Mahmudul Hasan

Grameenphone is poised to get the ban on its SIM sales lifted as the telecom minister yesterday expressed satisfaction about the country’s leading mobile operator’s service quality.

Bangladesh’s steady embrace of digitalisation, spearheaded by a growing number of tech startups and rising software and IT service exports, has suffered a heavy blow from the imposition of new taxes this year. 

For Bangladesh, June 25, 2022 was a momentous day. But for Grameenphone, it is panning out to be a ruinous day.

Although many countries have already shut down 3G, the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology, or announced phase-out plans, Bangladesh is yet to set a specific deadline as a chunk of customers still use it. 

Pickaboo, a platform specialising in selling mobile, gadget and electronics, has raised $1.5 million a in pre-series A round from local and international investors. 

The number of mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh picked up in October snapping a four-month decline thanks to the stellar performance displayed by Banglalink.

The government has retreated from its decision to develop a portion of Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City in Gazipur’s Kaliakoir on a public-private partnership (PPP) model due to lukewarm response from developers. 

Transactions through mobile financial services (MFS) rebounded in October following a few months of decline thanks to a rise in government disbursements, cash-out and utility bill payments.

With the aim of catering to the growing local market and diversifying the country’s export basket, Akij Group invested more than Tk 1,000 crore in setting up a plant to produce films for packages.

IT firms are struggling to find skilled tech talents and professionals despite higher demand for information technology services from local and global clients, a situation that threatens their expansion and could shatter Bangladesh’s export ambition for the sector.

When one talks about Summit Group, it should come as no surprise that the conglomerate has solidified its position in Bangladesh’s power industry while its chairman, Muhammed Aziz Khan, has been listed by Forbes as one of the richest men in Singapore.

The number of internet subscribers in Bangladesh, including those using mobile internet, fell in the three months to October while the growth in broadband connections flattened.

The woes of the mobile manufacturing industry in Bangladesh continues as the slowdown in sales has persisted for the last eight months amid higher consumer prices.

Private companies are spearheading Bangladesh’s growth with their energy and optimism, putting the economy on a path to cross the $1-trillion mark by 2040, according to a top global consulting firm. 

The cost of Bangladesh’s third submarine cable project is set to increase by 52.23 per cent as double the bandwidth capacity is being availed while dollar prices are soaring. 

The telecom regulator has allowed Grameenphone to sell 78,000 SIMs to the army, police and other government and corporate customers, more than four and a half months after the operator was ordered to stop selling new SIMs.

The entry of mobile network operators Grameenphone and Robi Axiata, which was then Aktel, in 1997 was a watershed moment for Bangladesh as the country embraced Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology, the second-generation digital cellular network used in mobile phones worldwide. 

Users of a mobile financial service (MFS) provider can now transfer money to their counterparts registered with other operators and banks as interoperability among the financial service providers comes into a reality today.    

Transactions through mobile financial services (MFS) dropped for a second month consecutively in August as the festival season started to flatten amid the economic downturn.

Many Facebook-based platforms, which have sprouted in Bangladesh since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, are struggling to survive owing to the spike in raw material prices and decline in sales amid the global economic downturn.