The New Nation - Internet Edition

In six months of its commercial operations, Warid Telecom International Limited in Bangladesh has expanded its International Roaming Services to 100 operators across 59 countries. This is the fastest roaming expansion in the world's GSM industry.

Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims to enjoy International Roaming Services from Warid without any charges.

Subscribers can roam with Warid network and stay connected with their near and dear ones while visiting 59 countries including USA, UK, Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and others.

At a function to celebrate the milestone, Mr. Muneer Farooqui, Chief Executive Officer of Warid Telecom, said, "We are expanding locally and internationally at the fastest possible speed to reach more customers and meet their needs. We are also offering International Roaming Services with 100% waiver on service charges to the Bangladeshi devotees who travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Holy Hajj this year."

Started operations on May 10 this year, as the fastest-growing mobile company in the country, Warid has already roped in more than 1.6 million subscribers and expanded network to 56 districts.

A subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Group, one of the largest groups in the Middle East, Warid Telecom was awarded the 6th license for mobile telecommunications by the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in December 2005 as part of a land-breaking MOU with the Board of Investment of Bangladesh.

Before launching commercial operations on May 10 this year, Warid Telecom set an example in the telecommunications sector in the country by paying US$ 50 million (Tk 350 crore) as license fee.

Warid Telecom has emerged as a standard setter in the industry as the company has given many firsts to the country's telecommunications sector such as introduction of NGN Technology, 20 FnF, one second pulse for prepaid subscribers, below Taka 1 call rate to other operator, SIM Genie and payment of license fee.