Telenor in Bangladesh 1

Telenor in Bangladesh

Tousif Khan Majlis

Ashland University

MBA 509 WL - International Business Management

Dr. Venkataramany

Date 04/22/2013
 Telenor in Bangladesh 2

Table of Contents

i. Introduction

ii. Historical Background

iii. Environment
a) Social
b) Religious
c) Political
d) Economic
e) Legal
f) Ethical

iv. Issues regarding Foreign Direct Investment

a) Home and Host Government
b) Business Analysis
i) Industry Analysis
ii) Competitor analysis
iii) SWOT analysis
c) Country Analysis
i) Country Competitiveness Reports from Institute for Management Development
(IMD) and World Economic Forum (WEF)
ii) Market analysis
iii) Investments climate, risk
iv) Host government conditions/concessions
d) People in Bangladesh

v. Summary
a) Other Factors to be considered
b) Communication Process
c) Expatriate Managers

vi. Conclusion

vii. References
 Telenor in Bangladesh 3

i) Introduction:

As part of my individual final integrative research project which requires analyzing the

issues of an MNC in the setting of a developing country, I have selected “Telenor in

Bangladesh” as the topic of my final project. Telenor Group is one of the leading mobile

operators in the world, with close to 150 million mobile subscriptions. Launched in March 26,

1997, Grameenphone was the first Telenor venture in the Asian telecom market which is the

leading and largest telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh with more than 40.33

million subscribers as of January, 2013 and has about 5,100 full and temporary employees.

The reason behind choosing Telenor as the company and Bangladesh as the country is

due to the inspiration that 300,000 people are directly dependent on Grameenphone for their

livelihood, working for the Grameenphone as dealers, retailers, scratch card outlets, suppliers,

vendors, contractors and others. With the study of the international business venture of Telenor

in an emerging and developing country like Bangladesh, I would like to use this knowledge to

understand how a business firm functions in a global setting and identify the company’s strategic

issues in an emerging market of a developing economy besides offering an analysis with

recommendations in which the country’s cultural, political, legal, economic/financial

environment is analyzed.

ii) Historical Background:

Telenor was founded in 1855 and builds on more than 155 years of telecom experience. It

has mobile operations in 11 markets, as well as an interest of 33 % in VimpelCom Ltd.,

operating in 18 markets. Approximately half of Telenor's employees work outside Norway. With

31,000 employees worldwide, Telenor Group is able to offer a wide range of telecom-related

services to consumers and enterprises. Telenor Group provides telecommunication, data and
 Telenor in Bangladesh 4

media services in the Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia. Their main revenues come

from mobile operations, making them one of the world’s major mobile operators. Grameenphone

is the largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh which is a joint venture enterprise between

Telenor and Grameen Telecom Corporation, a non-profit sister concern of the internationally

acclaimed microfinance organization and community development bank Grameen Bank.

In a publication in the Global Telecom Business article titled “The Death of Distance in

Bangladesh” (2007) it was mentioned that “The biggest shareholder in GrameenPhone is a world

away, in climate and wealth. Telenor, the incumbent operator in Norway, owns 62% and has

nurtured the operation since it started. It's one of many investments Telenor has in international

businesses: there are others in Denmark, Sweden, Ukraine, Hungary, Montenegro, Thailand,

Malaysia and Pakistan. Telenor also holds minority interests in mobile operations in Russia and

Austria.” (p. 26).

Starting its operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh,

Grameenphone has come a long way by being the pioneer of the then breakthrough initiative of

mobile to mobile telephony and became the first and only operator to cover 98% of the

Bangladesh’s people with network.

iii) Environment

a) Social:

Before Grameenphone’s inception in Bangladesh, the phone was for a selected

urbanized few. The cell phone was a luxury: a flouting accessory for the select elite. The

mass could not contemplate mobile telephony as being part of their lives. Grameenphone

started its journey with the Village Phone program: a pioneering initiative to empower

rural women of Bangladesh. The name Grameenphone translates to “Rural phone”.

 Telenor in Bangladesh 5

Grameenphone has always been a pioneer in introducing new products and services in the

local telecom market and was the first company to introduce GSM technology in

Bangladesh when it launched its services in March 1997. Socially the launching of

cellular telephone service by Grameenphone has been widely accepted by people from

different social background because it provided them a way of mobility to stay in touch

with their near and dear ones round the clock. In the Journal of Marketing Management

Ahmed T. Rashid and Mizan Rahman (2009) mentioned that “For villagers in general,

phones offer additional non-economic benefits such as improved law enforcement, more

rapid and effective communications during disasters, stronger kinship bonding, etc. In

sum, available evidence indicates that VPP had a positive impact on the people in rural

Bangladesh.” (p. 1055).

b) Religious:

The Village Phone Program is a unique initiative to provide universal access to

telecommunications service in remote, rural areas. Administered by Grameen Telecom

Corporation, it enables rural people who normally cannot afford to own a telephone to

avail the service while providing the VP operators an opportunity to earn a living.

Although Bangladesh is a moderate Muslim country, yet there are comparatively more

conservative people in the rural areas of the country who do not encourage the free

mixing of women in the society outside their household. So during the launching of the

Village Phone Program, which also started in 1997, there was concern from religious

point of view whether it will lead to the empowerment of women which will no longer be

able to hold them back in their household only. According to the article “Grameen

Revisited: Investors Reach Out to the Poor” (2004) published in the DAC Journal, the
 Telenor in Bangladesh 6

Village Phone Program provided a good income-earning opportunity to more than

200,000 women living in rural areas who were considered as Village Phone operators.

c) Political:

Telenor was able to gain significantly from the early-mover advantage in the nascent

telecommunications market in Bangladesh. In the Journal of Marketing Management

Ahmed T. Rashid and Mizan Rahman (2009) mentioned that the strategy of Telenor AS

needs more elaboration as it represents the case of a large MNC entering into the market

in a developing country because at the time of Telenor’s entry, other global

telecommunications operators, including Telia of Sweden, had concluded that the

political and regulatory instability of Bangladesh made the venture highly risky. (p. 1055)

d) Economic:

According to technology journalist Robert Clark (2008), “Inflation in emerging

markets could bite sooner rather than later” (p. 38). He also mentioned that the Nordic

carrier Telenor with operations in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia is

experiencing that Asian customers were finding mobile services increasingly

unaffordable because of the spiral cost of foods. Telenor CEO John Fredrik Baksaas even

shared with Financial Times that “Inflationary pressures on daily necessities are hitting

people’s wallets, leading to cautiousness when it comes to consumption” and as a result

ARPU (Average revenue per user) fell 24% year-on-year in Bangladesh and 14% in

Pakistan. In another publication in the MarketWatch : Telecoms titled “Threats” (2010) it

was mentioned that the ARPUs in various markets continue to decrease owing to

increasing competition and regulatory measures. As a result, the company's ability to be

profitable in these markets is mainly dependent on acquiring new customers and

 Telenor in Bangladesh 7

increasing penetration of new services to offset the effect of low ARPU. Lower ARPU

could affect the company's operating performance in future.

e) Legal:

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is the

regulatory authority for this sector, overseeing licensing, policy etc. Organizations often

do have the privilege for not revealing the internal information by the excuse of corporate

secrets. A company like Grameenphone is also not likely to express the incidents of

hustles and tussles with its competitors or its bargaining with parties. The out of record

facts from the grapevines and some cover stories give us the idea that management has

got some predetermined treatments on anticipated problems in internal sectors of

strategic and operational fields. In case of external dealing, the company approaches

with the protocol used by the firms. As Grameenphone is a private Ltd corporation,

legislative affairs are treated according to the company Act. Some of the disputes have

been solved through the “Arbitration Act” as well. However, for keeping confidential the

organization never uncover its strategies or plan of actions in the public. The internal

matters of an organization are always a hard nut to crack where Grameenphone restricts

outsiders. According to Telecom Asia’s publication “Newsmap - Asian Telecoms this

Month” (2011) “Telenor disputes a $400m tax bill from the government arising from a

dispute covering subsidiary Grameenphone's revenue share on the sale of SIM cards. ” (p.

10). In another article “Nobel Winner At War With Norway Partner” (2006) published in

the Fortune International, it was mentioned that when Dr. Md. Yunus traveled to Oslo to

receive the Nobel Peace Prize, he came prepared to fight for management control over

Grameenphone with Telenor as he believes that Telenor is sucking profits from the poor
 Telenor in Bangladesh 8

of Bangladesh. Joanne Taffe (2008) in her article “Chain Reactions” published in the

Total telecom Magazine mentioned that Telenor argues that if any intentions about

transferring ownership were expressed at the time, they are now legally non-binding.

f) Ethical:

Andreas and Joyce Falkenberg (2009) in their article “Ethics in International

Value Chain Networks: The Case of Telenor in Bangladesh” mentioned about a

television program made by free-lance journalist Tom Heinemann which was shown on

Danish and Norwegian television. The documentary pointed to several areas of poor

working conditions on the part of suppliers who were building telecommunications

towers for Telenor and Ericsson. Three major problems were reported: child labor, unsafe

working conditions, and pollution problems. (p. 363). Joanne Taffe (2008) in her article

“Chain Reactions” published in the Total telecom Magazine mentioned that Telenor says

that it is addressing the child labor allegation.

Telenor's subsidiary Grameenphone was also fined multiple times and later sued

because they participated in illegal VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocols) operations.

VOIP operations went against the BTRC's (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory

Commission) rules and as a result Grameenphone's offices were also raided in the

process. BTRC claimed that the regulator and government were deprived from large

revenue which Telenor/Grameenphone earned through these activities. Shortly after,

Grameenphone's profits fell 32% when BTRC forced Grameenphone to cease VOIP

operations. In October, 2007 the Government of Bangladesh fined Grameenphone USD

24.5 million for illegally depriving the government of revenue by ignoring laws requiring

private operators to use the state-owned BTTB land phone network for international calls
 Telenor in Bangladesh 9

by its subscribers, when they used Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to receive such

calls. In January 2008, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has filed

a case against GP's two former CEO's and other officials for involvement in illegal VoIP

business.

iv) Issues regarding Foreign Direct Investment

a) Home and Host Government:

Any kind of regulation of the Home or Host country Government may cause a

huge problem for any company. Regulations changes because of government changes. So

the rapid change of government becomes a great threat for Telenor and GrameenPhone.

In a publication in the MarketWatch : Telecoms titled “Threats” (2010) it was mentioned

that Telenor’s operations in various countries are highly regulated both by national

authorities and European Union (EU) authorities. Through, regulations benefit the society

at large, the regulation on termination rates and international voice roaming directly

impact telecom companies' revenues and profitability. For instance, the call termination

prices and roaming rates have been decreased in a number of countries in EU.

Additionally, new European rate regulations on pricing of mobile communications to or

from Europe will continue to affect the company's operating performance in future.

Currently Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has fixed the

call rate for all of mobile operator with the range of minimum 25 paisa to maximum 2

taka as well as specified subscription form of the customers which will seriously affect

the overall current strategy of the company.

b) Business Analysis

i) Industry Analysis:
 Telenor in Bangladesh 10

The Mobile Phone Industry in Bangladesh is a rapidly growing sector of the

economy. The industry basically took off with Citycell being the first to introduce

mobile phone services using the CDMA technology, then GrameenPhone was the next to

join using GSM technology. The following table shows the overall telecommunication

industry condition in Bangladesh.

Factors Indication Attractiveness

Industry growth potential High High
Whether current competition Moderate High
permits adequate profitability and whether
competitive forces will become stronger
or weaker
Whether industry profitability will Favorable High
be favorably or unfavorably affected by
the prevailing driving forces
Company’s current position in the Stronger High
industry and whether its position is likely
to grow stronger or weaker
The company’s potential to Moderate High
capitalize on the vulnerabilities of weaker
rivals
Whether the company is able to Yes High
defend against or counteract the factors
that make the industry unattractive
The degrees of risk and Low High
uncertainty in the industry’s future
The severity of problems Low High
confronting the industry as a whole

Table 1: Factors indicating the outlook of the present telecom industry

Grameenphone was also the first telecommunication operator in Bangladesh to

introduce the pre-paid service in September 1999. It established the first 24-hour Call
 Telenor in Bangladesh 11

Center, introduced value-added services such as VMS, SMS, fax and data transmission

services, international roaming service, WAP, SMS-based push-pull services, EDGE,

personal ring back tone and many other products and services.

In the last decade Banglalink, Aktel, and Teletalk (government owned) have all

joined in. Recently the coming of Airtel with interest in mobile phones as one of its

intended targets shows the potential for the Mobile Phone Industry in Bangladesh.

ii) Competitor analysis:

The telecom sector in Bangladesh is rapidly emerging. There are six mobile

phone operators in Bangladesh. 1. Grameenphone 2. Banglalink 3. Robi 4.  Airtel 5.

Citycell 6. Teletalk. The number of mobile phone users has reached at 97.180 million at

the end of December, 2012 in Bangladesh.

Operators Subscribers in Millions

Grameen Phone Ltd. (GP) 40.021
Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited (Banglalink) 25.883
Robi Axiata Limited (Robi) 21.039
Airtel Bangladesh Limited (Airtel) 7.051
Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (Citycell) 1.536
Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. (Teletalk) 1.650
Total 97.180

Table 2: Subscription of Cellular Telephone Service in Bangladesh

Grameenphone (GP) is the leading telecommunication operator

in Bangladesh having the largest mobile phone customer base and the widest network

coverage by subscribers with 41.18 percent market share. Total subscribers are 40.021
 Telenor in Bangladesh 12

million at the end of the December in 2012. GP has changed their tagline recently. New

tagline of GP is Go Beyond. Its Bengali meaning is Cholo bohudur  

Second market leader is Banglalink. Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited

("Banglalink") is fully owned by Orascom Telecom Holding s.a.e, Egypt, ("OTH"); the

ultimate parent company of the group is Vimpelcom, the 6th largest mobile phone

operator in the world. Banglalink was acquired by OTH in 2004, and after a complete

overhaul and the deployment of a new gsm network, its telecommunication services were

re-launched under the brand name Banglalink. When Banglalink began operations in

Bangladesh in February 2005, its impact was felt immediately: overnight mobile

telephony became an affordable option for customers across a wide range of market

segments. Market share of Banglalink is 26.63% and total subscribers are 25.883 million

at the end of the December in 2012.

Robi Axiata Limited is a joint venture between Axiata Group Berhad, Malaysia

and NTT DOCOMO INC, Japan. Robi Axiata, formerly known as Telekom Malaysia

International (Bangladesh), commenced operations in Bangladesh in 1997 with the brand

name AKTEL. On 28th March 2010, the service name was rebranded as ‘Robi’ and the

company came to be known as Robi Axiata Limited. The third largest operator Robi

Axiata Limited (Robi) is based on subscribers as well as market share. This took different

kind of new initiatives recently to increase its brand image. Total numbers of subscriber

are 21.039 million as a result Robi captures 21.65% market share in telecommunication

industry in Bangladesh.

Airtel Bangladesh Ltd. is a GSM-based cellular operator in Bangladesh. Airtel is

the sixth mobile phone carrier to enter the Bangladesh market, and originally launched
 Telenor in Bangladesh 13

commercial operations under the brand name "Warid Telecom" on May 10, 2007. Airtel,

also rolling as fourth number player in the mobile market of Bangladesh with 7.26%

market share and total subscribers are 7.051 million at the end of the December in 2012.

Teletalk Bangladesh Limited is a public limited company, registered under the

Registrar of the Joint stock companies of Bangladesh. Total shares owned by the

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Teletalk has launched 3G services

for the first time in Bangladesh on 14 Oct'2012 for commercial testing purpose. Teletalk

has captured 1.70% market share with 1.650 million subscribers. 

Citycell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is operating in Bangladesh from

1989. As the only CDMA mobile operator in the country, we provide innovative, reliable

and excellent telecommunication and mobile internet services/solutions. Total number of

subscribers is 1.536 million with 1.58% market share at the end of the December in 2012.

iii) SWOT analysis:

The SWOT analysis makes an attempt to analyze the internal strength and

weakness of a plan or a company as well as the external threats and opportunities.

Such an analysis enables a company to identify and enhance its strengths further, to

determine its drawbacks and ways to overcome those.

Strength: The strengths of Grameenphone are as follows:

 Established Brand: The branding activities have led Grameenphone to

build a strong brand.

 Low start-up cost: A low start-up cost required to reach out to the public.
 Telenor in Bangladesh 14

 Individualism: Although Grameenphone has close affiliation with its

multinational parent company, Grameenphone has an independent brand

identity in the market.

 Experience in telecom market: Most of the Point of Sale (POS) i.e. the GP

outlets has experience on selling telecom product. GP has the largest

distribution channel in Bangladesh, which enables to offer their product in

every corner of Bangladesh.

 Well located Point of Sales (POS): All the POS’s are situated in good

location, which ensures easy access for all the consumers of the product.

 Attractive profiling of POS which attracts the customers.

 Market Awareness: GP has wide distribution network and good

knowledge of this and therefore serves the market demand accordingly.

 Widest Coverage: GP has covered all over the country.

 Extensive Market presence (availability): To make telecommunication

accessible to the mass market, GP has set up its POS in the most

convenient areas of the districts under the GP network.

 Customers Trust: Wide connectivity, easy communication and affordable

price have earned customer confidence and made people depended on GP

on a day to day basis.

Weakness: The weaknesses of Grameenphone are:

 Lack of working capital for Outlet and Individual agents: This is a major

setback for GP as most of the retailers cannot provide optimum service

and thereby hurting GP’s image to some extent.

 Telenor in Bangladesh 15

 Lack of well-trained personnel: Because of this, the sales personnel lack

the convincing power to convince people to use GP’s connection.

 Sub brands are not well established.

 Billing System: The abrupt barring of connection due to a complicated

billing system confuses the customers. Such hassles lead to an unfavorable

impression for the company.

 Network Limitation: Call drop, congestion, and poor connectivity with

BTCL result in bad image of the company.

Opportunities: The main opportunities for Grameenphone would be:

 Helpful attitude from GP personnel.

 Marketing support provided by GP. The sales and distribution channel is

supported by GP, which gives the channel a wider opportunity.

 Strategic alliances with airtime vendors (service providers) would bring

opportunities for further development.

 More international roaming partners.

 Good pre-paid service would bring more revenue.

 Stock return facility. Many retailers are attracted to sell GP products as GP

has a policy to take back unsold stock.

 Stock receiving facility on credit. Retailers also appreciate this facility to

getting stock on credit and pay later.

 Hand set and Kit lifting from the same point. GP sells all cellular related

products at the same place. So it is convenient for the consumer to get

everything under one roof.

 Telenor in Bangladesh 16

 Sophisticated and flexible billing system.

 Availability of concern contact point of GP. No matter what the time is,

there is always someone at GP to answer all the subscribers’ queries.

Threats: The threats for Grameenphone would be:

 Public demand for discount on price. Everyday consumers are demanding

lower tariffs and better quality. This might pose a threat to GP.

 Split sale. Day by day consumers are spread out to many other competitors

in the market.

 Inadequate information flow regarding future planning of GP. If the

consumer knows the future packages or the coverage expansion of GP in

the future, then many subscribers can make decision in buying GP before

they even think about other cellular companies.

c) Country Analysis

i) Country Competitiveness Reports from Institute for Management Development

(IMD) and World Economic Forum (WEF):

Two rankings of the competitiveness of nations are from the World Economic

Forum (Global Competitiveness Report) and the prestigious Swiss business school

International Institute for Management Development (World Competitiveness

Yearbook). Data from the World Economic Forum (September 2011) shows

Bangladesh in 108th position in GCI 2011-2012 Rank with a score of 3.73 and

Norway in 16th position in GCI 2011-2012 Rank with a score of 5.18 and its rank in

the previous year was 14th. Data from the International Institute for Management

Development (May 2012) shows Norway in 8th position with a score of 89.67 and its

rank in the previous year was 13th. The World Competitiveness Scoreboard presents
 Telenor in Bangladesh 17

the 2012 overall rankings for the 59 economies covered by the WCY where

Bangladesh is far away from inclusion. The economies are ranked from the most to

the least competitive.

ii) Market analysis:

In a publication in the MarketWatch : Telecoms titled “Threats” (2010) it was

mentioned that Telenor is facing stiff competition in all the markets in which it

operates. The competition in the mobile industry is based on factors such as price,

network coverage, quality and customer service. In addition, it indirectly competes

with several other operators that provide fixed line and other types of telecom

services. The competition continues to affect the company's operations in recent

times.

Grameenphone Ltd. - the leading organization of mobile telecommunication

industry of Bangladesh is now operating its business all over the country with a

subscriber base of about 40.33 million. Grameenphone is the market leader in the

mobile telecommunication industry of Bangladesh. Their growth rate is very high.

But in this edge of competition, it is very difficult to keep the leading edge intact.

Companies need to come up with new ideas to remain competitive. They need to keep

their customers satisfied.

Though Grameenphone is leading the telecommunication industry of Bangladesh,

others mobile companies are also doing well. Five other competitors of

Grameenphone are City Cell, Robi, Bangla Link, Airtel and Tele Talk.

In terms of connectivity, Grameenphone is able to provide better services because

it has large number of base station (Tower). Still the network coverage of
 Telenor in Bangladesh 18

Grameenphone is the widest one which has covered almost every districts and

upazillas of Bangladesh. The nearest competitor Bangla Link has also wide network

coverage. Here one thing should be mentioned that is, Bangla Link covers this area

within very short span of time. City Cell and Robi have better services in

metropolitan area. But their service level in rural area is not so appreciable. Tele Talk

has the best connectivity with the land phone operator and Tele Talk to Tele Talk. But

connectivity of other operator from Tele Talk is not so good.

In terms of promotional activities, Bangla Link and Airtel follow aggressive

strategy. For promotion, they focus on mainly press and media publications. On the

other hand, Grameenphone focuses on sponsorships beside the press and media

publication.

Now a days, Airtel has the best call rate among all the other operators and Bangla

Link also providing competitive call rates as well as offering frequent discounts to

their customers. Airtel provides instant cash back which is a unique idea for attracting

customers. But among all these Grameenphone may be charge little higher rate than

other operator but provides the best network coverage.

Beside the strong network coverage Grameenphone’s another major competitive

advantage is its customer service that the other telecommunication organizations still

could not achieve. At present 17 Customer Care centers, 77 Grameenphone Center

Franchises, 25 Grameenphone Distribution Centers and 1,600 Grameenphone Service

Desks all over Bangladesh are working as branch office to bring the service to the

doors of its subscribers.

iii) Investments climate, risk:

 Telenor in Bangladesh 19

Telenor and its partners has so far invested more than BDT 21,343 crore to build

the network infrastructure to boost network capacity and extend coverage to new and

often remote areas, connecting millions of previously unconnected people. Since its

inception Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with

over 8000 base stations. Presently, nearly 99 percent of the country's population is

within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network. Grameenphone is one of the

largest taxpayers in the country, having contributed more than BDT 30,876 crore in

direct and indirect taxes to the Government Exchequer over the years. Besides,

Grameenphone also started trading its shares on the stock exchanges in Dhaka and

Chittagong on November 16, 2009. According to Euroweek (2008), the transaction

structure includes a pre-public offer to global and local institutional investors

followed by a public offer to the retail investors of Bangladesh. But the current

political, economic and social condition of Bangladesh is not investment friendly due

to the political unrest in the country.

iv) Host government conditions/concessions:

According to recent study, even the existing cost of doing cellular telecom

business in Bangladesh is relatively much higher than that of the neighboring

countries because of the higher cost of leasing infrastructure, regulatory hindrances,

high import duty on handsets, and high cost of interconnection. For example, the

infrastructure leasing cost from BTCL per E-1 PCM in Bangladesh is about 10 times

higher compared to that in other countries of the South Asian Region. Besides, the

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has recently set tariff rate

and usages of bonus talk time for the mobile industry. The tariff rate has set to
 Telenor in Bangladesh 20

minimum 25 paisa to maximum 2 taka and the bonus talk time is applicable to any

operator. Although, price is one of the most important marketing tool for the mobile

service providers, but now tariff rate becomes limited weapon to play with the rivals.

d) People in Bangladesh:

Grameenphone’s basic strategy is widening their market through their emerging

country-wide network. As a result of this strategy, the subscribers are from different

segments or from different income levels. From the very beginning, Grameenphone

placed emphasis on providing good after-sales services to the people of Bangladesh. In

recent years, the focus has been to provide after-sales within a short distance from where

the customers live.

Grameenphone nearly doubled its subscriber base during the initial years while

the growth was much faster during the later years. It ended the inaugural year with

18,000 customers, 30,000 by the end of 1998, 60,000 in 1999, 193,000 in 2000, 471,000

in 2001, 775,000 in 2002, 1.16 million in 2003, 2.4 million in 2004, 5.5 million in 2005,

11.3 million in 2006, 16.5 million in 2007, and it ended 2012 with 35 million customers.

GP has generated direct and indirect employment for a large number of people

over the years. The company presently has more than 5,000 full and temporary

employees. Another 100,000 people are directly dependent on Grameenphone for their

livelihood, working for the Grameenphone dealers, retailers, scratch card outlets,

suppliers, vendors, contractors and others. Grameenphone considers its employees to be

one of its most important assets. GP has an extensive employee benefit scheme in place

including Gratuity, Provident Fund, Group Insurance, Family Health Insurance,

 Telenor in Bangladesh 21

Transportation Facility, Day Care Centre, Children's Education Support, Higher

Education Support for employees, in-house medical support and other initiatives.

With the slogan Go Beyond, Grameenphone promises its customers to bring the

best of communication technologies so that they can Go Beyond.

v) Summary
a) Other Factors to be considered
b) Communication Process
c) Expatriate Managers

vi) Conclusion
 Telenor in Bangladesh 22

References

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Falkenberg, A., & Falkenberg, J. (2009). Ethics in International Value Chain Networks: The

Case of Telenor in Bangladesh. Journal of Business Ethics, 90355-369.

doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0429-x

GrameenPhone Revisited: Investors Reach Out to the Poor. (2004). DAC Journal, 5(3), 15-56.

Newsmap asian telecoms this month. (2011). Telecom Asia, 22(9), 10-11.

Prasso, S. (2006). NOBEL WINNER AT WAR WITH NORWAY PARTNER. Fortune

International (Europe), 154(12), 30-32.

Rashid, A. T., & Rahman, M. (2009). Making profit to solve development problems: the case of

Telenor AS and the Village Phone Programme in Bangladesh. Journal Of Marketing

Management, 25(9/10), 1049-1060.

Shareholders give go-ahead for Grameenphone IPO. (2008). Euroweek, (1071), 9.

Taaffe, J. (2008). Chain reactions. Total Telecom Magazine, 8.

The death of distance in Bangladesh. (2007). Global Telecoms Business, (91), 26-28.

Threats. (2010). MarketWatch: Telecoms, 9(7), 27.

Warnholz, J. (2008). Even the Poorest Can Be a Thriving Market. Harvard Business

Review, 86(5), 26.