Telecom Lead Asia: Bangladesh, one of the major telecom
markets in the Asia Pacific region, has achieved about 86.55 million mobile
subscribers at the end of September 2011, representing a net addition of 4.728
million from the previous quarter.
Research and Markets said Grameenphone’s subscriber base
increased to 35.24 million from 33.82 million in June 2011.
Grameenphone’s blended ARPU fell to BDT257 from BDT270
over the same period.
The Bangladeshi mobile industry is on track to reach
90.51 million users in 2011.
Research and Markets expects 158.94 million subscribers in
the country at the end of 2016, with a penetration rate of 99.2 percent.
In the quarter ended September 2011, the Bangladeshi
government has planned to auction 3G licences in September 2012 and state-owned
Teletalk has been granted permission to trial the technology.
The dust surrounding the 2G licence renewal fees for
Bangladesh’s four mobile operators was seemingly settled in September 2011
after a year of negotiations with the regulator.
Top 5 telecom operators in Bangladesh in 2011
Recently, marketresearch.com said the total number of mobile phone
active subscribers in Bangladesh has reached 85.45 million at the end of
December 2011.
Grameen Phone is leading the mobile market with 36.49
million mobile users, while the second largest player is Banglalink with 23.75
million users. Robi Axiata has 16.13 million users. Airtel Bangladesh has 6.02
million users. Citycell and Teletalk have 1.82 million and 1.21 million users,
respectively.
The operator’s blended ARPU fell to BDT257 from BDT270 in
June 2011.
