The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

GrameenPhone Ltd, the leading mobile-phone company said it may buy other operators as competition intensifies from rivals, including Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, in order to maximise profit.

The compnay may complete a share listing on the Dhaka stock exchange next year. The proposed stock offering will be the biggest in Bangladesh, Chief Executive Officer Anders Jensen said in Macau in an interview with Boomberg Com Asia yesterday.

"We are always seeking to extend our footprint," he said, adding, "The six wireless carriers are operating in the country." He opined that "two to three mobile operators are too many for Bangladeh," he said.

Acquiring other operators will give Grameenphone, controlled by Norway's Telenor ASA, more airwave spectrum to accommodate its target of adding 70 lakh users a year. The company has a 61 per cent share of the market where over 19 per cent of the 15 crore million people own a mobile phone.

Bangladesh is "attractive because it has low penetration and a high growth rate,"' said Paul Budde, Managing Director of telecommunications researcher Paul Budde Communication Pty. in Bucketty, New South Wales. "In a fast-growing market, there's room for four to six competitors," he said.

The country had 2 crore 85 lakh mobile users at the end of June, compared with 1 crore 54 lakh a year earlier and about 10 lakh in 2002, Budde said. Bangladesh is expected to have 5 crore mobile subscribers by the end of 2008, he said.

Grameen Telecom Corp, a subsidiary of the Grameen Bank founded by Nobel Peace Prize winier Dr Mohammad Yunus, owns 38 per cent in GrameemPhone, while Telenor, the largest phone company in the Nordic region, owns 62 per cent. The company has almost 1 crore 60 lakh users.

Closely held GrameenPhone faces rising competition as Cairo-based Orascom, the Middle East's largest wireless operator, and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. invested in mobile-phone operations to tap demand in Bangladesh.

In the nation, mobile-phone calling rates may fall to about Tk 0.69 or US 1 cent a minute as operators offer discounts to lure users, GrameenPhone CEO Jensen said.

GrameenPhone plans to encourage users to make more calls and introduce services such as Research in Motion Ltd.'s Blackberry device to increase average spending from less than Tk 344 or US $5 a month, he said.

GrameenPhone invested about Tk 207 crore or US $300 million in each of the past three years to meet demand, Jensen said, adding, "If we get additional spectrum, we will be more willing to invest."

The company may otherwise slow capital spending as equipment purchases alone can't create enough new capacity.

About enlistment in the Dhaka stock exchange, Jensen said, "There is strong interest from the owners for the IPO. There are practical things such as to whether the Dhaka Stock Exchange can handle a deal of this size."'

GrameenPhone has about 260,000 subscribers on its Village Phone Program, which it runs jointly with Grameen Telecom and Grameen Bank, according to the carrier's Web site. The 10-year-old project offers loans to villagers to buy handsets, which are then used in the community as pay phones, earning the operators income.