Mobile phone users hit 73m in March

The number of mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh reached 72.963 million till March, up by 1.456 million in February, the telecom regulator said. Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) data showed that the total number of mobile subscribers was 71.507 in February. Different attractive offers and tariff cuts by telecom operators are attracting the subscribers, said industry insiders. According to the BTRC data, GrameenPhone Ltd (GP), the largest mobile service operator of the country, has 31.982 million subscribers, which was 31.143 million in February 2011. The company registered 8.082 million subscribers between March 2010 and March 2011. Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd (Banglalink) is the second market player with 20.126 million subscribers in March which was 20.178 million in February. It added 5.906 million clients in the last twelve month. Subscribers of the third market leader Axiata Bangladesh Ltd (Robi) have reached 13.259 million, which was 12.805 million in February. Besides, Airtel Bangladesh Ltd (Airtel) has 4.607 million subscribers, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (Citycell) 1.787 million and Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd (Teletalk) 1.198 million. Head of Corporate Affairs of Grameenphone Mahmud Hossain told FE that the customers are choosing Grameenphone for its service quality and better network coverage.