Mobile users cross 50 m

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.