GP crosses 25m subscribers

[ Companies & Finance ] 2010-05-24

GP crosses 25m subscribers

Grameenphone Ltd, country's largest mobile phone operator Saturday crossed 25 million-mark active subscriber base. "We are extremely happy to see such a milestone and our concerted efforts will continue to develop the country's economy through mobile connectivity, " Raihan Shamsi, deputy CEO and chief financial officer of GP told the FE Sunday. More than a third of the country's 150 million population are now under mobile phone coverage, as six cellphone operators' total customers crossed the 50-million milestone in September of 2009 to reach 50.4 million, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). Voice communication through mobile telephony started with CDMA (code division multiple access) technology introduced by Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd -- the owning company of Citycell -- in 1993. The expensive communication device started to become handy gradually after the introduction of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology by Grameenphone and AKTEL (now Robi) in 1997. Banglalink and state-run TeleTalk launched their services in 2005 and Warid came as the latest entrant in 2007. "Mobile communication is the key driver for the Digital Bangladesh. The first 50 million has taken 15 years to reach; I feel that in the right business environment, the next 50 million subscribers will happen much faster with an enabling policy-support," Mr Shamsi said. Grameenphone remains the market leader in the 50.55-million mobile market followed by Banglalink and Robi. The costly mobile service later came to the mass with the introduction of comparatively cheap GSM (global system for mobile communications) technology. The market has become tough for bottom three operators since 2005 as top three operators in the meantime grabbed more than 90 percent market shares triggering a stiff price war.