One million subscribers in 40 days

We have all heard the famous fable of going around the world in forty days, now there is an interesting twist to the old story provided by Bangladesh’s GrameenPhone of adding 1 million subscribers to its base in 40 days.

Speaking to AFP general manager of GrameenPhone Yamin Bhakt said “We have now 5 million users. The latest million was added in 40 days.”

GrameenPhone started its operation in 1997 and took more than 6 years to notch its first million subscribers, but as of late, the company has been making rapid strides in the Bangladesh’s mobile phone market sans late 2003.

According to Bhakt, this has been made possible by massive reduction in mobile tariffs ranging from 20 to 60%, and aggressive marketing during Eid-al-Fitr, Islam’s biggest annual festival in the Muslim-majority nation which saw GrameenPhone selling connections at subsidized rates.

GrameenPhone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom company Telenor now has a market share of 62% of the more than eight million mobile phone users in Bangladesh, whereas its network covers nearly 80% of the Bangladesh’s 140 million population. Further, the company has invested around 300 million dollars this year to expand its network coverage and market share.

The remaining 38% of the market is shared by remaining 4 operators namely AKTel, a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia, Egypt’s Orascom, SingTel-owned Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd., and state-owned Teletalk.

The offices of state owned Teletalk saw a deluge of applicants when in July it held a lottery for dishing out new pre-paid connections at 1,800 taka (30 dollars) each, half the rate charged by its nearest competitor.

With half of the population earning less than a dollar per day, Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world.