Mobile phone has become an indispensable part of Bangladesh's everyday-life and has made a "safe haven" in one of our

pockets much like our wallet that we never want to leave at home while we head for our work! Thanks to the telecom-revolution and its relentless evolution that together have made it possible even in developing countries like Bangladesh. This is the dominant device that we now express ourselves through, get our work done and share our pains and pleasures with. Very much like the nature of the technology, the telecom industry in our country is also changing very rapidly. This is now in its saturation and he subscriber base as a result is increasing at a decreasing rate. The paper presents ways on how the industry can stay here for longer period through expansion and growth before it turns to declining, of course, in light of the realities that it's now confronted with. The introduction of telecommunication industry has been pretty late in our country compared to that of the neighboring countries. This is very much attributable to the political unrest in early 1990s. Though the first telecom company, Citycell, was introduced ages ago, the device has not become so pervasive until 1997, the year when the biggest telecom of the country, GrameenPhone (GP) hit the market with its GSM technology. Since then there was no looking back. The industry grew at such an incredible rate in just a decade that anyone could hardly imagine. Now there are a number of players battling so hard for their respective market share and the consumers as well as the economy benefitted tremendously from this fierce competition. The following sections elaborate on almost every aspect of the industry, ranging from how it become so big, what fueled the growth to what are the risks and opportunities that it currently renders for the players. In December 2004 Government owned Teletalk BD Ltd. started its journey with the slogan "Desher Taka Deshey Rakhun" ("Keep your Money in your Country"). Teletalk is the first operator in the country that gave BTTB (now BTCL) incoming facility to its subscribers A. Customer Analysis The customers of the telecom industry in Bangladesh pretty much include everyone in the country. Communication can almost be deemed a necessity nowadays and the telecom industry takes advantage of this by constantly promoting their products with high budget advertisements and endorsements, falling prices, and diverse products. Target customers are hardly ever able to avoid being exposed to telecom products, and combined with constantly reducing call rates resulting from competition, a large segment of the country's population now utilize subscription to more than one operator. I. Segments The telecom industry of Bangladesh tends to target the country's entire population as a single segment, but varies its product in terms of augmented features and benefits to appeal to distinctive segments of customers within that one segment. While all the players in the industry attempts to compete with each other in all segments, they usually tend to target heavily the segment in which their primary core competency lies.

Some of the customer segments are as follows: The everyday user Usually more interested in cheaper rates and good connectivity, this segment comprises of a large portion of customers (other than businesses) as it more or less includes any one and every one. This segment of users are often responsible for causing operators to go into price wars, as lower prices mean more customers. This segment often shows little loyalty to operators as they frequently change connections to find cheaper rates. The corporate or business user Target customers of this segment are of course all small, medium and large business houses in the country. This segment understandably contributes the significant portion of subscribers in terms of network usage and value for the industry. Most operators go into partnership programs with companies in order to provide all necessary products and services usually at reduced or corporate prices and with augmented benefits in order to foster profitable, long term relationships. Demands of this segment usually include Internet Connectivity (EDGE, GPRS etc.), Short Messaging Service (SMS), Email and other web application services (Blackberry Server) and efficient service. The student user Comprised of individuals that are studying in schools, colleges and universities, this segment is a hot prospect for operators as need for these users to stay connected to their friends is top priority. This segment can be considered to be a sub-segment of the everyday user, but their demands often include other advanced features such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), Internet connectivity (EDGE, GPRS etc.) and bonus talk times. Operators such as GrameenPhone introduced an additional product variant in the form of "dJuice" just for this segment. The "couples" segment Recognizing the need for "couples" to talk frequently with each other, some operators have come up with offers that target married or unmarried couples or any two individuals that need to keep constant contact with each other. Each package contains two connections, so that each half of the duo may contact the other at highly reduced rates. The rural user Recognized early on by GrameenPhone, the demands of this segment is almost solely of the purest form: connectivity. Living in rural, dispersed, heavily underdeveloped areas, the individuals of this segment have a hard time keeping contact with their friends and relatives. The primary type of product that target these customers revolve around offering good connectivity in hard to reach localities and low call rates to increase affordability. The Internet user While Internet Connectivity is now incorporated (or optionally incorporable) in almost all products of the industry, there are some users who are turning to telecom operators solely for Internet connectivity through the use of mobile (or modem) devices. The primary attraction that operators provide to this segment is the portability of such devices. In an era of information on the go, the need for wireless connectivity to the Internet is in high demand, and portable wireless connectivity devices such as Citycell's ZOOM and GrameenPhone's & Banglalink's EDGE modem have taken advantage of the situation. II. Buying Motive

The customer's motive for buying telecom products has always been to communicate. In todays fast pace world of globalization and with friends and family living and working in distant locations, face-to-face and letter based communication just does not suffice. People are always moving around, so land based telephones are also inconvenient. The only way for people to communicate is seemingly through mobile phones or through the Internet. The telecom industry provides services to combine both mobile phones and Internet and at low, affordable costs. Combined with additional services such SMS and advanced services of web applications such as Blackberry, the telecom industry offers a wide range of products and services that provides ample motive to the customer. III. Unmet Need In our neighboring country, India, 3G mobile service had been introduced in 2008. Bangladeshi people also seeking for it as it allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates. In our country, data transfer rate is really slow. People often face buffering problems while using Internet, and so people want higher data transfer rate. People also want 3G because of its higher security features as it allows the UE (User Equipment) to authenticate the network it is attaching to, the user can be sure the network is the intended one and not an impersonator. As people are continuously being exposed to news of technological updates of other countries, the demand is being created for: Mobile TV a provider redirects a TV channel directly to the subscriber's phone where it can be watched. Video on demand a provider sends a movie to the subscriber's phone. Video conferencing subscribers can see as well as talk to each other. Tele-medicine a medical provider monitors or provides advice to the potentially isolated subscriber. Location-based services a provider sends localized weather or traffic conditions to the phone, or the phone allows the subscriber to find nearby businesses or friends. B. Competitor Analysis I. Competitor Identification With majority of the telecom companies of the country being multinational subsidiaries, who have vast finances at their disposal, and the Bangladesh market providing a population of roughly (and unofficially) around 200 million many of whom are intent of carrying more than one subscription, competitive price wars are ever present. During the early years, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (Citycell) dominated the industry due to the absence of competition (Sheba Telecom struggled horribly to gain market share because of poor infrastructure). However, during that period, customers were deprived of benefits as Citycell ran a monopoly market focusing more on profit than on expansion. But with the introduction of

GrameenPhone and Aktel, The scenario changed significantly as call rates started to falter, with GrameenPhone racking up market share through its improved area coverage and customer driven products. The later injection of Egyptian company Orascom into Sheba Telecom, which renamed its brand to Banglalink, triggered a price war that created a massive drop on both registration and call rates. Warid Telecom International LLC, an Abu Dhabi based consortium, was the sixth mobile phone carrier to enter the Bangladesh market, and launched commercial operations in May 2007. It has since sold a majority 70% stake in the company to India's Bharti Airtel Limited. Direct Competitors Mobile phone operators covered Bangladesh include: Banglalink/Sheba (Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E), GrameenPhone (Telenor & Grameen Telecom Corporation,), Robi/Aktel (Axiata Group Berhad & NTT DoCoMo INC), Citycell (Singtel, Pacific Group and Far East Telecom), Warid (Bharti Airtel & Warid Telecom International), and Teletalk (BTCL)