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October 15, 2009
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
to reach 50.4 million.
Bangladesh Telecommunication
Regulatory Commission (BTRC)
released the statistics yesterday.
Experts termed the achievement
as a 'technology revolution'
in the country with a
saturated mobile market.
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 in 1997.
Banglalink and state run
TeleTalk launched their
services in 2005 and Warid
came as the latest entrant in
2007.
BTRC data shows that customer
growth jumped by 44 percent to
45.09 million in September
2008 from 31.42 million in the
same month of 2007.
However the growth in
September 2009 was 11 percent,
as only 5.3 million customers
were added to the network
during the month against 13.67
million in the same month a
year ago.
Oddvar Hesjedal, chief
executive officer of
Grameenphone, said the 50
million mark is obviously a
major milestone for any country.
"Mobile communication will be
a major 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," he said.
However a real hurdle for such
development is the SIM tax,
which makes new connections
more expensive, he said.
"Mobile technology has brought
a revolution here," said
Zakiul Islam, president of
Association of Mobile
Telecommunications Operators
of Bangladesh.
"If some tax structure eases,
the market will grow further,"
he said.
Source: The Dailystar
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