Jan 11, 2010

State-run landline operator BTCL added more than one lakh customers in the three months after it announced free connections at upazila levels in July 2009.

The company subscriber base reached close to 10 lakh at the end of September 2009, according to Bangladesh Telecommunications Company data.

With the addition of new customers, BTCL had 9.72 lakh customers in the July-September quarter, which was stuck at 8.72 lakh for the last few months.

BTCL extended the free connections offer until February 2010 to connect more customers at rural levels under its network capacity of 13 lakh.

"The number of our customers increased rapidly in the rural segment. We acquired one lakh customers in the first three months after the offer was launched," said a high official of the company.

Despite huge demand in the cities, BTCL cannot take on more subscribers due to capacity constraints.

Company subscriber acquisition remained unoccupied in the last few years because of policy hurdles. In the meantime, private landline operators acquired a good number of subscribers.

According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission statistics, 11 private landline operators added 6.76 lakh customers until September 2009.

In the 15.48 lakh landline market, BTCL leads the market, followed by Ranks Telecom with 2.24 lakh customers and National Telecom with 95,000 customers.

BTCL launched the 'one country one-rate' campaign in July 2009 as well, which helped the company attract more customers and hold on to existing customers in its network.

Under the offer, BTCL charges Tk 0.30 a minute for calls made to BTCL and other landline operators and Tk 0.65 a minute to any mobile operator.

The total number of telecom subscribers in Bangladesh is 52 million, where the six mobile operators account for 50.55 million. The telepenetration rate is about 34 percent.

Source: the Dailystar