The number of active mobile phone users neared 10-crore mark again in March as six mobile operators added 12.78 lakh subscribers in the month shrugging off the
shock in the consequence of tight SIM registration process.
Earlier in September 2012, the number of total mobile users hit 9.85-crore mark before the regulators tightened the SIM registration process.
According to the latest data of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, the total active mobile subscribers of the country increased to around 9.98 crore in March from 9.85 crore at the end February.
Officials of the mobile phone companies said the industry started getting back into track in last three months after witnessing a decline in subscribers in the fourth quarter of the last year.
They said the BTRC move to impose tight regulation on the SIM registration process was the key reason for the decline which the companies could recover through convincing offers to the subscribers.
The BTRC asked all mobile phone companies not to sell any pre-activated connections and only activate the SIMs after completion of registration in a bid to stop ‘criminal activities’ by using mobile phones.
Among the six mobile phone operators, subscribers of Citycell declined in March when rest of the operators witnessed a rise in the subscriber’s base.
The market leader Grameenphone added 7.89 lakh subscribers in March taking the total subscribers to 4.17 crore after adding 66 thousand in February. The GP added 3.15 lakh in January after losing nearly 9 lakh subscribers in the previous three months.
The total number of subscribers of Banglalink increased by 73 thousand in March taking the total subscribers to 2.59 crore after adding 23 thousand in February. Banglalink lost around 12 lakh subscribers in the previous four months.
Robi’s subscribers increased by 1.12 lakh in March to 2.14 crore after adding 15 thousand in February and 97 thousand subscribers in January. In December, Robi had lost 77 thousand subscribers.
Airtel’s subscribers increased to 74.72 lakh in March by adding 1.7 lakh subscribers. In February Airtel added 15 thousand users after adding 97 thousand subscribers in January. Airtel added 2.81 lakh subscribers in the previous four months.
Citycell’s subscribers declined to 14.51 lakh in March by losing 8 thousand users in the month. Citycell lost 1.75 lakh subscribers in the previous five months.
The subscriber-base of state-run mobile operator Teletalk increased by 1.39 lakh to 18.31 lakh in March after the company added 4 thousand subscribers in February. Subscribers’ base of Teletalk remained flat in January.
In December, Teletalk added 2.82 lakh users which was also the total addition in three months.
-With New Age input
