The New Nation - Internet Edition

BUSINESS REPORT

Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH), the holding company of Banglalink has recently announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2008.

Network quality improvement continues to be one of the highest priorities for Banglalink. In this regard, Banglalink invested over Tk 783 crore during the quarter, bringing the total infrastructure investment during 2008 YTD to over Tk 1,424 crore.

Commenting on the occasion, the CEO of Banglalink, Mr. Rashid Khan said, "Keeping in mind the continuous commitment to our customers, we have the most aggressive network roll-out plan of any operator in Bangladesh, significantly higher than the other players in the market."

Along with network quality improvement, Banglalink is also committed to providing the best possible customer care to its consumers. In this regard, an intensive campaign was launched during Q2 focusing on all customer touch points. Banglalink has established a state of the art call centre that serves customers 24/7 where service is provided by highly trained agents under the "one call does it all" slogan. Banglalink also has the largest network of over 700 customer service points spread all over the country along with a passionate and vigilant team to provide quality and prompt service.

Banglalink's revenue during first half of 2008 exceeded BDT 915 crore which is 70% higher compared to last year. Revenue for Q2 is almost Tk 440 crore, or 7 percent less than Q1 primarily because of price reductions in the market during the second quarter.

Banglalink maintained its high growth momentum during Q2 2008, and ended the quarter (as of June 2008) with almost 95 lakh subscribers, representing an impressive 83 percent increase in its subscriber base compared to June 2007, and recently achieved the one crore subscriber mark. Banglalink added over 11 lakh subscribers during Q2, thereby bringing the total additions for the first half of 2008 to almost 24 lakh, which is a 26 percent increase compared to same period last year. Banglalink extended its lead as the second largest player in the market with a 21.6 percent market share-an increase of almost 4 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Orascom Telecom is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in six high growth markets in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, having a total population under license of approximately 46 crore. Orascom Telecom Opel'2tes GSM networks in Algeria ("OTA"), Pakistan ("Mobilink"), Egypt ("Mobinil"), Tunisia ("Tunisiana"), Bangladesh ("Banglalink"), and Zimbabwe ("Telecel Zimbabwe"). Orascom Telecom had over 70 crore 7 lac subscribers as of June 2008.