Number of mobile phone users decline in Nov
Friday, 25 December 2009
Mashiur Rahaman
The country's mobile phone users have declined by nearly a million in November after Malaysian state-owned Axiata sharply trimmed down its figure of active subscribers, telecoms regulator said Thursday.
At the end of November, the country has 50.55 million active mobile phone users, down from 51.4 million in the previous month, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission said in its latest web posting.
The BTRC said the decline was due to reduction in the number of subscribers shown by the country's third largest mobile phone operator, Axiata.
The joint venture between the Malaysian government and Japan's largest telecoms operator NTT DoCoMo had 8.87 million active users at the end of the penultimate month of the year --- a decrease of at least 2.12 million than October.
Shegufta Samad, head of corporate affairs of Axiata Bangladesh, which was formerly known as TMIB and operates the popular AKTEL brand, said the drop was a "technical correction."
"In fact in November we haven't lost a single subscriber. Our number came down because we are no longer counting inactive subscribers that haven't used our lines for two consecutive months," she said.
Bottom-rung CityCell and state-owned Teletalk lost ground amid an escalation of price war among top operators.
Both CityCell, partly owned by South-east Asia's largest telecoms company Singtel, and Teletalk lost 10,000 subscribers each.
Banglalink, the country' second-largest operator owned by Egyptian giant Orascom, gained most adding 720,000 new subscribers in November, the BTRC said. The company's subscribers now stand at 12.99 million.
Experts say the big increase was due to Banglalink's aggressive marketing drive and a further cut in its tariff rates.
Grameenphone, the runaway leader in the sector, added 450,000 users, taking its lead to 22.75 million.
The country's largest private company in sales has cut its peak and off-peak tariff rates in recent months and hugely expanded its network in rural areas.
Warid, the Dhabi group-owned mobile phone operator, which has opened talks with top Indian telecoms company Bharti Airtel early this month, added 130,000 new users to consolidate its fourth position.
According to the BTRC, the number of mobile phone users peaked 51.4 million in October, up a million than September, after months of sluggish growth due to the fallout of the global economic recession.
BTRC official database showed that the country's total mobile subscribers were 44.64 million in 2008 and 34.37 million in 2007.
The country's mobile phone users have declined by nearly a million in November after Malaysian state-owned Axiata sharply trimmed down its figure of active subscribers, telecoms regulator said Thursday.
At the end of November, the country has 50.55 million active mobile phone users, down from 51.4 million in the previous month, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission said in its latest web posting.
The BTRC said the decline was due to reduction in the number of subscribers shown by the country's third largest mobile phone operator, Axiata.
The joint venture between the Malaysian government and Japan's largest telecoms operator NTT DoCoMo had 8.87 million active users at the end of the penultimate month of the year --- a decrease of at least 2.12 million than October.
Shegufta Samad, head of corporate affairs of Axiata Bangladesh, which was formerly known as TMIB and operates the popular AKTEL brand, said the drop was a "technical correction."
"In fact in November we haven't lost a single subscriber. Our number came down because we are no longer counting inactive subscribers that haven't used our lines for two consecutive months," she said.
Bottom-rung CityCell and state-owned Teletalk lost ground amid an escalation of price war among top operators.
Both CityCell, partly owned by South-east Asia's largest telecoms company Singtel, and Teletalk lost 10,000 subscribers each.
Banglalink, the country' second-largest operator owned by Egyptian giant Orascom, gained most adding 720,000 new subscribers in November, the BTRC said. The company's subscribers now stand at 12.99 million.
Experts say the big increase was due to Banglalink's aggressive marketing drive and a further cut in its tariff rates.
Grameenphone, the runaway leader in the sector, added 450,000 users, taking its lead to 22.75 million.
The country's largest private company in sales has cut its peak and off-peak tariff rates in recent months and hugely expanded its network in rural areas.
Warid, the Dhabi group-owned mobile phone operator, which has opened talks with top Indian telecoms company Bharti Airtel early this month, added 130,000 new users to consolidate its fourth position.
According to the BTRC, the number of mobile phone users peaked 51.4 million in October, up a million than September, after months of sluggish growth due to the fallout of the global economic recession.
BTRC official database showed that the country's total mobile subscribers were 44.64 million in 2008 and 34.37 million in 2007.