1.

0 CityCell back ground

In October 1990, Hutchison Bangladesh Telecom Limited (HBTL) was formed as a joint venture
between Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL) and Hutchison Whampoa Limited of Hong Kong.
In March of that year BTL had been issued a license by Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone
Board (BTTB) for operating cellular, paging and other wireless communication networks.

However, soon there was legal dispute between BTTB and BTL regarding the refusal of BTTB
to provide Public Switch Telecommunication Network (PSTN) channels for connectivity to the
BTTB network. The Supreme Court then ruled in April 1993 that BTTB would have to provide
PSTN connections to HBTL, and that BTL would have to transfer the cellular portion to the
license of HBTL. BTTB gave HBTL the PSTN connections in August 1993 and HBTL began
commercial operation of the first cellular telephone service in Bangladesh in the same month.
The owners of HBTL decided to sell their stakes in the company due to the legal war. HBTL’s
shares were divided into two parts: Type A, which was held by BTL and Type B, held by
Hutchison. Each type of share represented 50% title of HBTL. Pacific Motors Limited bought
the type A shares while Hong Kong based financial investors Far East Telecom Limited bought
the Type B shares.

CityCell is the brand name of the product of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL). This is a
concern of Pacific Group, which is involved in the business of banking, automobiles,
pharmaceuticals, fisheries, healthcare, and tea. On June 2, 2005, PBTL created a milestone
through strategic partnership with SingTel, Asia’s leading communications solution provider.
This has opened up a whole lot of opportunities for CityCell to make its position stronger in the
market. With the financial and technical expertise from SingTel, PBTL is in a position to bring a
host of innovative products and services for the customers at affordable prices. PBTL start its
journey in 1993 as the forerunner in the mobile telecom industry, introducing postpaid packages
for the high-end-users. It obtained its business license from BTTB on July 26, 1989 under the
Bangladesh Telegraph Act, 1885. The license grants PBTL all powers, authorizations, consents,
and permission to provide, operate and maintain cellular radio-telephones (fixed and mobile)
throughout Bangladesh. Thus it is the only telecom operator in Bangladesh, which has the license
for both fixed and mobile phone. CityCell began its operations with AMPS (Advanced Mobile
Phone Service), a sophisticated technology at the initial stage, which was upgraded into CDMA-
1 (Code Division Multiple Access) in 1999. In 2005, CityCell further upgraded CDMA-1 into
CDMA1X, a 3G technology capable of filtering out background noise, cross talk, and
interference, CityCell customers can enjoy crystal-clear voice quality, greater privacy, and
enhanced call quality.

1
2.0 History

Date Event
Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL) was awarded a license to operate
1989
cellular, paging, and other wireless communication networks.
Hutchison Bangladesh Telecom Limited (HBTL) was incorporated in
Apr-90 Bangladesh as a joint venture between BTL and Hutchison
Telecommunications (Bangladesh) Limited.
Aug-93 1st cellular operation in the South Asian sub-continent
HBTL began commercial operation in Dhaka using the AMPS mobile
Aug-93
technology.
Dec-93 Pacific Motors Limited acquired the entire 50% share holding of HBTL.
HBTL was renamed as Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (PBTL) and
Feb-96
launched the brand name “CityCell Digital” to market its cellular products.
Mar-97 1st to extend coverage to Chittagong.
Apr-97 CityCell began commercial operation in Chittagong.
1st to adopt CDMA technology. CDMA technology was first introduced by
Mar-99
CityCell.
Jan-01 1st to set-up a communications backbone to Chittagong.
Apr-01 Dhaka-Chittagong microwave is launched.
CityCell introduced the 15-second pulse rate in the cellular industry of
Nov-01
Bangladesh.
Jan-02 CityCell commences operations in the Sylhet zone.
Value Added Services (VAS), such as 24 hour billing information, news,
Jan-02
services, sports, etc., are introduced.
Mar-02 First operator in Bangladesh to offer off-peak rates.
First operator in Bangladesh to offer prepaid services with two-way PSTN
July-02
(BTTB) connectivity.
CityCell extends coverage to Rangpur, Dinajpur, & Syedpur, the northern
Sep-02
districts of Bangladesh.
Oct-02 Short Message Service (SMS) is introduced.
Jan-03 CityCell launched its services in the major northern business city of Bogra.
Feb-03 First operator in Bangladesh to introduce the One2One post-paid package.

2
 CityCell reaches a coverage level of 40 districts out of a total of 64 (61
Jun-03
districts eligible).
Jun-03 Network capacity is increased to 240,000.
CityCell introduces “Amar Phone”, a postpaid mobile-to-mobile package
Aug-03
offering the lowest outgoing rate per minute in Bangladesh.
First operator in Bangladesh to introduce IDD and NWD for prepaid
Sep-03
subscribers.
CityCell reaches a coverage level of 51 districts out of a total of 64 (61
Oct-03
districts eligible).
CityCell’s 24-hour customer call center opens. Network capacity is increased
Nov-03
to 280,000.
Mar-04 CityCell opens its customer service centres 7 days a week countrywide.
June-04 CityCell launches RIM based handsets.
CityCell introduces, “Alaap Call me”, a pre-paid BTTB both-way
Mar-05 connectivity package with the unique “Call2Cash” feature to earn (talk-time)
credits upon receiving CityCell calls.
Singtel acquires 45% equity stake of CityCell. Has a call option to acquire
June-05
another 15% by 2007.

3.0 CityCell mission statement

Mission
PBTL’s mission statement is “‘To deliver innovative, customer focused products and to be the
benchmark for customer service excellence.”

Vision
The Vision of the company is “To be the best-quality Service Provider in the country.” There is
an emphasis on strong customer relations. This is important to CityCell especially as, until
recently, they positioned their packages as high end packages (corporate and business users).
Such customers will require strong support for brand loyalty to develop.

3.1 Strategic Goals

3
Without a set of specific mission objectives, no organization can meet their expected
achievement. Following represents the overall mission statement of CityCell :
• Meet customer requirements
• Establish technological leadership through choice of appropriate
technology
• Establish service leadership through quality
• Expand the footprint of cellular coverage
• Expand customer base
The current strategic goal of the company is to occupy a unique position in Bangladesh in the
telecom sector. One way to achieve this is to develop a strong subscriber base to be able to
penetrate in the markets with other attractive products.
The ways to ensure a strong subscriber base is to:
 Ensure quality service
 Providing customers with the best products available
Pacific
 Build strong reputation with Bangladesh
customers throughTelecom
customer service
 To increase market share byLimitedexpanding the network
(PBTL)
4.0 OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE
CityCell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is a privately owned partnership company. The
spectrum of its current ownership is as under:

SingTel Asia Pacific Investments Pvt Ltd - 45%

Pacific Motors Limited - 31.43%
Far East Telecom Limited - 23.57%

SINGTEL
Far East (45%)
Pacific Telecom.
Motors Ltd.
Ltd. (FETL)
(PML) (23.57%)
(31.43%)

4
.

5
4.1 Management structure

PBTL has a total of about 500 employees:

C h a i r m a n

M a n a g i n g D i r e c t o r

A d v i s o r

E n g i n e e r i S n ag l e s & F i n a n c eC u& s t o m e r B S i el l ri n v gi c e& A c c o u n t s A d m i n i s t r a t i o n

M a r k e t i n g C o m m e r O c ip a e l r a t i o n I T

D i r e c t o r E S n r g gV P V P V P S r V P
V P

C T O V P A V P A V P A V P A V P
( F i n a n c ( eC ) o m m e r c Ai a V l ) P

G M A V P E x e c u t i vE e x e c u t i v e S r E x e c u t i v e
S r E x e c u t i v e

V P S r E x e c u Ot i vf f e i c e r E x e c u t i v E e x e c u t i Sv re E x e c u t i v e
E x e c u t i v e ( S t o r e )

A V P E x e c u t i v e O f f i c e r O f f i c e r E x e c u t i v e
O f f i c e r

S r E x e c u t i v e S r O f f i c e r

E x e c u t i v e O f f i c e r

T e c h n i c a l o f f i c e r

Fig 2: Organogram of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited

Senior Management Team

CityCell is led by a team of highly qualified executives with extensive experience in the mobile
telecommunications industry both in Bangladesh and abroad.

M. Morshed Khan, Chairman (currently on leave)

At present, Mr. Khan is a Member of Parliament and is the current Minster for Foreign Affairs
for the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh. Currently, he is on a leave of absence from CityCell to
attend to his duties for the Government of Bangladesh. He is currently not involved in the
operations of the Company.

Asghar Karim, Acting Chairman

Mr. Karim, the former Vice Chairman of CityCell, is presently performing the duties of

6
Chairman in Mr. M. Morshed Khan’s absence. Mr. Karim graduated from Calcutta University, is
on the BoD of AB Bank, and is also the Director of other companies within the Pacific Group.

Faisal M. Khan, Managing Director

Chairman of AB Bank Limited, Managing Director of PML, and Director of other companies
within the Pacific Group.

Chris Maloy, CEO

Mr. Maloy, an Australian citizen, joined CityCell in November 2003 as the Company’s Chief
Executive Officer.

Intekhab Mahmud, Head of Marketing

Mr. Mahmud joined CityCell in early 2004 to head up Marketing operations. Prior to joining
CityCell he headed Grameen Phone’s Marketing Department for seven years.

Mr. Siddique Ali Miah, Director of Engineering

Mr. Miah holds an Engineering degree from BUET and a Telecommunications degree from
General Telecom and Electronics, Southeast, USA. Mr. Miah has 42 years of experience in the
telecom sector, including two years with the ITU. Mr. Miah is also responsible for successfully
implementing CityCell’s CDMA system.

Mr. D. S. Faisal Hyder, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Hyder holds an MBA degree from the Institute of Business Administration, University of
Dhaka. He joined CityCell in 2001 as Head of Finance bringing with him 10 years of business
experience..

Mr. Mohammad Tipu Sultan, Chief of Corporate Affairs and Company Secretary

Mr. Koichiro Takeda, Chief Technical Officer

Mr. Takeda joined CityCell as the Chief Technical Officer in September 2002.

Sales & Marketing

As the name implies, this division’s job is to conduct marketing promotion of CityCell. The job
of its employees is to maintain relationship distribution channel, media, and corporate clients.
This division also deals with value added services, brand and product design.

In the Sales Division there are Channel Sales, Corporate Sales and Direct Sales. In the Marketing
Division, there are Market Communications, Brand, VAS, Product Development and FWT &
Backbone Departments. The Senior Vice President is the Chief Marketing Officer of this Sales &
Marketing Division. Details about the departments have been discussed in the following chapter.

Customer Service Operation, Billing and IT

This department deals with customer after the sale occurs. Main activities of this department
includes maintaining data base of the customers, preparing, distributing, and collecting the bills,

7
activating new connections, deactivating connections, helpline service, interchanging of the
CDMA sets, collecting the faulty and repairable sets, returning repaired sets, changing CDMA
sets and so on. This department is divided into three divisions:

a) Billing and IT b) Service Delivery

Billing and IT

Risk Management Revenue Generation

Fig 3: Billing and IT

Service Delivery

Front Office Account Verification Collections Workshop

Fig 4: Service Delivery

Finance and Commercial

This department is divided into two divisions, a) LC preparation and Purchase, and b) Fund
Management. Here LC is opened for purchasing of sets and equipment, and all the funds
collected are used and controlled for the maximum benefit of the company. This department is
also responsible for the budgeting which takes place once a year for the next three years.

Finance and Commercial

Commercial LC &
Purchasing Fund Management

Fig 5: Finance and Commercial

Engineering

8
 This department is responsible for the setting up and maintenance of the heavy equipment and
the major telecom channels required for providing services to customers. This department is
divided into 7 divisions. They are Switch, Central Base station, Microwave, Radio Frequency,
Base Transceiver Station, Power, Planning and development.

Engineering

Switch Microwave

Central Base Station Control Radio Frequency

Base Transceiver Station Power

Planning & Development

Fig 6: Engineering

Accounts
This department is responsible for collecting direct cash or check or charging credit cards from
the customers who are paying for the service and equipment. This department is also responsible
to maintain the balance of store where sets and equipments are gathered for future purpose and
present operation.

Accounts

All type of payments collection Store (Sets and equipments)

Fig 7: Accounts

Administration and Human Resource

9
 As the name implies, this department has three major divisions. The Administration division is
responsible for Contract, Legal and Protocol & Government affairs. The Purchase & General
Maintenances is responsible for Purchase & Support and Estate & Properties, Maintenance &
general security. The Human Resource department is responsible for procuring future employees
according. This department is also responsible for maintaining the database of all employees,
leaves, attendance, health care and related fields of employees.

Administration and Human Resource

Contract, Legal and Purchase & General Admin

Procurement
Protocol

Fig 8: Administration and Human Resource

5.0 Financial management

Income statement 2004 2003 2002
Total Operating 3,700,695 2,577,199 1,778,750
Revenue
Total Operating (2,976,718) (1,843,374) (1,059,845)
expenses
Interest income 330,660 350,964 212,503
Financial cost (135,776) (246,358) (311,304)
Balance sheet 2004 2003 2002
Total assets 4,006,573 3,263,866 2,253,298
Long term borrowings 1,668,448 1,735,550 1,791,022
Total liabilities 2,558,352 1,255,473 1,738,924
Total equity 2,448,221 2,008,393 1,514,375

Revenue in 2004 grew by 57percent, compared to last year and as a result EBITDA and net
profits were recorded at a high level.

5.1 Enhanced Value of Shareholders’ Investment:

CityCell continued to enhance the value of its shareholders’ investment. The slow significant
growth in subscriber base has made a little bit positive contribution to the revenue, EBITDA and
net results, in line with the expectation of the shareholders. Revenue in 2004 grew by 38 percent,
compared to last year and as a result EBITDA and net profit were recorded at a higher level
.Percentage of EBITDA, Net profit and ARPU, how ever, declined slightly compared to last year
due to higher in take of prepaid customers and change in tariff plans. Major part of the profit was
reinvesting in the expansion of network in order to meet the pressing demand for Citycell
coverage in new areas. Citycell is well position in the market with its firm focus on the strategic
goals and we look forward to increasing value for shareholders in the years ahead.

5.2 Citycell Contributed BDT 11.50million to the National Exchequer

10
Citycell has become one of the largest contributors to the Government Exchequer. Since its
inception, in the last eight years of operation, the company has contributed around BDT 30.46
million on account of various taxes, levies, license fees and interconnection charges. During the
year 2004.

6.0 Overall policies and strategies adopted by City Cell

Customer Focus
At the generic business level strategies, the organization focuses on distinction through superior
customer service. Thus the company believes that central to its success is the focus it places on
its customers. The organization strives to serve the customers by understanding and anticipating
their needs, making it easy enough for them to do business with the company. The company is
committed to provide high quality and value to the customers to enrich their lives and enhance
their business success.

QFD or Quality Function Deployment

We earlier defined quality as “ the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service
that, bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.” Consequently, an effective TQM
program translates the customers stated or implied needs into specific features and services.
CityCell’s QFD refers to both 1) Determining what will satisfy the customer and 2) Translating
those customer desires into the target design. CityCell obtains these two by following the next
steps :

Identify customer wants by identifying what type of features and performance the CityCell users
want.
Identify what should be the price which CityCell users would like to pay for the desired service
Identify what flexibility and reliability customer wants to be provided
Relate customer “wants” with products “hows”:

 Relating customer wants of performance and features with how CityCell is going
to provide it
 Relating flexibility and reliability of CityCell’s services which is wanted by the
users with how CityCell will provide them

Identify relationships between firms how’s

CityCell interrelates the different services and products and identifies how to
combine force with one product to another

CityCell develop importance ratings to determine the most important product & service, which
will satisfy the existing users and potential users.

 CityCell often evaluates their product with GP, AKTel etc.

 By this they improves their response to the market
Evaluate competing products

11
 Organizational practices
Leadership
Mission statement
Effective operating procedure
Staffs support
Quality principles
(
Customer focus
Continuous improvement
Employee empowerment
Benchmarking
Just-in-time
Tools of TQM
Employee empowerment
(
Empowerment
Organizational commitment
Customer satisfaction
(
Meeting customer needs
Repeat customers

The flow of activities necessary to achieve TQM

Challenger Spirit
The challenger spirit drives the company’s business and operations. Whenever the management
of the company faces any kind of challenge, they never say cannot rather they question
themselves” Why not”. This is the main theme of challenger spirit practiced by the management
of PBTL.

Team Work
PBTL recognizes that it is organized with individual business units with distinct objectives,
people and cultures. However, the company believes in and works towards unity in diversity
where ‘all is for one, and one is for all’.

Personal Excellence
The organization believes that leadership and superior performance are only achieved through
the pursuit of personal excellence. The management takes the utmost pride in what they do:
working to the highest standards, reflecting on their performance and growing their capabilities
to continuously improve the business. The company acknowledges the potential of the
individuals and creates opportunities for their growth, recognizing individual contributions and
celebrating success stories.
Integrity
The reputation of PBTL depends upon its ability to fulfill its promises to shareholders, customers
and employees. The organization and its management do so by being honest in its dealings,
doing what they say, taking responsibility and being accountable for their actions. The
management is dedicated to identify issues early to avoid surprises. They always put their best

12
 O r g a n o g r a m : H u m a n R e s o

S e n i o r V i c e P R e s id e n t - H u m
effort to run the organization proactively. Again, regardless of circumstances, the management
ensures the highest ethical standards, which guides them in making the right decisions.
H u m a n R e s o u r c e s & L oO g D is t i c a n d A d m
7.0 Human resource management
Human resource or employees of an organization are very important and vital to the
organization’s success. EquallyE important
x e c uis the t i v HRe strategy.
- H u The m objective
a n R of eCityCell’s
A s s o s u i sHR
r tc a e n s t V i c e
strategy includes those employees:
( P l a n n i n g , S t r a t ( e L g o y g ai s n t i d c s C , o C m o np te r na sc at s t
 Are efficiently utilized within the constraints of environment.
 Are provided a reasonable E quality
x e c ofu work-life.
t i v e - H u m a n R e s o u r c e s
( L e a r n i n g a n d D e v S e le p n m i o e r n E t ) x e c u t i v e
 Fulfills the objectives of the firm with full motivation.
Although this department has not yet come into real existence as yet but we can take it as an
E x e c u t i v e , H u m a n R e s o u r c e s
opportunity to discuss the human resource policies like hiring procedures, training, promotions
( R e c r u i t m e n t a n d O R p ee cr a e t p i o t i n o s n ) i s t s ( s
and benefits as they have been carried out and given out until now. As already mentioned the
human resource activities wereE carriedx e outc u byt the
i v Admin
e - P Department
e r s o and n nfor
T e that
e l l matter,
eO p p h ite still
o r an te i o On sp e r
is for the time being.
Human Resources Department functions in the following distinct sections: S e n i o r E x e c u t i v e
 S e n &i o r O
Planning, Strategy f f i c e r , P e r s o n n e l O p e r a t i o n
 Compensation E x e c u t i v e
 Recurring & HR Operations
 Learning & Development and Internal CommunicationO f f i c e r ( s h a r e d )
 Office Services
 Protocol & Legal Affairs
Hiring Procedures G e n e r a l S t a f f ( s
In order to become an executive of CityCell a candidate should at least be a graduate from any
recognized university in Bangladesh or abroad. The candidate must Gfirste pass n e a r written
a l S t a f f ( s h
examination. Then according to the importance of the post he may have to face more than one
interview before getting the final appointment. The interview board usually consists A of s VPs
s i sandt a n t V i c e
C
AVPs. Sometimes the advisors also join in. Executives are also sometimes hired on the M basis
a i nof t h a i r m a n e n a n c e
extraordinary performance during the internship period. Officers are hired on the basis of their
experience and skills related to the specific field. Tertiary level education is however a must.
The advisors or the directors as they are called are hired on the basis of vastO experience
f f i c e inr the( s h a r e d )
related areas. These people have already served in high positions either in government or private
sector with success. They are hired on a contractual basis
V i c e C h a i r m a

M a n a g i n g D i r e

C h i e f E x e c u t i v

A d v i s o r 13
 D i r eS c V t Po A r - - V S E P C a n - l F ge I S Os i T n V ae H P ne e -rd a i n H S dM g R-V a C P r

Training
Training is actually provided by the experienced people at work who can be executives or senior
executives. The training is mostly provided through work. But some idea is given on the

14
software of CityCell before they can be actually used by new recruits. During the training the
employees are given a very small briefing on rules, policies and the code of conduct of CityCell.

Promotion
Promotion comes on the basis of excellent performance. But promotions are very hard to come
by. People have been serving on the post of executives for six years but yet have not received the
promotion even though performances were better than ordinary.

Benefits
When an executive joins in he usually have a basic salary of Tk. 12,000 and a mobile phone
with maximum usage limit of Tk. 2000. But they are charged a much cheaper rate than the usual
charge rates. For appointments at higher posts than executives the salary is negotiated. An
increment varying from Tk.500-12000 thousand is given to people working at CityCell based on
the post and performance. Two festival bonuses are given to the employees every year.

An employee is allowed a total of 41 days leave with pay. An employee gets a 21-day vacation
leave with payment. He can take 10-days sick leave and 9 days casual leave in a year.

Executives and officers are not given incentive based payment. They do not pay any extra
benefits to its employees who may be seriously ill.

Each employee of CityCell is entitled to a two days holiday in a week. But it does not have to be
on Fridays and Saturdays especially for the CSO people.

CityCell has an attractive and competitive compensation package that is aimed to attract and
retain talent and motivate our employees to do their best to contribute to the company’s success.
CityCell offer a range of financial and non-financial rewards and benefits.

Salary & Pay Day

Monthly salary and allowances shall accrue from the commencement of the active service of an
employee and shall generally become payable on a working day during the last week of the
current month. Usually the emoluments would be sent to the bank account of the incumbent.

Festival Bonus
All the permanent employees are eligible for two (2) festival bonuses each year. This is
equivalent to one month’s basic salary for employee serving one year or more with the company.
If length of service is less than one year, then a pro-rated bonus is paid based on the number of
days served during the period.
Performance Bonus
CityCell has introduced a performance-based bonus for employees at the level of Manager and
above. This bonus is linked to a measure of individual, group and organizational performance.

Leave Entitlement

15
All the regular employees of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited are eligible for annual leave
of 25 days and sick leave of 9 days in a year. If length of service is less than one year then the
leave will be calculated on a pro-rata basis based on the number of days served.

Leave Fare Assistance (LFA)

Any confirmed employee of CityCell, who requests for an annual leave of minimum nine (9)
consecutive days, is entitled to obtain the Leave Fare Assistance. Upon granting the requests for
LFA, employees are entitled to get a one-month’s basic salary.

Provident Fund
All the permanent employees of CityCell are entitled to become a member of Provident Fund.
Every month 10% of the basic salary of an employee is contributed to the fund along with the
same amount from the company’s account. Net income of the fund each year as on the 31st of
December is ascertained and interest is credited to the members account at rate determined by
the trustees. Any member, who has not completed three (3) years of continuous service, will not
be entitled to get any portion of company’s contribution.

Gratuity
Gratuity is provided to all permanent employees on basic pay. It will be admissible to an
employee, who has rendered continuous services to the company for a period of seven (7) years
and more. Completed year of service for the purpose of these rules means twelve (12) months of
active service.
Group Life Insurance
The company provides coverage of life insurance to all its permanent employees after their
confirmation with the company.

Medical Assistance scheme

To ensure proper and timely treatment/medical care of employees, company provides medical
and hospitalization benefits to all employees through a well reputed insurance company. Under
this scheme, the company bears and reimburses necessary & reasonable medical expenses
incurred by an employee while in hospital confinement for treatment.

Transportation
CityCell has introduced a unique car scheme for the employees at the level of Manager and
above. Under this scheme company assists the Managers in purchasing a car through purchase
contribution and other running & maintenance allowance which covers fuel, driver’s salary,
insurance & other maintenance costs. Moreover, employees at the level of Officers and
Executives are provided with pick and drop facilities upon availability and on priority basis.

Cellular Phone Facilities

All the executive staff of CityCell is provided with a cellular phone, where the company bears
the charges up to an allocated limit based on the position held by the employee. Beyond this limit
the employees must bear the charges, which are of considerably low rates, proposed and
applicable for CityCell employees.

Recreation Center

16
A full-fledged Recreation Center has been introduced for all the employees to congregate and
relax during their lunch breaks or after work hours. Currently the following amenities are
available for regular use:

Cafeteria
Gymnasium
Learning Center
Snooker table
Table tennis

Man Power Status

Division wise Staffing of PBTL

Existing End of 2005
Customer Care 174 200
Sales & Marketing 79 166
Engineering 135 255
Finance 58 72
8 12
Corporate Affairs
HR & Admin. 18 18
IT 16 16

7.1 HR Policies & Procedures

A good number of HR policies and procedures introduced. Draft HR policies and procedures
manual developed. To be made accessible via Intranet.
Performance Appraisal & Bonus System
 Rollout of an MBO based appraisal system completed. Performance Bonus awarded in
April, 2005.
Job Evaluation
 64 benchmark jobs to be evaluated using Hay method.
 Evaluation of most jobs below the manager level completed.
 Manager level JE to be completed soon.

17
HR Automation
 HRIS installed. Data population is in progress. HR & IT jointly working on online leave
administration system.
Learning & Development
 Training & Development Policy developed
 TNA for Sales & Marketing division completed.
 4,026 man hrs. of training were provided so far
 Soft skills & leadership program to be launched this month
Employee Learning Center
 Equipped with a good number of books for use by the employees.
Corporate Intranet
 Currently at beta testing stage
 Will be launched soon
HSE Initiative in line with the IFC guidelines
 HSE department created and staff engaged
 Enhanced focus on employee health, safety & hygiene

8.0 SWOT ANALYSIS

8.1 STRENGTHS:
 CITYCELL is the first cellular operations in the South Asian sub-continent.
 It is first and only using AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System).
 CITYCELL first and only user of the CDMA technology which allows them to transfer
twice as much data as oppose to the GSM (Global System for Mobile) technology.
 The relationship among their staff is very good and friendly relationship among
themselves, which creates a very good working situation.

8.2 WEAKNESSES:
 The unreliable economic condition of our country means that main investors often refrain
from investment.

18
  Because of the financial lucking CITYCELL is forced to withdraw technological
resource from one place to another.
 And when there is financial support it took a lot of time to implement the new
technology.
 The technology is changing at a rapid pore and it is very hard to keep pace with
technology
 The mobile market now has reached cut that competition level. The price was in getting
increasing intense which is cutting down their profitability. There are some departments
like the HRD and Billing And IT, which lacks staff. In the Billing and IT department
people of Risk Management have to do the job of Revenue Generation and vice versa.
 Comparatively lower network coverage than Grameen Phone.
 Inability to get the best out of the current CDMA technology. There are some problems
regarding call drops and delays in receiving SMS.
 A varied and sometimes confusing tariff structure. CityCell does not have a uniform
charge rate structure for prepaid mobiles and for the postpaid mobiles.
 Set options are much lesser for CDMA users and at the same time more expensive too as
CDMA sets costs higher than GSM sets for the same model types.
 For set replacement a customer has to go to PBTL and at same time have to wait for at
least a day. But with GSM sets the replacement is as easy as going to the market and
buying a new one, which is basically cheaper than CDMA sets.
 There are still some customers using the AMPS technology and would not switch to
CDMA. For them CityCell is forced to maintain a separate database which makes the job,
a bit more difficult than it should be.

8.3 OPPORTUNITIES:
 The ability to expand into new services that require an approach that is compatible with
PBTL’s strengths. For example provision of wireless data transfer services by corporate
clients (corporate clients generally require less technical or otherwise support). The data
transfer business has good future in Bangladesh.

19
  Legalization of the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) business is a good opportunity
for FWT to sell more. People would tend to use the FWTs as they are very cheap (only
Tk.2 per minute) to use, have access to and from any phones including mobile-mobile
phones and thus connecting abroad would be possible through this FWT with mobiles
that do not have BTTB connectivity.
 Expansion into landline services from dedicated stations across country that will provide
compatibility with other Bangladeshi telecom networks
 The biggest opportunity for CityCell is that the market is far from being saturated. If the
prices are reduced and they can establish strong network coverage they can get a
customer segment of low income people.
8.4 THREATS:
 The outthought competition in the market means that CITYCELL is going to lose their
profitability.
 They are facing new kind of competitors like fixed phone operators who are also using
CDMA and GSM technologies to provide land phone services. They are considered as a
major threat to the mobile telecom industry.
 Illegal import of GSM mobile sets means that CDMA sets, which are provided by
CITYCELL, are more expensive then the market price of phones. High degree of
acceptance of GSM technology over CDMA in local market. GSM sets are cheap and
replacement costs are much lesser. People might switch rather than replace CityCell sets.
 High degree of bargaining power of suppliers as no one else uses CDMA technology in
Bangladesh to provide cellular telecom service.
 High network coverage of major GSM utilizing company like Grameen Phone – as
compared to City Cell’s own partial coverage. GP has more options to peak new
customers where CityCell network does not exist.
 Aktel and Banglalink also have recently developed strong network coverage, and was the
first to introduce a prepaid with both ways BTTB. It took away a big market and still can
take away more.
 Grameen Phone,Aktel and Banglalink have already introduced the international roaming
options which have not done. It can eat away a big portion of the corporate market
segment.

20
  The dealers of GSM using technology more often than not sell SIM cards and set
separately which is illegal. So it has always been cheaper to get a GSM connection.
CityCell dealers cannot do that, as the set itself has to be programmed, which can only be
done at CityCell. So if the law is not enforced CityCell sales can suffer a lot.
9.0 Lesion learned from the case
CityCell current strategy remains revenue driven, rather than subscriber driven. They have to
now focus on subscriber. However, PBTL's potential network expansion would enlarge its
subscriber market share effectively, as supply continues to lag demand in Bangladesh, although
the respective line yield is difficult to determine at this juncture.

9.1 Mission statement

Lesion learn from mission statement is that mobilization requires a clear statement of objectives
and what is needed to be done by whom? By when? And to what end?

The previous mission statement puts into perspective a few points about City Cell Digital. Their
inherent emphasis is on quality not cheapness of service. The first priority is to provide a high-
end service that can be used for both commercial and personal use. Their mission is revenue
based not customer based. So Citycell has to redefine their mission statement to focus on
providing the most access and most valuable use of telecom service.

“To be recognized as a leading player in the Telecom Services Industry and to provide. Services
of excellent standard in order to improve our customers’ businesses”

9.2 Planning
The Company appears to be moving towards a more customer oriented approach to its overall
customer policy. Gone are the days when PBTL could dictate terms to its clients. These days
PBTL has to spend an increasing amount of time covering its shortfalls and persuading
customers to stay with them. This is especially worrying after what is perceived to be by many
industry insiders a concerted effort by Grameen Phone to make headway into the corporate
market – a domain that was once almost exclusively under PBTL. What PBTL is really looking
for is a way by which it can seriously bounce back into dominant position. The primary reason
for choosing CDMA is that they hope to be able to introduce next generation (2G) mobile phone
features such as voice conferencing, Internet, sending visual data, etc into their services. It
remains to be seen how successful they are in harnessing the full power of CDMA technology.
There is also a proposal to decentralize their organization in order to be able to better serve their
customers in the far-reaching regions of the country. This means that many major functions will
be spread out throughout the country divided according to customer regions. It is yet to be seen
how much decentralization may occur, but it is a major issue under consideration. If the network

21
expansion into North Bengal and then into Khulna region occurs soon, there is a real potential,
by virtue of superior technology, to gain a significant competitive edge over GSM rivals. Then
there is the sale of data link to corporate clients. This will gather significant revenue for the
company as well as solidify its position with its corporate clients as their primary information
transfer and telecom provider. The incongruities between the various tariff plans of the various
packages are to be removed both to make it much easier for customers to budget usage and also
to increase the value for money of each package. There are no mergers or acquisitions in the
future, but it is believed that Fujitsu may increase its holdings in PBTL and gain greater
management control. If this happens, then the entire picture may change. This is especially
important if we consider the fact that slowly boundaries are opening and technologies are
improving. GSM will give way to more advanced technologies like CDMA and there will soon
be no national boundaries as defined in the telecom industry. If that happens and the telecom
sector is further liberalized, then PBTL can look forward to increased growth and revenue.

9.3 Marketing and advertising

 CityCell takes inactive interest in spreading IT education through both urban and rural
schools. Over the years, Citycell has donated more than 70computers to a number of
academic institutions including the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka
University, the UCEP School, Bishwa Sahitya Kendra and a number of rural schools.
 During the floods of 2004, Citycell was very actively involved in supporting flood
victims by Donating and supplying medicine, drinking water and arranging health camps.

 CityCell actively participates in the city beautification program initiated by Dhaka City
Corporation and also supports improvement of the traffic systems in major cities.

 CityCell supports a project for autistic children by providing support for their education
And improvement of learning ability.

 CityCell launched the EDGE technology earlier this year, which will enable its
subscriber’s access to high speed data and Internet services. This will help bridge the
existing digital divide to some extent by allowing people in the rural areas access to the
Internet or information highway.

 CityCell, Bangladesh’s leading mobile communications provider launched its community

program ‘CityCell Changing Lives’ with a donation to the Society for the Welfare of the
Intellectually Disabled (SWID). The Social Welfare Organization of Intellectually
Disabled was established in 1977 and operates 30 schools for the intellectually disabled

22
 throughout the country. 'CityCell Changing Lives' community program initiative will
initially support 6 schools in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong.

9.4 Manpower placement and utilization

Codes of Conduct
Singtel guided Codes of Conduct has also been adopted by CityCell and it has been read and
signed by all employees of CityCell. This document underlines the importance and requirement
of securing good business ethics in all aspects of the company’s activities. Management &
Leadership Development Employees are one of the most important assets of any organization.
Transparency of their goal and performance measurement plays an important role in achieving
target of the organization. CityCell has implemented the following tools developed by Singtel to
maintain this asset to reach its goal:

a) CityCell Leadership Development Process (TLDP):

CityCell has initiated an integrated process designed to evaluate, develop and reward managers
in accordance with SingTel own leadership demands and business results. This process provides
details of overall management capacity, management teams, key position sand extent to which
CityCell recruits relevant expertise. Under the process, candidates for key positions are
identified, along with training required to develop such positions. Talents are also identified, as
are candidates for future management positions. This process also provides details relating to
career objectives for managers, and also reflects the diversity. TLDP also sets targets – financial
and non financial--and follow up in a systematic manner.

b) Internal Value Creation (IVC):

Each year employees respond to an IVC survey which comprises targets and management,
human capital, process capital, innovation and simplification. This process is one of several tools
used for company’s ambition relating to bringing transparency and accountability relating to
individual employees and the company it. By comparing the result of the annual IVC survey with
TLDP, a basis is achieved for the implementation of improvement measures with respect to
employees in general and managers in particular. CityCell believes in transparency and
accountability to society through establishment of efficient and effective corporate governance. It
also believes that this is a continuous process and will be always developed to further strengthen
CityCell corporate governance functions in the years to come.

Economic and social impact

The shareholders of CityCell believe that “Good development is good business”. Since its
inception, CityCell has always considered Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as an
important function of the company. The goal of a good CSR program is to make the company a
good corporate citizen of the country it operates in. The aim is to initiate or support social
development programs which have a direct impact on the development of the society, thus
making a company socially responsible. Along with providing telecommunication services to
more than half million people, providing direct income-earning opportunities to over people and

23
being one of the to corporate taxpayers in the country, CityCell takes its CSR activities quite
seriously.

10.0 Conclusion
The emergence of mobile phones made communication much easier. No matter where you are,
people can always be in constant contact with you. Although, people in Bangladesh were a bit
wary at first, they gradually adapted to the idea of mobile phones for easy communication.
Nowadays, in Bangladesh almost everyone who can afford it owns a mobile phone. It is no
longer a luxury, but it has become a common household item. Amidst, all this Pacific
Bangladesh Telecom Limited is offering Bangladeshi people mobile telephony services.
despite the low tele-density of Bangladesh and PBTL's strong subscriber growth (historical
CAGR of 97%) since 1997, PBTL's has to expansion premium of more than 3.5x over the
vendor shares, so that a substantial portion of their investment will be channeled to the company
to develop network infrastructure. At the same time, have to appoint a chief technology officer
(CTO), a chief operating officer (COO) and managerial-level finance position, as well as three of
the seven members of the board.
Also they have to increase the number of base stations from the current 300-plus to up to 1,000
to increase coverage and optimize efficiency in terms of network rollout.

Power up the potential of people connecting through mobile phone; build a global medium that
will shape the future of communication in the new century. Inspire an online community that is
million of members strong, including every CityCell employees.

11.0 Recommendations
A primarily prepaid high growth potential Bangladesh's mobile market has been almost doubling
in subscriber base since 1997 and yet is at a mere 3.9% penetration level. With this significant
growth prospects for an over five-fold increase in subscriber base in the long term. On the
flipside, relatively low GDP per capital levels to rest of the region combined with other
economic and demographic factors make it a low predominantly prepaid market even in this
early growth phase.

CityCell current strategy remains revenue driven, rather than subscriber driven. They have to
now focus on subscriber. However, PBTL's potential network expansion would enlarge its
subscriber market share effectively, as supply continues to lag demand in Bangladesh, although
the respective line yield is difficult to determine at this juncture.

-CDMA handset costs key near term challenge Low affordability levels presents a near term
challenge to PBTL as, despite significant drops in CDMA handset prices, they are still prices at a
significant 15-25% premium to comparable GSM models. The low end Chinese CDMA handsets
currently sell for US$50-60 per unit in the country, significant in view of real GDP of only

24
US$420 per capita levels. So CityCell has to collective bargaining power for handsets should
provide some relief on this front given that many of its vendors like Motorola provide both GSM
and CDMA handsets.

SingTel remains favored Telco pick in Singapore SingTel is arguably the only true pan-Asian
mobile play in the region with material presence in Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand,
India, Philippines and Bangladesh. It remains favored pick of the Singapore Telco’s providing a
good combination of core profit growth, moderate valuations and an attractive 5.3% dividend
yield which could potentially be higher in the event of further asset divestments in property or
equity stakes in some of its smaller investments like in CityCell. it is a fairly small investment in
the context of SingTel's S$5bn+ regional mobile portfolio ex-Optus. Under broad assumptions of
long term market share of 25% and 28-30% market penetration, estimate value to SingTel's
Shareholders from PBTL to be a modest 2-3cts/share over our existing sum of parts value of
S$3.08/share.
Bangladesh presents high growth opportunity with sub 4% and 1% mobile and wire line
penetration. Handset cost and CDMA network issues present key near term challenges

Others
 The verification of a customer's name and address should be done when while the mobile
is being sold. The sales executive should have the freedom to verify the customer's name
and address. In this way the activation executive doesn't have to waste time verifying
documents. So, if the documents are not correct then in the first step itself the customer is
told to bring proper documents for verification. As a consequence, customer
dissatisfaction will be greatly reduced.

 The UNICORN software should be upgraded with newer and better software, in where
the whole duration of activation process is cut down to minimum time duration.

 The whole process should not depend on so many personnel for approval. People should
be given the empowerment for making decisions.

 The processes should be simultaneous. While one executive does one job the other person
should start the next process immediately.

 The BTS capacity has to be upgraded for better and smooth connectivity.

25