Bangladesh adds 1.38 mln mobile phone users in March

DHAKA, April 16 (Reuters) - Bangladesh mobile phone operators added 1.38 million new subscribers in March, lifting the user base to 38.93 million in one of Asia's fastest growing cellular markets, telecoms regulator data showed on Wednesday.

The number of mobile users rose nearly 58 percent in 2007 to 34.4 million, the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission said, helped by competitive tariffs and cheap handsets.

Six cellphone providers in the impoverished country of over 140 million people registered 1.13 million customers in February.

Several market surveys have forecast the number of mobile phone users will be around 50 million at the end of 2009.

Top mobile phone company Grameenphone, majority owned by Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL), has raised its subscriber base to 17.81 million from 17.20 million in February.

Egyptian Orascom Telecom's (ORTE.CA) Banglalink saw its customer base grow by 430,000 to 8.31 million.

Aktel, majority owned by Telekom Malaysia International (TLMM.KL), added 90,000 users in March, taking its user base to 7.45 million.

Warid Telecom International of the United Arab Emirates, which launched Bangladesh operations in May 2007, ended March with 2.79 million from 2.60 million.

CityCell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited and Singapore Telecommunication (STEL.SI), grew to 1.56 million users from 1.51 million in February.

State-owned Teletalk's user base edged up to 1.01 million in March, up from 1 million in February.

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. (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Paul Bolding)