BTCL adds 1.12 lakh subscribers in one year: Razu

Post and Telecommunications Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu told the House yesterday that after the present government coming to power, the state-run Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Ltd (BTCL) was able to add 1.12 lakh more subscribers in the last one year till January 2010.
Responding to a question raised by treasury bench member Mollah Jalal Uddin, the minister said the number of BTCL subscribers in January 2009 was 8.54 lakh, but it stood at 9,62,321 in January 2010.
The minister also said there are 9,62, 321 subscribers in seven divisions and zones under BTCL against 13,39,875 connection capacity.
Razu told ruling party lawmaker Benazir Ahmed that to increase the number of BTCL land phone clients, new connection fee was reduced to a great extent
“Taka 2000, Taka 1000, and Taka 600 have been fixed as new digital phone connection fee for Dhaka Multi-exchange, Chitagong Multi-exchange and other divisional, district and upazila towns and trade centres,” he said.
The minister also said that the call charge from BTCL to BTCL has been fixed at 30 paisa per minute, while the call charge from BTCL to other mobile or land phone operators has been fixed at 65 paisa.
On a query from Jatiya party lawmaker M Mujibul Haque, the telecom minister said the state-run mobile phone company Teletalk earned revenue of Taka 196 crore in 2008-09 fiscal year.
He also said that the government has a plan to turn Teletalk as more developed, dynamic and modern organization. “A network expansion project is being implemented at a cost of Taka 533 crore from the Teletalk’s own resources,” he said, adding if the project is implemented, its number of subscribers will rise to 30 lakh.
The minister also said the Teletalk has undertaken a plan to implement a Taka 1800 core modern 3G technology with the financial assistance of the Chinese government
Through the technology, he hoped, people of the country would enjoy high-speed data transfer, mobile TV, video conferencing and other modern facilities. Besides, 55 lakh more subscribers will be added to Teletalk network over the next two years, he said.
Replying to another question from ruling party lawmaker, the minister said Bangladesh Postal Department earned revenue of Taka 171,52,57,279 in 2008-09 fiscal year, while its expenditure in the same fiscal was Taka 314,14,62,108.

Courtesy of BSS via The New Nation