Despite being one of the poorest, most densely populated, least developed countries in the world, Bangladesh has discovered a way to grow its telecommunications sector. Against the odds, this nation of more than 160 million people and comparatively low GDP has been involved in the creation of a highly competitive mobile market. Most noticeable has been the willingness to encourage foreign participation in this endeavour. Following a number of years of strong growth, starting from a very low base
Despite being one of the poorest, most densely populated, least developed countries in the world, Bangladesh has discovered a way to grow its telecommunications sector. Against the odds, this nation of more than 160 million people and comparatively low GDP has been involved in the creation of a highly competitive mobile market. Most noticeable has been the willingness to encourage foreign participation in this endeavour. Following a number of years of strong growth, starting from a very low base, mobile telephone penetration was approaching the 30% milestone in early 2009.
The outstanding success of the mobile market, however, has been achieved in a Bangladesh that continues to struggle with its lowly economic status, its frequent natural disasters such cyclones and floods and the slow implementation of much-needed economic reforms. This state of affairs is reflected in the fixed-line segment of the local telecom market which remains stagnant with a teledensity of less than 1%, the lowest in South Asia. With almost 99% of homes lacking a telephone and with a substantial waiting list for fixed-line services, the country is still struggling with some of the most underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure in the world. Interestingly, about 80% of Bangladesh’s 1.5 million fixed telephone services were to be found in its four main cities and most of these (61% as at June 2009) had been provided by the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board.
So, it is with some fascination that the outsider observes what has been, and continues to be, a booming mobile market in Bangladesh. In the first half of 2009, there were signs that the growth rate was easing considerably. The challenge for the operators is to maintain viable business models, given that ARPU has been rapidly falling as the telcos chase subscribers in the rural areas where 80% of the population lives in 86,000 villages. The booming mobile phone industry is estimated to have created nearly 240,000 jobs throughout the country.
Paul Budde is the managing director of Paul Budde Communication (trading as BuddeComm), a global independent telecommunications research and consultancy company, which includes 45 national and international researchers in 15 countries, and operates from Bucketty, in the Lower Hunter Valley, NSW.
He specialises in the strategic planning of interactive services such as video media, Internet, multimedia and intelligent and value-added networks based on telecommunications, broadband and satellite
