Cellphone users in Bangladesh on the rise
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's six mobile phone operators added 1.41 million new subscribers in April, lifting the user base to 40.34 million, the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission data showed on Thursday.
The number of mobile users rose nearly 58 percent in 2007 to 34.4 million, the telecoms regulator said, helped by competitive tariffs and cheap handsets.
The government introduced on Thursday mobile phone networks in the three south-eastern hill districts, which had been barred for security concerns.
Several market surveys have forecast the number of mobile phone users will be around 70 million at the end of 2011.
Top mobile phone company Grameenphone, majority owned by Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL), has raised its subscriber base to 18.60 million in April from 17.81 million a month ago.
Second player Egyptian Orascom Telecom's (ORTE.CA) Banglalink saw its customer base grow by 330,000 to 8.64 million in April.
Aktel, majority owned by Telekom Malaysia International (TLMM.KL), added 120,000 users in April, taking its user base to 7.57 million.
Warid Telecom International of the United Arab Emirates, which launched Bangladesh operations in May 2007, ended April with 2.93 million from 2.79 million in March.
CityCell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited and Singapore Telecommunication (STEL.SI), grew to 1.60 million users in April from 1.56 million in March.
State-owned Teletalk's user base stood at 990,000 in April.
Mobile phone services are an important contributor to the cash-strapped nation's economy. The sector contributed 1.5 percent to Bangladesh's gross domestic product and created more than 250,000 jobs, officials said.
Although nearly half of its people still live on less than a dollar a day, the country has been one of the world fastest growing cellular markets, with a mobile penetration rate of around 26 percent.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Louise Ireland)
