Bangladesh
Launched in 1997, Grameenphone was the first Telenor venture in the Asian telecom market.
Today, Grameenphone is the largest mobile provider in Bangladesh, serving more than 23 million subscribers in 2009. Telenor and its partners have boosted network capacity and extended coverage to new and often remote areas, connecting millions of previously unconnected people. Telenor holds 55.8 per cent of Grameenphone. Grameenphone started trading its shares on the stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong on November 16, 2009. The headquarters are located in Dhaka.
Show world mapMarket information
- Size and demographics
- Population: 161.915 million
- Land area: 147 570 sq KM
- Population density: 1 097.2 per sq. KM
- Population growth: 2.0 %
- Economy
- GDP per head: US$ 513
- GDP per head purchasing power parity: US$ 1 408
- Real GDP growth: 7.0 %
Sources: World Economic Outlook Database, October 2008 and Encyclopædia Britannica
Average revenue per user in NOK, Q1-2010
| Country | ARPU | Country | ARPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 305 | Denmark | 205 |
| Sweden | 214 | Hungary | 107 |
| Montenegro | 91 | Serbia | 65 |
| Ukraine | 32 | Pakistan | 15 |
| Bangladesh | 20 | Thailand | 48 |
| Malaysia | 93 | India |
Company information
Licences and network
Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with over 10,000 base stations in more than 5,700 locations. Presently, nearly 98 per cent of Bangladesh's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.
Grameenphone currently holds both a GSM 900 and a GSM 1800 licence. The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to high-speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area.
Services and innovation - developing Bangladesh
By extending and developing telecommunication services throughout the country, GP contributes to GDP growth and the development of Bangladeshi society. Grameenphone also offers a number of services, such as:
- Community Information Centres (CiCs), where rural people may access the Internet, voice communications, video conferencing and other information services at affordable prices.
- HealthLine, which provides around the clock access to medical services for its subscribers via mobile phone.
- BillPay, which allows utility bill payments by mobile phone in selected areas.
- CellBazaar, which enables buyers and sellers to trade basic goods (e.g. rice, fish, motorcycles, used goods) from their mobile phones. Grameenphone CellBazaar won the 2008 3GSMA Global Mobile Award for "Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development".
- Grameenphone has installed a few hybrid solar-powered base station sites in Bangladesh, saving electricity and helping to protect the environment.
As a pioneer in the Bangladeshi telecom market, Telenor has a strong foothold from which to face new competition from other major companies in the years to come.
Total mobile market (in thousands)
Mobile market share 2008
Key figures (NOK in millions)
| 2nd quarter | 1st half year | Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 2009 | 2010 | 2009 | 2009 | |
| Revenues | |||||
| Subscription and traffic | 1 461 | 1 391 | 2 754 | 2 741 | 5 276 |
| Interconnect revenues | 164 | 133 | 301 | 348 | 593 |
| Other mobile revenues | 4 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 16 |
| Non-mobile revenues | 53 | 9 | 61 | 13 | 62 |
| Total revenues | 1 682 | 1 537 | 3 125 | 3 111 | 5 947 |
| EBITDA before other items | 720 | 909 | 1 518 | 1 843 | 3 390 |
| Operating profit | 347 | 521 | 802 | 1 051 | 1 879 |
| EBITDA before other items / Total revenues (%) | 42.8 | 59.1 | 48.6 | 59.2 | 57.0 |
| Capex | 174 | 184 | 272 | 465 | 944 |
| No. of subscriptions – Change in quarter/Total (in thousands): | 2 552 | 106 | 26 456 | 21 163 | 23 259 |
| ARPU – monthly (NOK) | 22 | 24 | 21 | 24 | 23 |
| Exchange rate | 0.0872 | 0.0970 | 0.0910 | ||