The New Nation - Internet Edition

BUSINESS REPORT

The total number of mobile phone subscribers increased to 43.70 million at the end of June, from 42.04 million in May, in Bangladesh, one of the Asia's fastest-growing cellular markets, telecom regulator data showed on Sunday.

Releasing the data, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), said that the country's six network operators signed up a total of 1.66 million new users to end the month with 43.70 million customers among them.

According to the BTRC's report, market leader GrameenPhone, controlled by Norway's Telenor, increased its subscriber base by 730,000 in June to 19.58 million. Banglalink, part of the Egyptian Orascom Telecom Group, signed up 470,000 new users in the month to take its total to 9.46 million. Telekom Malaysia subsidiary TM International (Bangladesh) Limited (AKTEL), reached a subscriber base of 7.85 million at end-June after adding 140,000 users. The UAE-backed Warid Telecom (Bangladesh), had signed up 3.31 million subscribers by mid-2008, including 180,000 in June. The sole CDMA cellular operator in a GSM-dominated field, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (Citycell), part-owned by SingTel, saw its customer base grow to 1.7 million, up from 1.64 million in May, whilst the total users of state-owned Teletalk stood at 1.07 million at the end of June.

The number of mobile users rose nearly 58 per cent in 2007 to 34.4 million, the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission said, helped by competitive tariffs and cheap handsets.

The country has just 1.27 million land-line phone customers.

Mobile phone services are an important contributor to the nation's economy. Several market surveys have forecast the number of mobile phone users will be around 70 million at the end of 2011.