Telecom Use on a Shoestring : The Case of Bangladesh

The Bangladeshi telecom market constitutes approximately 10.4 million phone lines (fixed plus mobile); of this, about 9.4 million are mobile. The mobile sector, currently consisting of six operators, is growing at a spectacular rate of 144 per cent over the year 2005, according to The New Nation, 26 December 20051. The number of mobile subscribers grew from 3.85 million in December 2004 to 9.4 million by December 2005. Resultantly, the country’s mobile teledensity has gone from 2.75 per one hundred inhabitants to 6.7 in the period. Figure 1 shows the market as (at December 26 2005) GrameenPhone is the largest operator in terms of subscribers, controlling 60 percent of the market. This case study will look specifically at the case of mobile telephone use in Bangladesh, focusing on what are known as ‘Village Phone’ connections provided by GrameenPhone (GP, currently the largest mobile operator in the country) in collaboration with Grameen Bank (one, if not the largest microfinance institutions in the country) and Grameen Telecom Company (a not-for-profit rural telecom company)