka-Chittagong microwave is launched.
01

Nov- CityCell introduced the 15-second pulse rate in the cellular industry of
01 Bangladesh.

Jan-
CityCell commences operations in the Sylhet zone.
02

Jan- Value Added Services (VAS), such as 24 hour billing information, news,
02 services, sports, etc., are introduced.

Mar-
First operator in Bangladesh to offer off-peak rates.
02

July- First operator in Bangladesh to offer prepaid services with two-way PSTN
02 connectivity.

Sep- CityCell extends coverage to Rangpur, Dinajpur, and Syedpur, the northern
02 districts of Bangladesh.

Oct-
Short Message Service (SMS) is introduced.
02

Jan-
CityCell launched its services in the major northern business city of Bogra.
03

Feb-
First operator in Bangladesh to introduce the One2One post-paid package.
03

Jun- CityCell reaches a coverage level of 40 districts out of a total of 64 (61

03 districts eligible).

Jun-
Network capacity is increased to 240,000.
03

Aug- CityCell introduces “Amar Phone”, a postpaid mobile-to-mobile package

03 offering the lowest outgoing rate per minute in Bangladesh.

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Sep- First operator in Bangladesh to introduce IDD and NWD for prepaid
03 subscribers.

Oct- CityCell reaches a coverage level of 51 districts out of a total of 64 (61

03 districts eligible).

Nov- CityCell’s 24-hour customer call center opens. Network capacity is increased
03 to 280,000.

Year-end active mobile subscriber base reaches 179,058 with coverage in 51

Dec-03
districts.

Mar-04 CityCell opens its customer service centers 7 days a week countrywide.

June-
CityCell launches RIM based handsets.
04

Services of CITYCELL

Any Account holder of Bank Asia can know his balance through this service.
Chittagong Stock Exchange Service

SMS Banking with Standard Chartered Bank.

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Two types of information are available here:

1. Account Information and

2. Card information
Bangla SMS

Call Related Service

Call Forwarding
Call Forwarding lets you forward your number to any mobile or T&T phone
number to receive your calls through that number. Even if you are traveling abroad,
you can forward your calls to a designated number outside the country to always
stay in touch.

Three Party Conferences (TPC)

With our Three Party Conference Service you can have a three-way conversation
with two other people simultaneously over the phone. You can include both mobile
and T&T phones in your TPC conversation for real flexibility.

SMS (Short Message Service)

Stay in touch with your friends and family through SMS. SMS is automatically
available for all CityCell customers and does not have to be specifically activated.
All you have to do is choose the message option on your phone, write your
message in the message field and send it to the desired number. This service is
available for messages sent to other CityCell customers and to Grameen Phone
customers.

GROUP SMS (Short Message Service)

Emergency Services

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For health care service

Hospital info
Blood Bank

Emergency: For the regional emergency numbers of the Police Station, Fire
Service and Ambulance SMS available.

Taxi Cab

Eye Bank To get the information on the Eye Bank CityCell helping by SMS

Financial Services
Currency Exchange Rate

Voice Mail Services

Never miss any important calls and messages with CityCell VMS. Whenever you
cannot answer a call or need to temporarily switch off your phone, people can still
leave a message for you in your voice mailbox. You can listen to your messages
whenever it is convenient for you and get back to the caller later.

Network Coverage Map

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District Wise Network Coverage Area

DIVISION DISTRICT WISE AREA

DHAKA MOTLOB RUPGONJ FARIDGONJ BHUA PUR

KONA BARI MONOHORDI KOCHUA FULBARI
AKHAURA GHATAIL MODHUPUR (Dinajpur)
KALIGONJ BASAIL RAJ BARI Muktagacha
NETROKONA ARI HAZAR SHAHAJADPUR Kotiadi

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MURAD Bajitpur
HOMNA
NAGAR ELANGA Borura
KOSHBA
SHERPUR SARISA BARI POLASH
GAZIPUR
NOBI NAGAR JAMALPUR Maymonshing - 2
SADOR
BELKUCHI MANIKGONJ Shakipur
SRI NAGOR
COMILLA B. BARIA - 2 RAJENDROPUR
KAPASIA
TOWN - 3 GAURIPUR
BURICHONG
DEBBIDER

CHONDON
PURA
CHANDGOAN
NAZIRHAT IDGOAN B-BLK
BIBIR HAT SENBUG MOHESHKHALI MURADPUR
UKHIA BASHKHALY SHONDEEP CEMENT
COMPANYGONJ CHONDONISH MIRSHORI CLINKER
SONAGAZI RANGUNIA BAIJEED CORNEL HUT
CHATKHILL LOHAGORA BOSTAMI DYAPARA
BOALKHALY TECHNAF C EPZ SADORGHAT
CHITTAGONG
DOGONBHUYA COX BAZAR - PATHANTOLI KALAMIA
RAIPUR 3 HALISHORE A BAZAR
SONAIMURI AMAN BAZAR BLOCK PATHANTOLA
RAMGONJ KAFCO CHALK BAZAR JAMAL KHAN
FULGAZI NOJUMIAR KAMAL BAZAR
CHAGOLNAYA HAT SALTGOLA
LAXMIPUR CDA

BAROLEKHA SYLHET CITY

GOLAP GONJ
KANAIGHAT SYLHET CITY - - 9
GOALA
SYLHET JAGANNATHPUR 7
BAZAR
JAMALGONJ SYLHET CITY -
KULAURA
8

KHULNA JESSORE CITY POTUAKHALI BHANDARIA KUSTIA

-2 PEROJPUR BORISHAL -3 UNIVERSITY
JHIKARGACHA JHALOKHATI NAVARON HATIA

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KOLAROA BORGUNA
SAILKUPA FULTOLA
NARAIL BHOLA
MEHERPUR KHULNA -4
GOPALGONJ

CHIRIR RANGPUR -3
BODORGONJ PALASHBARI
BONDOR
RAJSHAHI SUJANAGOR TAKURGOAN
DINAJPUR -2
ATAIKULA PANCHOGOR
KURIGRAM

Chapter Six

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Banglalink, an Overview

WHO IS BEHIND THE BANGLALINK

Orascom telecom is one of the most dynamic telecommunications powerhouses in
the world. Orascom is based in Egypt and has operations in 11 countries
worldwide. Established in 1998, it is today the largest capitalized company on the
Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchanges with over 11 million subscribers worldwide.
It has grown to be one of the largest and most diversified GSM network operators
in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

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ORASCOM
History & Background

On September 2nd 2004, Orascom Telecom has purchased 100% of the shares of
Sheba Telecom in Bangladesh. Sheba Telecom holds a nationwide GSM license
and operates a network serving approximately 60,000 subscribers primarily in and
around Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. OTH intends to develop Sheba Telecom into
a leader in the mobile sector by quickly expanding its GSM network to provide
high quality communications services at affordable prices.

Bangladesh is a highly attractive market for mobile services due to its large and
highly concentrated population, low penetration of telecommunications services,
and high growth in mobile subscribers. With approximately 140 million
inhabitants, it ranks as the eighth most populous country in the world and is among
the most densely populated. Bangladesh is served by only 950,000 fixed lines and
has only approximately 2.5 million GSM mobile subscribers. While mobile
services have been available in Bangladesh since 1991, growth in this sector has
only accelerated in recent years; the market has expanded by more than 200% over
the last two years.
On October 20th 2004, Chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom, Mr. Naguib
Sawiris as well as the executives of the company have announced the re-branding
of Sheba Telecom into Banglalink™ and the actual purchase of the shares.

On February 10th 2005, Orascom Telecom announced the launch of GSM mobile
services in Bangladesh. Banglalink offered different attractive pricing plans from
its newly launched prepaid service, which came in addition to its already available
postpaid monthly service. A great presentation was done by Mr. Lars P. Reichelt
CEO of Banglalink after which reporters were impressed by the offers.

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With Bengalink’s new management team, new network infrastructures have been
deployed, a distribution of network and points of sales have been set up, and a
complete and comprehensive design for its commercial plan to offer high quality
telecommunication services at competitive prices to the Bengali people has been
planned out thoroughly.

The operation in Bangladesh will further enhance Orascom Telecom’s growth and
leadership in mobile services. OTH intends to remain the leading emerging
markets mobile services operator with a primary focus on investing in and
developing core GSM operations in Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and
Tunisia.

Shared Value of Banglalink

Banglalink aims to understand peoples' needs best and develop appropriate

communication services to improve peoples' life and make it simple. All our work
is aimed towards meeting our vision. All members of the Banglalink family are
highly passionate individuals, fully committed to achieving the vision that we have
set ourselves. Our customers' needs matter most to us- making their life simple and
improving it is all we want. To ensure our vision is achieved, we have set ourselves
a few values, we want to be:

 Straight Forward
 Reliable
 Innovative
 Passionate

All the Banglalink family members have one thing in common- a passion to serve.
We want to go that extra mile, so that you can have the best possible service
investing in the future of Bangladesh.

Making a difference
The biggest barrier today for people is the cost of handsets. We will strive to lower
the total cost of owning a mobile. We are here to help make a difference in people's
lives by providing affordable and reliable connectivity solutions. We will strive to
connect people and link their lives by listening to them and by understanding their
needs. We are here to help you speak your language.

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Our Vision
"Banglalink understands people's needs best and will create and deliver appropriate
communication services to improve people's life and make it easier"

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Post Paid Package

All new Post Paid tariffs from Banglalink. Whichever way, you are always a
winner. At Banglalink, we believe in providing connectivity solutions that you can
rely on. This makes a difference in your life. And keeping that in mind, we have
come out with our all new Post-Paid plans. No matter which one you choose, you
will always end up a winner.

Benefits of Post-paid packages

No Connection Charge - Introductory Limited time offer

No Inter-zonal Charges
No National roaming charges
Reduced Monthly subscription fee

Special introductory limited time offer- no connection charge, just bring the
required documents and give the deposit to get your Banglalink post-paid package.

Banglalink M2M
Simple mobile to mobile connectivity with a month subscription fee of only Tk.
150. Minimum deposit of Tk. 500.

Banglalink M2M plus

Simple mobile to mobile connectivity with T&T incoming with a month
subscription fee of only Tk. 250. Minimum deposit of Tk. 500.

Banglalink Standard

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The full works- connects to all phones, T&T both ways including NWD & ISD
calls for a monthly fee of Tk. 350.

Minimum deposit:
M2M, T&T, NWD - Tk. 1,000
M2M, T&T, NWD & ISD - Tk. 2,500

Post Paid Tariff Plan

No inter-zonal call charges.
No extra incoming call charges during national roaming.

Banglalink currently has the following Post Paid Packages/Products

 Banglalink Standard
 Banglalink M2M Plus
 Banglalink M2M

Banglalink is pleased to offer post paid service with the following tariff plan

Particulars Standard M2M Plus M2M

Outgoing

Peak Hour Tk.2.00 1st 30 seconds then Tk.1.00/15

(8am-8pm) seconds onwards

Off -Peak Tk.1.50 1st 30 seconds then Tk.0.75/15

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(8pm-11pm) seconds onwards

Tk.0.50 1st 30 seconds to Banglalink mobile

then Tk.0.25/15 seconds onwards
Late Night Hour(11pm-8am)
Tk.0.75 1st 30 seconds to other mobile then
Tk.0.38/15 seconds onwards

Monthly Subscription Fee Tk.350 Tk.250 Tk.150

Incoming

From Any Mobile: Free Free Free

From T&T:

Peak Hour 1st minute free then Tk.1 /

N/A
(8am-8pm) 30 seconds

Off -Peak 1st minute free then Tk.1 /

N/A
(8pm-11pm) 30 seconds

Late Night Hour 1st minute free then

N/A
(11pm-8am) Tk.0.50 / 30 seconds

Pre Paid Package

Pre-paid is a system where you pay for your phone calls in advance. Pre paid gives
you the freedom to use your mobile within your budget. It is an excellent way to
speak your language.

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Banglalink has three types of Pre-Paid services. These are Pre-Paid M2M, Pre-Paid
M2M Plus and Pre-Paid Standard. These services are included into two types:
“Ladies First” and “Mishti Komola”.

Banglalink Prepaid M2M Package Details

Benefit of this package

 Mobile to Mobile Calling Facility
 TK. 20 Talk Time Free
 SMS to GP & AKTEL
 Newest Network

Key Feature of Banglalink Pre Paid

 No monthly subscription fee
 One country one rate
 90 days grace period on scratch card

Termination of your pre-paid service

If the account is not recharged with a new scratch card within 90 days after the
validity period of the last xxx card ends, then the account will expired and be
permanently deleted from the system without any further information.
Validity Period of Banglalink Pre-paid Card.

For you convenience, you can recharge your account by using any of the following
denominations:
Type of Scratch Card Validity period

Tk. 50 6 Days

Tk. 150 90 Days

Tk. 300 180 Days

Tk. 600 360 Days

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Tariff & Charges

Call rates for all Banglalink pre-paid customers slashed by over 25%
Every Banglalink pre-paid customer can enjoy an incredible rate of Tk. 2.22 / 30
sec. for all Banglalink to Banglalink calls & off-peak rates of Tk. 1.11/ 15 sec.
(11:00 pm to 7:00 am).

FREE subscription and activation for the first 3 months: All Banglalink
customers will enjoy this rate without doing anything & without paying anything
extra for the first three months. It is pre-activated and only after three months of
use, this discount will require a Tk. 25 subscription charge.
Free 3 months of subscription & activation for existing users’ starts from 5th April
2005.
For new users the offer is valid till 5th May 2005, and the free 3 months of
subscription & activation starts from the day of activation of the new number.

 Pre-Paid M2M Tariff Plan

Peak-Hour Off Peak Hour

Time Band
7:00 AM~11:00 PM 11:00 PM~7:00 AM
Outgoing Calls
Banglalink to any Mobile Tk.3/30 Second Tk.1.5/15 second
Incoming Call
From Mobile Free Free

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Notes:
 On weekend and any public holiday Off-Peak is applicable
 Prices are VAT exclusive and subject to change without prior notice
 Pre-Paid Standard Tariff Card

Time Band Mobile to Mobile Mobile + T&T*

Outgoing (Peak) Tk. 3.00/30 sec. Tk. 3.00/30 sec.+ T&T
Outgoing (Off-Peak : 11:00pm - 7:00am) Tk. 1.50/15 sec. Tk. 1.50/15 sec.+ T&T
Incoming call (Peak) Tk. 1.00/30 sec.
Free
Incoming (Off-Peak) Tk. 0.50/15 sec.

 Tk. 1.70 per call for all local and T&T outgoing calls.

 For calls to T&T, NWD & ISD: T&T Peak and Off-Peak (10pm - 8am)
charges applicable, 30 sec. pulses applies throughout the day.

 Free Tk.20 talk time valid for 3 days.

 30 sec. pulse from the start.
 SMS Tk. 2.00 per message.
 Scratch Cards available:

Tk. 50 with 6 days validity

Tk. 150 with 90 days validity

Tk. 300 with 180 days validity

Tk. 600 with 360 days validity

 To recharge account and for balance inquiry : 123 (free of charge)

 Prices are VAT exclusive and subject to change without prior notice.
 Please buy all connections from exclusive Banglalink outlets. Please bring
two copies of passport sized colour photograph to purchase the connection.
 For more information, please call Customer Care Centre where we are
ready to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 121 (Tk.2.00/min), 019
1310900, 019 1310901, 02-9888370.

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Special Tariff of LADIES FIRST

Outgoing: Peak Hour (7am to 12pm and 3pm to 11pm)

 Banglalink to Banglalink: Tk. 1.25 / 30 seconds
 Banglalink to Others: Tk. 2.25 / 30 seconds

Outgoing: Off-Peak Hour (11pm to 7am)

 Banglalink to Any Number: Tk. 0.98 / 30 seconds

Your Time: (12pm to 3pm)

 Banglalink to Banglalink: Tk. 1.25 / 30 seconds
 Banglalink to Others: Tk. 1.50 / 30 seconds

One Banglalink FnF Number for 24 Hours

 Tk. 0.98 / 30 seconds

SMS
 Banglalink to Banglalink: Tk. 1 / SMS
 Banglalink to Others: Tk. 1.75 / SMS

Special Tariff of MISHTI KOMOLA

Tk. 4.40 / minute

This peak rate is charged for calls to all mobile operators

Tk. 3.00 / minute

Your Morning: 7am - 10am to all operators

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Tk. 2.50 / minute

Banglalink to Banglalink for 24 hours

Tk. 1.96 / minute

Super off-peak rate: 11pm – 7am to all operators

SMS
 Banglalink to Banglalink: Tk. 0.99 / SMS
 Banglalink to Others: Tk. 1.75 / SMS

Services

Pre-Paid subscriber can also enjoy Banglalink Value-Added Services as follows:

The supplementary Services
Call forwarding/divert
 Call waiting/holding
 Call barring
 Caller line identification presentation(CLIP)
 Voice mail service(VMS)
 Short massage service(SMS)
 Ring tone download
 Logo download

Value Added Service

Itemized Bill

This service allows you to receive a detailed list of all your chargeable dialed
numbers including the date, time, duration and charge of calls upon your
prescribed requisition. You need to give your requisition for itemized bill one
month before the requested bill period.

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How to receive your itemized bill?

1. Pay the Applicable fee in our authorized bank on Banglalink payment slip
ticking in itemized bill.
2. Visit any of our customer care centers.
3. Fill in the prescribed form or write to us on plain paper/ company letterhead
pad with your valid signature mentioning:
 Subscriber's name & mobile number
 Specify whether you require it for the last billing month or on a
regular monthly basis.

Cancellation of regular itemized bill would come into effect from the following
month's bill after the cancellation request is received.

Fee / Charges: Tk. 115 for One Month and TK. 100 for having itemized bill on a
monthly basis.

Call Forwarding

Call Forwarding allows you to divert your incoming calls to Banglalink, other
operators & to BTTB, when your mobile is off, unreachable or you don't want to
be disturbed. But it is not possible to divert your number to an international
number.

Charge/fees

Divert charge is applicable for diverting calls to another number except Voice Mail.
There is no charge for diverting calls to Voice Mail but access to mail box and
retrieval of voice message is charged at normal airtime.

Voice Messaging service (VMS)

Voice Mail is a special facility that keeps you always in touch. It takes your
messages when you wish to forward/divert your call under the following
conditions:
 Unconditional
 If no reply
 When busy

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 Unreachable

By subscribing in the voice mail service you have a particular mail box number
(your mobile number) along with a password to authenticate your account
(password by default is 9999). You are advised to change this for the safeguard of
your privacy.

Short Messaging Service

Short Message Service (SMS) is a value added service where one can send
message via text. You can share your feelings; memorable events with another
Banglalink mobile without making any phone call. SMS allows you to send and
receive text messages from your own Banglalink mobile handset to any other
Banglalink mobile handset. The highest characters of any message are 160.

SMS Advantages
 Easy to Send
 Cost Effective
 No Activation charge
 No Monthly charge
 No Incoming charge

SMS Jokes

Text Jokes Quotes Cricket

Horoscope Emergency Taxi Cab Weather

Caller Line Identification Presentation (CLIP)

CLIP is a supplementary service that allows you to see the number of the caller on
your mobile screen before you answer the call. This is a standard feature available
to you and you do not need any activation for this service.

Customer Services

Banglalink Customer Service Center (CSC) offers a dedicated 24 / 7 services to

answer all your queries. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. Any queries you may have
about:

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 subscribing for a new connection

 any form of account information
 coverage details
 product information
 value added services etc

Banglalink CSC is devoted to make certain that all your queries are answered
without delay.

Conference Calling

First time ever on a Pre-Paid Connection

T-adda: talk with your friends together…wherever, whenever

T-adda (Conference Call) service enables Bengalink’s prepaid and postpaid

subscribers to call more than one person in one call (including the initiator) at the
same time. All the parties in a conference call will be connected together and they
can talk to each other through the party originating the call.

Who will benefit from the service?

Businessmen, professionals and even regular users are benefited from the service
for better communication and time management.

Call Waiting / Call holding

You can take a second call while you are on the phone without losing the first one.

Call Barring

Call Barring allows you to bar any specific type of calls from your mobile phone.
For example, if you want to bar all outgoing calls or ISD outgoing calls from your

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connection, you can bar these calls from your handset. When you bar calls from
your handset, Banglalink will bar calls as per your setting.

NETWORK COVERAGE OF BANGLALINK

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Presently Banglalink Network covers 425 Thanas in 61 Districts

Chapter Seven

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Comparative Analysis and Findings

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

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The researcher divides the questionnaire into two parts in the findings and analysis
segment; these are general information about customer. These will give a clear idea
about the customer preference towards the companies which are serving in present
telecom industry. After finishing the survey the researcher found the following
findings:

Profession of the respondents

Particulars Frequency Percentage

Service 43 43.00%
Business 40 40.00%
Student 7 7.00%
House wife 6 6.00%
Others 4 4.00%

Profession of the respondents

Figure: Profession of the respondents

The above picture shows most of the users mobile phone connections are service
holder which is 43%. 7% of the total respondent’s are student, 40% are
Businessmen, 6% are housewife and 4% are in other category. It indicates that
most of the respondents are either student or service holder.
Age of respondents:

Particulars Frequency Percentage

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13 - 19 5 5.00%
20 - 25 33 33.00%
26 - 30 34 34.00%
31 - 35 14 14.00%
36 - 40 7 7.00%
41 – 45 5 5.00%
Above 46 2 2.00%
Table: Age of respondents

Figure: Age of respondents

The above graph presents that 33% respondent’s ages are from 20-25 years and
34% respondents ages are from 26-30 years. 14% ages are from 31-35 years. Only
5% ages are from 13-19 years.

Reason for Using a Mobile Phone:

Particulars Frequency Percent

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Keep in touch with family 47 35%

Business 7 20%

Keep in touch with friends 19 6%

Office use 23 35%

Others 4 4%
Figure: Reason for using mobile phone

Figure: Reason for using mobile phone

The graphs show that most people use mobile phone to keep in touch with their
families. 35% respondent said that it is their main usage of mobile phone. 35% use
mobile connection for official use and 6% to contact with friends. 20% uses mobile
phone for business reasons.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
VARIOUS INFORMATION ABOUT MOBILE COMPANIES SERVING IN
BANGLADESH:

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Operator Technology Date of Ownership No’s of

launching subscribers
AKTEL GSM Last quarter 70% Telecom 3,000,000
”97 Malaysia, 30% App.
AK khan
GRAMEEN GSM First quarter 65% Telenor, 6,000,000
PHONE ”97 35%Grameen App.
Telecom,

CITYCELL CDMA Third quarter 50% Pacific 650,000

”93 Group, 50% App.
Fareast Telecom
Banglalink GSM First quarter 100% Orascom 1,000,000
2005 telecom App.

DIFFERENT STRATEGY AND SLOGAN OF DIFFERENT MOBILE

OPERATORS

Operator Strategy Slogan

CITYCELL Proven dependability Because we care
AKTEL Modernity One step ahead
Banglalink Phone for every body We speak your
language.
GrameenPhone Communication for every body In the hands of
people

QUALITY OF SERVICE

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In the matter of quality the positions of the companies are as follows:

After taking survey the following picture are to be invented.

Particulars Frequency Percentage

GrameenPhone 42 42.00%
AKTEL 38 38.00%
CITYCELL 17 17.00%
Banglalink 3 3.00%

Figure: In the matter of quality the positions of the companies

Customers are satisfied with the service quality of AKTEL. 38% of the total
respondents strongly agree with the availability of giving quality service by
Grameen phone, 42% agree with it. So there are a little bit objections about
AKTEL’s service quality. With CityCell the subscriber giving support of 17%. And
a little support with Banglalink that is only 3%.Coz of there new entry in
competition.

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Satisfaction with the Network coverage & for quality:

Particulars Frequency Percentage

GrameenPhone 50 50.00%
AKTEL 38 38.00%
CITYCELL 11 11.00%
Banglalink 1 1.00%

Table: Satisfaction with the Network coverage

Figure: Satisfaction with the Network coverage

Customers are satisfied with the network coverage of AKTEL. 52% of the total
respondents strongly agree with the availability of the network coverage of
AKTEL, 33% agree with it. So there are a little bit objections about AKTEL’s
network coverage which is one of the main advantages of AKTEL over its
competitors.

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Network Coverage:

GrameenPhone 61
AKTEL 61
CITYCELL 55
Banglalink 61

There is a same coverage of AKTEL, GrameenPhone & Banglalink that is 61

Districts. Customers are satisfied with the network coverage of both companies.
But for AKTEL now days the quality of network is a problem but it is getting
bigger and smooth quickly. So there are a little bit objections about AKTEL’s
network coverage which is one of the main advantages of AKTEL over its
competitors.

Market Reputation of existing mobile companies:

After taking the survey, following picture is founded:

Figure: Market Reputation of existing companies.

38% of the total respondents strongly agree that AKTEL has a good reputation in
the market, 48% agree with GP about its performance & also its market reputation.
On the other hand 12% respondents are telling well about market reputation of
CityCell. The market reputation is quite satisfactory for Bangla link as a new
comer.

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Technological positions of the companies:

Providing New Technology & related services:

Company Technology Version

GrameenPhone GSM 1800
AKTEL GSM 900 & 1800
CITYCELL CDMA 2000-IX
Banglalink GSM 900

Table: Providing New Technology & related services.

Grameen phone is using GSM Technology, which’s version 1800.AKTel is using

Technology GSM and both of the version 900 &1800.City cell is using CDMA
Technology and 2000-IX version. Where as, Bangla link is using GSM Technology
& 900 version. The above table and graph illustrate AKTEL’s new technology and
services (SMS, Voicemail, AIRS, Information Service, and GPRS etc) where 38%
respondents agree with the related features, the respondents are agreeing with this
statement that AKTEL provides the latest technology and related services, and GP
too.

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Promotion:

Promotional Activities

Particulars Frequency Percentage

GrameenPhone 46 46.00%
AKTEL 42 42.00%
CITYCELL 10 10.00%
Banglalink 2 2.00%

Table: Positions in the Promotional Activities.

Figure: Promotional Activities

Advertisement plays a vital role in any business. When asked about this question
respondents agree that before buying this connection they were encourage to see
the advertisement in billboard, newspapers, TV etc. me also strongly agree with the
statement. In promotion GP stands on 46%, AKTel stands 42%, city cell 10%, and
Bangla link stands for 2% only according to the respondent vote.

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Pricing:

Pricing of the Product:

Particulars Frequency Percentage

GrameenPhone 46 46.00%
AKTEL 42 42.00%
CITYCELL 10 10.00%
Banglalink 2 2.00%

Figure: Pricing of the Product

About the pricing of the product of the customers view holds on flexibility of
pricing. On that case GP stands for the first place with 46%. And AKTel on the
nearest place with 42%. City cell & Bangla link are on the third and last place.

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Year wise Mobile subscribers increase:

Year GrameenPhone AKTEL CITYCELL Banglalink

1997 55000 20000 0 0
1998 75000 30000 0 0
1999 100000 75000 10000 0
2000 175000 150000 30000 0
2001 450000 210000 75000 0
2002 700000 300000 150000 0
2003 1500000 550000 350000 0
2004 2500000 1300000 475000 0
2005 6000000 3000000 650000 1000000

Year wise mobile subscriber increase.

3500000

3000000

2500000

Amount of 2000000
Subscribers.
1500000

1000000

500000

0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Grameen phone AKTel CityCell Bangla link

This figure shows that the increase rate of subscribers is very much high. Where as
the total subscribers in 1997 was only bellow 50000 and after 9 years the
subscribers rise in a very high rate and now it is around 50.00000. In our country

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the standard demand may be 10% of total population, I think if the penetration rate
runs throw same way, very soon the standard demand will be fulfill.
Market share of various companies:

Market shares Subscribers

GrameenPhone ± 6,000,000

AKTEL ± 3,000,000

CITYCELL ± 650,000

Sheba (Banglalink) ± 1,000,000

According to grapping the subscribers and on the positions of existing subscribers

there is no question that Grameen phone stand on the first place as market leader.
And on the second place as a follower AKTEL operating its activities as a hard
competitor, CITYCELL placed on the last. And a new comer Banglalink is on the
third position.

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Chapter Eight

Competition Of Telemarketing In
Bangladesh: A Study On AKTEL

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MOBILE PHONE SCENARIO IN BANGLADESH

In 1993 the first ever mobile telephone was introduced in Bangladesh by

CITYCELL, which is a joint venture of Pacific Telecom Limited, Bangladesh &
Hutchison Hong Kong with AMPS technology which later upgraded into CDMA.
For about 5 years CITYCELL enjoyed a monopoly in Mobile Telephone Market.
In 1996, government of Bangladesh issued 3 GSM licenses to open up the Mobile
Phone sector and the licenses were awarded to GrameenPhone, AKTEL and Sheba
Telecom. Recently Orascom of Egypt took over Sheba Telecom and renamed it as
Banglalink.

Recently the government has launched a cell phone service called “Teletalk” on
March 31.

At this moment all the mobile companies have a very keen competition.
'GrameenPhone' enjoying the 1st position in this industry now have 6,000,000
subscribers' base. Banglalink announced to increase their customer base to
4,000,000 by the end of 2006. Recent expansion scheme of all the operators
including “Teletalk” make it clear to the people that in the near future they will
provide coverage to the every comer of the country. So ultimately it will develop
the country's communication infrastructure. As Bangladesh is agriculture based
country, so by using the opportunities of vast mobile communication agricultural
business will also develop, for example, peasant in the remote village will get the
information regarding price of his agro-products at any time. So as the other people
in the village or remote area will also get the opportunity of global communication.
Subsequently the development of Mobile Telecommunication will develop the
country's economic condition.

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Mobile phone market in Bangladesh was dominated by several

forces

 • The principal forces were mobile phone operators

 • Now it is dominated by the gray market

The business in this sector was dominated by the four major mobile phone
operators named
• GrameenPhone
• CITYCELL Digital
• AKTEL
• Sheba Telecom (Banglalink)

However, the experts in this field have started to believe that by the transition of
business style has already started in this sector from operator base business to shop
level business. To survive in the shop level business the suppliers have to be
proactive.

The Mobile Importers Association is working with their connection reduce

competition with Gray Market.

BANGLADESH TELECOM SCENARIO

Bangladesh is a fast growing market for selling mobile phones.

 • Major attraction is on low end products approx. USD 50.00
 • Total number of operators is 05 (04 GSM and 01 CDMA).

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 • Penetration: 02.6% Mobile phone is almost new to this country as it

started back in 1992 with AMPS technology and later in 1997 with GSM
technology.
 • Total number of mobile phones is 4.20 million.
 • Total number of fixed line phones is 1.2 million.
 • Due to insufficient fixed line phones mobile phone business is meeting
customers demand for telecommunication purpose.
 • Most popular concept is mobile to mobile.
 • Competition on call charges started very strongly among operators.

GRAMEENPHONE

 • GSM 900 and recently granted for 1800, Started operation in March 1997.
 • Current subscriber base is 2.8 million.
 • Family involved directly with GP 900 & indirectly 75,000.
 • The shareholders of GrameenPhone: Telenor (65%) Grameen Telecom
(35%),
 • Network coverage: all over the country (61 districts).
 • Technology target in 2005: EDGE, which will support all multimedia
mobile phone.

BANGLALINK

 • Orascom has bought the major shares of this company and started
operation as Banglalink.
 • GSM 900, Started operation in August 1998
 • Current subscriber base is 1 million
 • Network coverage is limited in 11 major districts including Dhaka,
Chittagong & Sylhet etc.
 • Network coverage: all over the country 61 districts (recently).

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CITYCELL

 • Started operation with AMPS in August 1993 and later shifted to CDMA
in 1999.
 • Current subscriber base is 0.7 million.
 • Technology target in 2004: CDMA 2000 – IX
 • They have coverage almost all over the country (55 districts).

AKTEL

 • Telekom Malaysia Berhad and A.K. Khan & Co. Limited which was
established in the year 1996 and services launched in 1997 under the brand
name AKTEL
 • GSM 900 & 1800 Current subscriber base is 3 million
 • Network coverage: all over the country 61 districts

BANGLADESH CUSTOMER CATEGORY

 • Now a day’s mobile phone has become a part of daily life.

 • GSM stands for 86% of the market.
 • Consumers prefer basic handsets at a cheap rate. (Voice only).

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 • Opportunity for low entry handsets with in approx. USD 50.00 (C&F
cost).
 • Although selling law by the operators are SIM + Handset, but recent
practice by the customers is to buy SIM only.
 • Prefers handsets purchase from gray market.

Chapter Nine

SWOT Analysis of AKTEL,

Recommendations and Conclusion

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF TMIB

 Strength

 GSM Technology.
 Better reputation
 Effective human resources
 Quality top management
 Quality billing system
 Quality customers care system
 Expertise and experience of parent company
 Better liaison with foreign GSM operators
 Long range strategic planning
 Market research unit
 Strong dealer network
 Good reputation.

 Weaknesses

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 Poorer coverage than the competitor

 Not enough channel with BTTB.
 Quality of network is poor now a day.
 Absence of human resource policy.
 Shortage of human resource in the help-line
 Pricing packages are more expensive and less attractive.

 Opportunities

 Public sector unable to meet demand

 Product with very long life cycle
 New technology
 Growing middle class population
 Main competitor has a congested network because of its unplanned
customer growth.

 Threat

 Unstable political culture

 Recession in the economy
 Non-cooperative telecommunication regulatory body.
 Possible health risk for mobile phone
 PSTN phone already started their business.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The recommendations given below are not decisions; rather they are only
suggestions to improve the customer service in order to fulfill the customer
satisfaction so that subscribers give more preference to AKTEL Pre-paid
connection. And thus AKTEL will able to survive in Competition of Telemarketing
in Bangladesh.

The recommendations are made on the basis of survey, findings and analysis.
These are:

 Recently the customers are facing some network problem

with AKTEL network, AKTEL should be more careful about
it. AKTEL network is not as good as like GrameenPhone
(GP). In response to customer’s objections of the AKTEL’S
(comparatively) low powered network coverage and its
frequency, it should make concentration seriously on its
network coverage and frequency.
 They have to remember that their main advantage to catch
the customer first all over the country. So they should

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improve the network coverage and at the same time network

solution.
 Although AKTEL provides new technology and services,
they should make it more clearly to the customer. Because it
has been noticed that many customers are ignorant about
how to use some value added services and may not well
informed about the recent packages.
 AKTEL can emphasize in newsletter or advertisement on
how the customer can use these services.
 The off peak hour system should be extended, because
according to the findings and analysis, the respondents have
objection about the timing of it.
 There is dissatisfaction among the respondents about the call
charge per minute. The respondents said that AKTEL should
reduce call charge per minute again.
 Presently AKTEL is doing very nice by offering people
scratch card Tk.300 for 180 days and Tk.600 for 365 days in
their business. This is a dynamic offer in the Pre-paid
connection service for the first time in Bangladesh. They
have subscribers over 2 million but they don’t have huge
number of subscriber as like GrameenPhone (GP). To stay
ahead in such competitive market AKTEL authority should
realize the customer’s needs and wants and provide facilities
to them according to that. The suggested recommendation
may help AKTEL to increase their number of subscribers
and increase the satisfaction of the current subscribers.
 AKTEL should offer the special hour as “My Time” of GP
to motivate the Pre-paid customer.

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CONCLUSION

The present study has attempted to describe the competitive situation in mobile
industry. More specifically in this study customer’s view regarding the suitable
positions of the companies in the mobile industry. All company trying to operate
there level best to become leader in this industry. The intention of this study was
to find out the consumer view to the companies. People need to communicate
effectively. So, it is very important to select how effectively the operators are
giving service. In service industry which is more important that is service. And
which company can give this service effectively it will be the leader in this
industry. Now a day’s the consumer could easily communicate with the BTTB
easily by using prepaid card spontaneously. And many other up-to-date service &
package like djuce by GP, GPRS service by AKTEL, Roaming facility and Real
Time belling that is one second pulse.

However, this study helped to identify the current position of AKTEL & other
companies. Hopefully the findings and analysis will fulfill the demand of the main
topics.

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Chapter Ten

APPENDICES: Questionnaire
Sample and References

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QUESTIONNAIRE

A questionnaire for measuring the factor that affects the preference of the
subscribers in purchasing pre-paid connection.

Sir

We are doing a research to understand the reasons for using AKTEL’s Pre paid
connection. This questionnaire will guide us to note down each factor that effect
your preference towards a particular brand. Please give your honest opinion.

1. Which area do you live? ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

2. Which mobile phone operator do you prefer?

o GrameenPhone.

o AKTEL

o CITYCELL

o Banglalink.

3. Which mobile phone operator gives you more price flexibility?

o GrameenPhone.

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o AKTEL

o CITYCELL

o Banglalink.

4. Which mobile phone operator gives you more quality service for network
coverage?
o GrameenPhone.

o AKTEL

o CITYCELL

o Banglalink.

5. Which mobile phone operator do you think more flexible in pricing

decisions?
o GrameenPhone.

o AKTEL

o CITYCELL

o Banglalink.

6. What is your age?

o 13 - 19 o 36 - 40

o 20 - 25 o 41 - 45

o 26 - 30 o 46+

o 31 - 35

7. What is your profession?

o Service
o Business
o Student
o House wife

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o Others

8. Reasons for using a mobile phone?

o Keeping in touch with family

o Business

o Keeping in touch with friends

o Office use

o Security reasons

o Others ----------------

9. Which mobile phone operator do you think more effective in promotion

policy?
o GrameenPhone.

o AKTEL

o CITYCELL

o Banglalink.

(For the following question, mark from 5 to 1 scale. 5 = strongly agree, 4 = agree,
3= neutral, 2 = disagree, I = strongly disagree.)

Scale SA S
D

Quality of service

GrameenPhone 5 4 3 2 1

AKTEL 5 4 3 2 1

CITYCELL 5 4 3 2 1

Banglalink 5 4 3 2 1

Facility of service & pricing

GrameenPhone 5 4 3 2 1

AKTEL 5 4 3 2 1

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CITYCELL 5 4 3 2 1

Banglalink 5 4 3 2 1

Promotion

Grameen phone 5 4 3 2 1

AKTEL 5 4 3 2 1

CITYCELL 5 4 3 2 1

Banglalink 5 4 3 2 1

REFERENCES

Books/Texts:
1. Principles of Marketing

By, Philip R. Kotler

2. Marketing Management

By, Philip R. Kotler

3. Consumer Behavior

By, Leon G. Schiffmen

4. Organizational Behavior

By, Leon G. Schiffmen

Websites:
1. www.aktel.com

2. www.grameenphone.com

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3. www.citycell.com

4. www.banglalinkgsm.com

Various journals and newspapers

 Monthly Mobile
 The Financial Express
 The Business Bangladesh
 Various publications by the mobile phone operators in time to time

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