Cell phone operators rope in 2.0m subscribers in May
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Mehdi Musharraf Bhuiyan
The country's six mobile operators added two million subscribers in the month of May, the highest monthly growth in 28 months, led by the two top players Grameenphone and Banglalink.
According to the latest official statistics of Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the country's total number of mobile phone subscribers reached 58.36 million at the end of May 2010. The figure was 56.36 million a month ago.
Grameenphone has shared exactly the half of this growth, the BTRC statistics shows, as GP's subscriber base has swelled by one million to reach 25.55 million from 24.55 million in a single month.
The next big gainer was Banglalink, who had added 0.65 million subscribers in May. These two biggest players have added 1.65 million subscribers during the period which is 82.5 per cent of the total growth.
"The latest increase is largely driven by subsidies offered by mobile operators on their SIM connections, costing the people much less for new connections", said President of Association of Mobile Telecommunication Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) Zakiul Islam.
"Such growth can further be continued if the government waives the SIM tax", he added.
Even though, all the six mobile operators have fairly beefed up their subscriber base in May 2010, growth is rather meagre for the rest of the four players.
Robi, the recently renamed mobile operator has added 0.14 million subscribers while Citycell, whose subscriber base shrunk to 1.89 million in April, has revived somewhat to reach 1.99 million during the last month.
State owned Teletalk and the youngest company Warid have increased their subscription base by 0.06 million and 0.05 million respectively, the statistics revealed.
The latest BTRC figures also show that the country's total number of mobile subscriber base have augmented by 5.93 million in the first five months of 2010.
Grameenphone continues to lead the market with 43.77 per cent share while the second positioned Banglalink now has 26.71 per cent of the total subscriptions.
The country's six mobile operators added two million subscribers in the month of May, the highest monthly growth in 28 months, led by the two top players Grameenphone and Banglalink.
According to the latest official statistics of Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the country's total number of mobile phone subscribers reached 58.36 million at the end of May 2010. The figure was 56.36 million a month ago.
Grameenphone has shared exactly the half of this growth, the BTRC statistics shows, as GP's subscriber base has swelled by one million to reach 25.55 million from 24.55 million in a single month.
The next big gainer was Banglalink, who had added 0.65 million subscribers in May. These two biggest players have added 1.65 million subscribers during the period which is 82.5 per cent of the total growth.
"The latest increase is largely driven by subsidies offered by mobile operators on their SIM connections, costing the people much less for new connections", said President of Association of Mobile Telecommunication Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) Zakiul Islam.
"Such growth can further be continued if the government waives the SIM tax", he added.
Even though, all the six mobile operators have fairly beefed up their subscriber base in May 2010, growth is rather meagre for the rest of the four players.
Robi, the recently renamed mobile operator has added 0.14 million subscribers while Citycell, whose subscriber base shrunk to 1.89 million in April, has revived somewhat to reach 1.99 million during the last month.
State owned Teletalk and the youngest company Warid have increased their subscription base by 0.06 million and 0.05 million respectively, the statistics revealed.
The latest BTRC figures also show that the country's total number of mobile subscriber base have augmented by 5.93 million in the first five months of 2010.
Grameenphone continues to lead the market with 43.77 per cent share while the second positioned Banglalink now has 26.71 per cent of the total subscriptions.