Warid builds on Bangladesh momentum

Six cellcos operate in Bangladesh, sharing 34.4 million subscribers.

Warid Telecom’s Bangladeshi operation has announced plans to invest around US$250 million over the next twelve months to expand its network coverage. The company, which launched its service a year ago, is already the country’s fourth largest operator by subscriber numbers.

“We haven’t reached the optimum level in terms of subscriber acquisition,” said Warid’s CEO, Muneer Farooqui. Warid Telecom is one of six operators in the country, and it is estimated that there were around 34.4 million mobile users across all networks at the end of 2007, representing a penetration rate of less than 25 per cent.

Grameenphone was the market leader with 15m subscribers, followed by Banglalink (6m), Aktel (7m), and Warid Telecom (2.1m). The two remaining long term incumbents, Citycell and Teletalk barely add up to 2m customers between them.

Farooqui has called on the government to lower the BDT800 (US$11.80) tax on each SIM card sold – which was introduced in 2004 – as it is slowing the expansion of mobile services into rural areas.