Ground Report

Bangladesh’s mobile subscriber base reached 27.72 million at the end of June 2007, reports the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), giving the country a cellular penetration of 19.8%, according to the regulator’s figures. The watchdog went on to report market shares of the mobile network operators at the end of the month: Grameenphone 50.4%, 13.97 million users, up from 13.24 million at end-May; Telekom Malaysia International Bangladesh (AKTEL) 18.2%, 5.05 million users, down from 5.55 million a month earlier; Sheba Telecom (Banglalink) 21.8%, 6.04 million (5.53 million); Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (CityCell) 4.7%, 1.3 million (1.27 million); Teletalk 3.2%, 890,000 (870,000); and new entrant Warid Telecom reached 1.7% and 470,000 subscribers, up from 200,000 the previous month.