2 WiMax operators plan to reach div hqs, suburbs by year-end
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Mehdi Musharraf Bhuiyan
The country's two WiMax operators are planning to reach the divisional headquarters and suburbs by the end of this year in a bid to tap their potential market beyond the capital Dhaka.
The burgeoning high speed internet service providers, who started their operations in late last year, have so far covered greater part of Dhaka city- home to some 13 million people and also the country's main consumer hub.
However, the path to countrywide coverage, as the two operators admit, could take for them some time-- as reaching the grass root of a country with one of the lowest internet penetration rate could be a daunting task for the budding operators.
"We have already reached the major parts of the capital as well as Chittagong while the Sylhet operation also started last week", said Khaled Shams, Chief Executive Officer of Banglalion- one of the two WiMax operators.
"However, our next plan is to reach the rest of the divisional headquarters", said Shams, "and for that, we would target Rajshahi and Khulna in the first phase followed by Rangpur and Barisal".
The budding company won the license for WiMax operations along with the fellow operator Augure through an open bidding held in September 2008.
However, it took them almost a year to commence formal operations followed by a series of formalities and upheavals including a significant delay in paying the hefty license fee of US$ 215 million.
"We would be looking to roll out in the district towns by the end of this year as reaching the customers beyond the capital city would be crucial for our timely break-even", the Banglalion CEO said.
Earlier in March, the WiMax provider also temporarily halted its customer registration, citing some 'technical difficulties'. However, the registration later resumed from April as usual.
However, the fellow operator Augure, more well-known for its brand name Qubee, is yet to commence its operation beyond the capital, although it has covered the Dhaka metrolpolis by and large.
Nevertheless, the company officials said they are planning to reach the port city by next August.
"Currently, we are rolling out our network in the Chittagong city and hopefully things would be ready for full scale operation within two months", said Ashiqur Rahman, Senior Brand Manager of Augure.
"Right now, we have around 10,000 subscribers in Dhaka city, most of which are based around Gulshan and other uptown areas of the capital", Ashiqur said.
Earlier, Augure preceded its sole competitor by some months to launch its service in the capital, thus becoming the first company to go for offering the WiMax wireless broadband internet in Bangladesh.
Currently, it is also looking to introduce WiMax embedded laptop in the country by the end of this year and officials informed that currently talks are going on with global technology giant Intel in this regard.
"We have a largely untapped market on offer for high speed internet services-but to tap that, we need to offer either competitive pricing or innovative products", Ashiqur said.
In a desperate move to expand their network in the shortest time, the two operators have recently also tied up with the cell phone operators to share their infrastructure.
"So far, we needed 110 base stations to cover the whole Dhaka city" Ashiqur said, "and all of them were actually shared with the mobile phone operators like Banglalink and others",.
In a similar attempt, Banglalion has also recently signed an agreement with Citicell in line with its previous infrastructure sharing deal with Grameenphone and other cellphone operators.
Bangladesh currently has an Internet penetration rate of merely around four per cent, much of which is covered by EDGE (enhanced data rates for global evolution) and GPRS (general packet radio service) solutions offered by cell phone operators.
The country's two WiMax operators are planning to reach the divisional headquarters and suburbs by the end of this year in a bid to tap their potential market beyond the capital Dhaka.
The burgeoning high speed internet service providers, who started their operations in late last year, have so far covered greater part of Dhaka city- home to some 13 million people and also the country's main consumer hub.
However, the path to countrywide coverage, as the two operators admit, could take for them some time-- as reaching the grass root of a country with one of the lowest internet penetration rate could be a daunting task for the budding operators.
"We have already reached the major parts of the capital as well as Chittagong while the Sylhet operation also started last week", said Khaled Shams, Chief Executive Officer of Banglalion- one of the two WiMax operators.
"However, our next plan is to reach the rest of the divisional headquarters", said Shams, "and for that, we would target Rajshahi and Khulna in the first phase followed by Rangpur and Barisal".
The budding company won the license for WiMax operations along with the fellow operator Augure through an open bidding held in September 2008.
However, it took them almost a year to commence formal operations followed by a series of formalities and upheavals including a significant delay in paying the hefty license fee of US$ 215 million.
"We would be looking to roll out in the district towns by the end of this year as reaching the customers beyond the capital city would be crucial for our timely break-even", the Banglalion CEO said.
Earlier in March, the WiMax provider also temporarily halted its customer registration, citing some 'technical difficulties'. However, the registration later resumed from April as usual.
However, the fellow operator Augure, more well-known for its brand name Qubee, is yet to commence its operation beyond the capital, although it has covered the Dhaka metrolpolis by and large.
Nevertheless, the company officials said they are planning to reach the port city by next August.
"Currently, we are rolling out our network in the Chittagong city and hopefully things would be ready for full scale operation within two months", said Ashiqur Rahman, Senior Brand Manager of Augure.
"Right now, we have around 10,000 subscribers in Dhaka city, most of which are based around Gulshan and other uptown areas of the capital", Ashiqur said.
Earlier, Augure preceded its sole competitor by some months to launch its service in the capital, thus becoming the first company to go for offering the WiMax wireless broadband internet in Bangladesh.
Currently, it is also looking to introduce WiMax embedded laptop in the country by the end of this year and officials informed that currently talks are going on with global technology giant Intel in this regard.
"We have a largely untapped market on offer for high speed internet services-but to tap that, we need to offer either competitive pricing or innovative products", Ashiqur said.
In a desperate move to expand their network in the shortest time, the two operators have recently also tied up with the cell phone operators to share their infrastructure.
"So far, we needed 110 base stations to cover the whole Dhaka city" Ashiqur said, "and all of them were actually shared with the mobile phone operators like Banglalink and others",.
In a similar attempt, Banglalion has also recently signed an agreement with Citicell in line with its previous infrastructure sharing deal with Grameenphone and other cellphone operators.
Bangladesh currently has an Internet penetration rate of merely around four per cent, much of which is covered by EDGE (enhanced data rates for global evolution) and GPRS (general packet radio service) solutions offered by cell phone operators.