1

Introduction
The people of Bangladesh are now dreaming of a digital Bangladesh. Faster development of
telecommunications network coupled with improved quality of service in line with the
national development is a must for the fulfillment of the vision and aspiration of digital
Bangladesh and also to take her to a position of honor in the community of nations in the 21st
century. Mobile phone operators have been playing an important role in this regard. The
telecommunications market in Bangladesh, particularly the mobile phone sector, is consisted
of six mobile phone operators. These are Grameen Phone Ltd. (GP), Axiata (Bangladesh)
Limited (Robi), Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited (Banglalink), PBTL (Citycell),
Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. (Teletalk), and Airtel Telecom International (Airtel). Among the
mobile phone operators, Norwegian Grameen phone, which started its journey in 1997 in
Bangladesh, is the leader having the highest market share of 44.36%. Citycell, the first
mobile phone operator in Bangladesh, has been defeated (in terms of market share) by
Grameen phone due to the Grameens welltimed and effective business strategy. Banglalink
is competing in the market as the second largest operator, though it started (in 1999) later
than some other operators.











2

Methodology
In the assignment, most of the information has been collected from brochures, web sites and
different research articles. All the information incorporated in this report has been collected
from the secondary sources.
Articles
official websites of those companies
website search



Limitation
The major limitation that I had to face in preparing my report was the confidentiality of
information regarding my topic. For an instance I had to face many problems in collecting
information regarding the network coverage and sales data of Teletalk Bangladesh Limited.
Moreover unavailability of my onsite supervisor was another major problem. I had to wait for
a long time to get an appointment of my supervisor because he was under a huge pressure
because of his official task. Moreover, one of the major limitations was the official website of
the companies. Because, the information is not updated regularly on the website. In that case
data has been provided from other articles or websites.







3

Name of the brands
On our assignment we choose mobile communication sector in Bangladesh. There are five
leading mobile telecommunication companies in Bnagladesh. These are:
1. GrameenPhone
2. Banglalink
3. Airtel
4. Robi
5. Teletalk

Profile of the brands
1. GrameenPhone
Before Grameenphones inception, 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.
Starting its operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh,
Grameenphone has come a long way. Grameenphone pioneered the then breakthrough
initiative of mobile to mobile telephony and became the first and only operator to
cover 98% of the countrys people with network
Since its inception Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country
with over 8500 base stations . Presently, nearly 99 percent of the country's population
is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network. Grameenphone has always
been a pioneer in introducing new products and services in the local telecom market.
GP was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh when it
launched its services in March 1997.
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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
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. The
entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to high-
speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are
currently 7 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network. In October
2013 the company launched 3G services commercially
Today, Grameenphone is the leading and largest telecommunications service provider
in Bangladesh with more than 46.663 million subscribers as of October 2013.

2. Banglalink
Banglalink Digital Communications Limited, Banglalink is the second largest cellular
service provider in Bangladesh after Grameenphone. As of June 2013, Banglalink has
a subscriber base of 27 million with 25.7% market share. It is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Telecom Ventures Limited of Malta which is owned by Global Telecom
Holding.
Banglalink digital communications limited is fully owned by telecom ventures ltd.
(previously orascom telecom ventures limited) of malta, which is a fully owned
subsidiary of global telecom holding s.a.e. (formerly known as orascom telecom
holding s.a.e.) (www.orascomtelecom.com). following business combination in april
2011 between vimpelcom ltd and wind telecom s.p.a, vimpelcom owns 51.92% shares
of global telecom holding s.a.e. (formerly known as orascom telecom holding
s.a.e.). vimpelcom (www.vimpelcom.com) is one of the worlds largest integrated
telecommunications services operators providing voice and data services through a
range of traditional and broadband mobile and fixed technologies in russia, italy,
ukraine, kazakhstan, uzbekistan, tajikistan, armenia, georgia, kyrgyzstan, laos, algeria,
pakistan, burundi, zimbabwe, central african republic, canada and bangladesh.
vimpelcom is headquartered in amsterdam, the netherlands and listed as an ads on the
new york stock exchange under the symbol vip.

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Since banglalinks launch in february 2005, its impact was felt immediately:
overnight mobile telephony became an affordable option for customers across a wide
range of market segments.

Banglalinks success was based on a simple mission: bringing mobile telephony to
the masses which was the cornerstone of its strategy. banglalink changed the mobile
phone status from luxury to a necessity and brought mobile telephone to the general
people of bangladesh and made a place in their hearts. the mobile phone has become
the symbol for the positive change in bangladesh.

This positive change that is quite correctly attributed to banglalink, has become the
corporate positioning of banglalink and is translated in their slogan making a
difference or din bodol- making a difference not only in the telecom industry,
but also through its products and services, to the lives of its customers. this corporate
stance of making a difference has been reflected in everything banglalink does.

Banglalink attained 1 million subscribers by december 2005 and 3 million subscribers
in october 2006. in less than two years which is by december 2007, banglalink
overtook aktel to become the second largest operator in bangladesh with more than
7.1 million customers. banglalink currently has 27.07 million subscribers as of june
2013, representing a market share of 25.7%.

Banglalinks growth over the preceding years have been fuelled with innovative
products and services targeting different market segments, aggressive improvement of
network quality and dedicated customer care, creating an extensive distribution
network across the country, and establishing a strong brand that emotionally
connected customers with banglalink.
Mission Statement: To deliver innovative, customer focused products and to be the
benchmark for customer service excellence.
Vision: Banglalink understands peoples needs best and will create and deliver
appropriate communication services to improve peoples life and make it easier


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3. Airtel
Airtel Bangladesh Limited is one of the fastest growing mobile services providers in
Bangladesh and is a concern of Bharti Airtel Limited, a leading global
telecommunications services provider. The company offers a wide array of innovative
mobile services, including voice, value added services, data and m-commerce
products and is focused on expanding its state-of-the-art mobile network both for
coverage and capacity.

With a customer base of more than 8 million, Airtel Bangladesh is the most preferred
youth brand of the country that thrives on excellent data service. And data experience
with Airtel will only be better when the company will introduce its array of 3G
services. To make customers lives easier Airtel Bangladesh has Doorstep Service by
which customers can enjoy all kinds of service at their preferred place. M-Commerce
opened a new horizon in money transfer that gives Airtel customers the freedom to
send money to their dear ones instantly from their mobile. Through M-health,
customers can now reach professional doctors over phone 24/7 and get basic
treatment.

To enrich the lives of the customers Airtel has 7 Airtel Experience Centers (AEC) and
77 Airtel Relationship Centers (ARC) across the country and our corporate office is
situated in Banani (house 34, Road 19/A), Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh.


4. Robi
Robi, the most dynamic and rapidly-growing telecommunications operator in
Bangladesh, is developing its services to meet increasing customer needs - ranging
from voice and high speed Internet services to tailor-made telecommunications
solutions. Robi is a joint venture company between Axiata Group Berhad of Malaysia
and NTT DoCoMo Inc. of Japan. It commenced operation in 1997 as Telekom
Malaysia International (Bangladesh) with the brand name Aktel. In 2010 the
company was rebranded to Robi and the company changed its name to Robi Axiata
Limited.
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Robi draws from the international expertise of Axiata and NTT DoCoMo Inc.
Services support 2G and 3.5G voice, CAMEL Phase II & III and 3.5G
Data/GPRS/EDGE service with high speed internet connectivity. Its GSM service is
based on a robust network architecture and cutting edge technology. The company has
the widest International Roaming coverage in Bangladesh connecting 600 operators
across more than 200 countries. Robis customer centric solution includes value added
services (VAS), quality customer care, digital network security and flexible tariffs.
Since its inception in 1996, Axiata Group and its predecessor Telekom Malaysia has
invested around BDT 11,000 crore in the form of equity till 2012. Moreover the
company has contributed almost BDT 10,000 crore to the Bangladesh Exchequer in
the same period.
As a subsidiary of Axiata Berhad Malaysia , Robi draws on leading edge technology
to provide its service in Bangladesh, covering almost 100% of the population, Robi is
committed to provide best data and voice quality and will continue to ensure that its
customers are able to enjoy the best experience through leading edge technology and
innovative products and services.

5. Teletalk
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 Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.
We continue to grow and engage our customers through our clear commitment to
offering high quality products and services as well as leading customer retention and
loyalty programmers. Teletalk continues to be a part of the revolution thats
connecting millions of Bangladeshi people and around the world.
Teletalk Bangladesh limited was established keeping a specific role in mind. Teletalk
has forged ahead and strengthened its path over the years and achieved some feats
truly to be proud of, as the only Bangladeshi mobile operator and the only operator
with 100% native technical and engineering human resource base, Teletalk thrives to
become the true peoples phone Amader Phone.

8

Branding strategy
1. GrameenPhone
As we all know GP is the largest mobile telecommunication company in Bangladesh. But
to reach in this position GP had to make sure they are the No.1 brand in mobile
telecommunication sector In respect of recent increasing demand, no notable
promotional activities are required. Yet to keep the existence of the demand toward
phoning facility and to capture the competitive market, several promotional activities
such as advertisement through news paper, magazines, satellite TV etc. will grow
beneficial fruits to the commercial tree of the company. In it beside the commercial
identity and good will, profit will be increased..
GP participate on different types of CSR (corporate social responsibilities)
They do lots of brand promoting campaigns
They attend different trade fairs
They sponsored Bangladesh Cricket team for a long time
They have extensive customer service center

2. Banglalink
As Banglalink is the market follower they hold the second position their brand promoting
strategy is also quite same. When Banglalink entered the Bangladesh telecom industry in
February 2005, the scenario changed overnight with mobile telephony becoming an
extremely useful and affordable communication tool for people across all segments.
Within one year of operation, Banglalink became the fastest growing mobile operator of
the country with a growth rate of 257%. This milestone was achieved with innovative
and attractive products and services targeting the different market segments; aggressive
improvement of network quality and dedicated customer care; and effective
communication that emotionally connected customers with Banglalink.
Banglalink entered the market with a promise of making mobile phone affordable for
people. This promise was kept and Banglalink was the first operator to introduce a flat
rate for all calls (inside own network and to other operators) for the convenience and
ease of customers. Banglalink focused heavily on enhancing service and quality during
2006.
Banglalink do wide range of advertisement campaign which help both branding
and market positioning.
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they also participate on different types of CSR (corporate social responsibilities)
Their slogan "Din bodoler chesta" seriously branding their company profile in a
wide range.
Banglalink also became a leader in terms of its advertising quality and setting
very high standards for competition and others. The corporate TV commercial of
"din bodol" based on the theme "making a difference in people's lives", touched
everyone throughout the country and was adjudged the best TVC of the year
according to the leading dailies of the country like Prothom Alo and New Age.
This TV Commercial has become a matter of national pride for Bangladesh as it
has been nominated for the best TV Advertisement of the year with 4 other
international television commercials at the GSMA Award 2007.


3. Airtel
One of several brand identification options may be appropriate for a company. The major
identification alternatives are:

Specific Product Branding: The strategy of assigning a brand name to a
specific product.
Product-Line Branding: This strategy places a brand name on a line of related
products.
Corporate Branding: This strategy builds brand identity by using the corporate
name to identify the product offering.
Combination Branding: A company may use a combination of the branding
strategies.
Other companies already use different brand name for their various offers. Such as:
Grameen Phone use Smile, djuice for their two different offers. Banglalink use Ladies
first, Desh and Rong for their three different offers. Robi use Aktel joy, Robi power for
their two different offers. According to airtels view, their strategy of giving different
name to different offers is less confusing than their competitors. They argue that
customer can easily identify the benefits of their specific offer through the name. So,
they think that airtel owns first position in case of branding strategy.
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4. Robi
Brand valuations are useful for many reasons but the applications tend to fall into two
main categories: strategic brand management and financial transactions. The former
focuses mainly on internal audiences by providing tools and processes to manage and
increase the economic value of brands. The latter provides a rupee price to facilitate
brand related transactions with outside parties.
Brand valuation identifies the value provided by the brands used within a business.
Management can optimise the use of, and relationship between, brands according to their
respective economic value contribution.
Brand valuation assesses the economic risk of migrating from one brand to another.
Brand migration can be more successfully managed by understanding and quantifying
the economic risk of losing one brand and potential of another brand to capture and
increase the value creation of branding within the business. Robi went through those
situations and now become ROBI. The previous brand image built on the name of
AKTEL which now changed.


5. Teletalk
Promotion is one of the marketing tools that a company uses to achieve its marketing
objectives. Each promotion tools has unique characteristics to improve their total sales.
Teletalk are trying to do more promotional activities for their service. That will create
their brand image as well.








11

Competitive positioning
Product differentiation is the development or incorporation of attributes (such as benefits,
price, quality, styling, service, etc.) that a product's intended customers perceive to be
different and desirable.
1. GrameenPnone
GP is going to reinforce the brand name and main points of product differentiation by
choosing appropriate media to let people know about our service.
To make the service more reliable we are focusing on what benefits the consumer will
get and will provide that wise. So we have researched to find out the way they can
adopt our service in a huge amount.
Our advertisings will appear with a view to create value and awareness about 3G. The
public relations efforts we will offer to build another era for the existing brand image.
To create buzz we will provide promotional sales (limited stock) 3G enabled handsets
& also preordering facility.
The private selling strategy will help us to build strong relationship with our B2B
segments. Our huge range of customer service & outlets will make easy to buy our
product and create customer value as well.
Using product differentiation we assume Grameenphone 3g to be positioned at the top
of all 3g service providers in Bangladesh, concentrating on young generation,
especially students, who need high speed internet, and other 3g benefits such as live
TV, and video calling.

Grameenphone will position its 3G services as the most reliable, faster and with the
widest network coverage 3G mobile service in the country. It will emphasize on the
importance of Third generation technology in all sectors of life. Especially, in
business, for people with talking disabilities and obviously for the fun loving and
adventurous youth of the generation who love high speed gaming, mobile TV viewing
or in a world being entertained anywhere and everywhere.




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2. Banglalink

Banglalink enterprise offers a wide range of products and services to suit the needs of
the business community. Companies under the enterprise package are provided with a
dedicated enterprise relationship manager who provides them with personalized
customer care round the clock. Other benefits of enterprise include customized
packages with attractive call charges and connection price, enterprise SMS broadcast,
enterprise short code, international roaming, missed call alerts, free voice mail
retrieval, fax and data service, call conferencing, special offer for family members and
many more. It was first launched in December, 2006. The current packages are:

enterprise corporate; targeted at the corporate segment
enterprise SME; targeted at the SME segment
enterprise personal


3. Airtel
Initially their target was to reach the top. But others are targeting to the grass root
level, and increasing their customer. Airtel wants to be the leader with good quality
and is designing products for the middle class range also.
In terms of airtel, they are now using advertising, sales promotion, sponsorship
program, public relation, internet marketing and direct marketing


4. Robi
The promotional strategy of ROBI is improving day by day. The transformation
between AKTEL to ROBI is not quite easy. They had to build the brand image and as
well as positioning the ROBI on customers mind. The positioning strategy they use:
Bouchers with all necessary info
Press Ads
TV comercials
Billborads

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5. Teletalk
Promotion is one of the marketing tools that a company uses to achieve its marketing
objectives. Each promotion tools has unique characteristics to improve their total
sales. Teletalk are trying to do more promotional activities for their service. Teletalk
Marketing promotion can be classified in several steps:
Advertising
Personal Selling
Sales Promotion
Public Relation
















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Distribution channel strategies
1. GrameenPhone
Gp's channel strategy is to use selective distributors. It will help to maintain their
quality and company reputation. As GP provides SIM registration before selling so
they prefer selective & trained retailers to distribute any kind of product of GP 3G.
All products will be found in GP customer care office, service care & selective
outlets. To support the retail distributor they will provide all kind of package
brochure, colourful photo leaflets, detailed specification handouts, where e features of
the product would given in detail.
GP's personal selling will be only for B2b customer. As they give the opportunity to
customize the plan so they will do personal selling. Also as promotional campaign to
business they will go to different offices (media channel, banks, and hospitals) to
aware them about up gradation or to make new customer.
2. Banglalink
The Sales& Marketing department functions in different categories such as Research
& Product Development, Marketing Communications, Corporate & Direct Sales
(telesales), Channel Management, FWT & Backbone Solutions, Logistics & Trade
Support, International Roaming etc.
Sales and marketing is responsible for setting up of the sales channels and
mechanisms by which the services packages are actually sold to the customers. This
department also deals with corporate sales. This department however deals mainly
with sales to corporate customers and maintenance of relations with both current
clients as well as counting out potential new corporate clients, whereas the after sales
service and other issues are dealt with by the customer services operations section of
the company.
3. Airtel
Distribution channel of Airtel is very strong. That's why they are now emerging as the
fastest growing mobile telecommunication company in Bangladesh.
Wider distribution channel which make service more accessible.
Product delivering timing is less consuming
Extended sales personnel
Effective customer care center

15

4. Robi
The distribution channel of ROBI is very effective. They are very much on growing
part in telecommunication sector.
They make effective use of distribution channel.
Make product service delivery system more effective and less time consuming
Wider distribution channel to make service more accessible.

5. Teletalk
Place is very much important for product sale. Place depends on good location,
transportation facility, availability, channels etc. and teletalk select a right place
named Banani, from this place people can easily buy the product and there
transportation system is very easy and available.














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Conclusion
Telecom sector deals with the most sensitive part of an economy. It is vitally important for a
country to provide quality network for flourishing the economic sector and enhancing the
overall business and manufacturing environment of the country. In recent times in
Bangladesh Telecom sector has been considered the most prospective, compared to the other
service sectors for their quality service and transparency. In the past only some limited
companies were in operation and people had no other alternative to go to those institutions
for service. But now the scenario is quite different. A good number of companies are
rendering service and a tough competition exists in this sector. So, it is very important to
attract new domain of customers, side by side with regular clients in order to diversify the
customer basket and at the same time increasing profit.















17

Reference
http://bdmobiletips.blogspot.com/2010/04/mobile-phone-subscribers-in-
bangladesh.html\
http://www.grameenphone.com/
http://www.weeklyblitz.net/988/mobile-telecom-industry-in-bangladesh
http://mushfiq009.wordpress.com/%E2%80%9Coverview-of-mobile-
telecommunication-industry-in-bangladesh-%E2%80%9D/
www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:121516/FULLTEXT01
Annual report of GrameenPhone10
www.airtel.com.bd
Latest tariff reports of Airtel.
Handbills of different packages and offers and services.
www.Robi.com
www.banglalink.com