Banglalink Explained

Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd.
Type:Subsidiary
Founded:[1]
Hq Location City:Dhaka
Hq Location Country:Bangladesh
Area Served:Bangladesh
Url:https://www.banglalink.net/en/about-us/management-team/chief-executive-officer
Chief Executive Officer
Access-Date:24 May 2017
Archive-Date:7 September 2018
Archive-Url:https://web.archive.org/web/20180907221543/https://www.banglalink.net/en/about-us/management-team/chief-executive-officer
Url-Status:dead

Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd., d.b.a. Banglalink (bn|বাংলালিংক; formerly Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd.) is a Dutch-owned telecommunications company headquartered in Gulshan-1, Dhaka. It is the third-largest mobile network operator in Bangladesh and a fully-owned company of Telecom Ventures Ltd., a 100% owned subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding Ltd. VEON owns 51.9% shares of Global Telecom Holding following a business combination between VEON Ltd. and Wind Telecom S.p.A. in April 2011.

Banglalink attained 1 million subscribers by December 2005, and 3 million subscribers by October 2006. In less than two years, by December 2007, Banglalink overtook Aktel (now Robi) to become the second-largest operator in Bangladesh behind Grameenphone with more than 7.1 million customers.

Banglalink had 1.03 million connections until December 2005. The number of Banglalink users increased by 257%[2] and stood at 3.64 million at the end of 2006, making it the fastest-growing operator in the world of that year. In August 2006, Banglalink became the first company to provide free incoming calls from BTTB for both postpaid and prepaid connections. On 20 August 2008, Banglalink got past the landmark of a 10 million subscriber base.[3] As of August 2021, Banglalink has a subscriber base of 36.90 million.

History

Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd. was granted license in 1989, to operate in the rural areas of 199 upazilas.[4] The company started providing GSM service in 1998.[5]

In July 2004, an Egypt-based company, Orascom Telecom, purchased Sheba Telecom and formed Banglalink brand, as sheba telecom failed to tap the business potentials in Bangladesh mainly due to a chronic feud between its Malaysian and Bangladeshi partners.[5] The purchasing value was US$60 million, of which US$50 million for share value and US$10 million was for financial debt.[6]

Integrated Services Ltd. (ISL), the Bangladeshi partner, was being 'officially' shown as purchasing the shares held by Technology Resources Industries (TRI) of Malaysia for $15 million. ISL then paid another $10 million to Standard Chartered Bank to settle Sheba's liabilities.

In September 2004, Orascom Telecom Holdings purchased 100% of the shares of Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Limited. It was acquired for US$60 million. Sheba had a base of 59,000 users, of whom 49,000 were regular when it was sold.[7] Afterward it was re-branded and launched its services under the "Banglalink" brand on 10 February 2005.

In March 2008, Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Limited changed its name to Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited, matching its parent company name.

In July 2013, following the 2011 ownership restructuring in the parent company,[8] the company name changed for the second time to Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd.

Achievements

Today it earns 1588 Taka crore and having around thousand of employs. Banglalink also won 4 oklla awards for having the fastest network in Bangladesh.

Numbering scheme

Banglalink uses the following numbering scheme:

+88019N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8 & +88014N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8

Where '+880' is the ISD code for Bangladesh and is needed only in case of dialing from outside Bangladesh.

'19' & '14' are the access codes for Banglalink as allocated by the Government of Bangladesh. Omitting +880 will require using 0 in place of it instead to represent local call, hence 019 & 014 are the general access codes. N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8 is the subscriber number.

In 2018, when Mobile number portability was introduced users can port to any operator without changing its number.[9] [10]

Network

Banglalink is the third-largest mobile operator of the country. As of February, Banglalink has a total number of 14,500 base transceiver station (BTS) across the country.[11]

National roaming Ccoverage

Under national roaming,Banglalink user's can use teletalk network beside banglalink network if Banglalink network is weak or has no signal. This feature is now in trial mode.Banglalink will use total 20,600 Mobile Network Tower to serve customers under national roaming network of Banglalink & Teletalk

International roaming coverage

Banglalink has international roaming facilities

Products offered

Banglalink Enterprise

Banglalink Enterprise[12] offers a wide range of products and services to suit the needs of the business community. It was first launched in December 2006. The current packages are:

Before the launch of Banglalink enterprise, Banglalink served the business clientele through a similar platform named Banglalink professional.

Banglalink customer care

Banglalink delivers customer care using its call centers and customer care networks. Currently, Banglalink provides customer care services to its clients through:

Digital services

Criticisms and penalty

In October 2007, BTRC fined Banglalink BDT 1.25 billion for its involvement in illegal VoIP or call termination business. The then BTRC chairman, major general (retd.) Manzurul Alam, confirmed Banglalink's involvement in the illegal trade. In a statement issued by Banglalink, the company agreed to make a one-time fixed payment of Tk. 1.25  billion to the government as compensation for its loss in revenues.[15]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About Banglalink . Banglalink . https://web.archive.org/web/20170926005737/https://banglalink.net/en/about-us/about-banglalink . 2017-09-26.
  2. http://www.banglalinkgsm.com/html1/our_shared.php About Banglalink
  3. News: Bangladesh's Banglalink tops 10 mln mobile users . . 17 July 2015.
  4. Book: Alam, Mahbubul . 2012 . Telecommunication . http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Telecommunication . Islam . Sirajul . Sirajul Islam . Jamal . Ahmed A. . Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh . Second . Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  5. News: Orascom Telecom Bangladesh new name of Sheba . The Daily Star . 20 March 2008.
  6. Web site: Orascom acquires Sheba Telecom.
  7. Web site: Egyptian Orascom Gets Sheba Telecom Malaysian stake. 17 July 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20070929022458/http://www.cellular.co.za/news_2004/july/071604-egyptian_co_sweeps_sheba_telecom.htm. 29 September 2007. dead.
  8. Web site: Vimpelcom confirms closing of 'large and complex' Wind Telecom deal . TeleGeography . 18 October 2015.
  9. Web site: Everything you need to know about Mobile Number Portability . 8 October 2018 .
  10. News: Switch to any operator . . 30 September 2018 . en.
  11. News: 2023-02-06 . Banglalink deployed 4,000 new towers in 2022 . 2023-08-12 . The Daily Star . en.
  12. Web site: Banglalink rolls out GPRS and gets personal with businesses. 17 July 2015.
  13. http://banglalinkgsm.com/html1/bl_point.php banglalink points
  14. Web site: Kallol Group of Companies. 17 July 2015.
  15. News: Banglalink fined Tk 125cr for illegal VoIP business . The Daily Star . 17 July 2015.