Bangladesh Case

Introduction:

In Bangladesh there are six mobile phone companies currently operating. These companies are Grameen Phone, Bangla Link, Aktel, Citycell, Warid Telecom and Teletalk. One might think that this mobile phone industry in Bangladesh is fully saturated, but still there are unserved needs and huge potential exists for new companies that want to enter in this market. According to the research analyst of RNCOS, Mobile market is thriving in Bangladesh. The immense growth that's being observed by the sector implies that consumer will get best service at an affordable price. On the other hand, operators will also make plenty of profit by this expansion in market. This increase in the mobile service operators' numbers arriving Bangladeshi market indicates that the mobile market is set to grow further in the country. If any other mobile phone company comes into bangladeshi market it has to face cut throat competition but with a possibility of making profit. For example if Vodafone, the leading telecom group in the world wants to operate in this country what will be their motive, whether they will generate profit or not, whats going to be the level of competition with other companies are discussed later in this report.

Origin of the report:

This report is the overall analysis of the motives for Vodafone to enter in Bangladeshi market, scenario after entering into the market, and consequences. As the final project of the course FIN444-International Financial Management, we have been assigned to do this Analysis as a group by our instructor Mr. Tashfeen Hussain.

Current situation:

Amongst the six mobile phone companies in Bangladesh, Grameen phone holds the highest number of subscribers. It is partly owned by Telenor (62%) and Grameen Telecom (38%). Launched in 1997, Grameen Phone took over six years to sign up its first million users but has seen an exponential rise in subscribers since late 2003. Grameen Phone now has more than 62 percent of the country's total a mobile phone user which is 17.2 million and its coverage has been extended to nearly 95 percent of the country.

Bangla link is the second largest cellular service provider in Bangladesh. It has a subscriber base of 7.88 million and it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orascom Telecom. banglalink had 1.03 million connections until December, 2005. The number of banglalink users increased by more than 253 per cent and stood at 3.64 million at the end of 2006, making it the fastest growing operator in the world of that year.In August, 2006, banglalink became the first company to provide free incoming calls from BTTB for both postpaid and prepaid connections.

Aktel is the third largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh with 7.36 million subscribers as of February, 2008. Telecom Malaysia has 70 percent