Executive Summary

Grameenphone(GP) is the telecommunications industry leader with investments in the dynamic

markets of Bangladesh. Experience has taught them the importance of telecommunications for
economic development. Grameenphone is committed to developing the services that best
contribute to the growth of local, regional, and national economies. Today, Grameenphone is the
largest mobile phone company in Bangladesh and market leader with more than half of the
Bangladeshi market share.

Over the years, Grameenphone has always been a pioneer in introducing new products and
services in the local market. Grameenphone was the first company to introduce GSM technology
in Bangladesh when it launched its services in March 1997. Being one of the pioneers in
developing the GSM service in Europe, Telenor has also helped to transfer this knowledge to the
local employees over the years. The technological know-how and managerial expertise of
Telenor has been instrumental in setting up such an international standard mobile phone
operation in Bangladesh.

Grameenphone was the first operator 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.

Ownership structure

On March 26, 1997 Grameenphone launched its service on the Independence Day of
Bangladesh. After almost 14 years of operation; Grameenphone is now the leading
telecommunications service provider in the country with more than 27 million subscribers as of
October 2007. Presently, there are about 60 million telephone users in the country, of which, a
little over 2 million are fixed-phone users and the rest mobile phone subscribers. It is a joint
venture enterprise between Telenor (55.8%), the largest telecommunications service provider in
Norway with mobile phone operations in 12 other  countries, and Grameen Telecom Corporation
(34.2%), a non-profit sister concern of the internationally acclaimed micro-credit pioneer
Grameen Bank. The remaining 10% shares belong to general retail and institutional investors.

The Telenor Group

 More than 200 million mobile subscribers worldwide

 Strong subscription growth, particularly in our Asian operations

 Listed as No.1 on Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2008
 Ranked as the world’s seventh largest mobile operator
 Revenues 2007: NOK 105 billion
 Workforce 2007: 35 800 man-years
 Listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, with headquarters in Norway

History
  November, 1996 Grameenphone was offered a cellular License in Bangladesh by the
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
 March, 1997 launched services in Dhaka
 September, 1997 Leased Railway Fiber Optic
 June, 1998 Feb, 2000 Launched its services in Chittagong
 March, 1999 Launched International Roaming
 April, 1999 Final interconnection agreement with B.T.T.B.
 September, 1999 Launched Pre-paid service of GP
 October, 1999 50,000 subscribers
 January, 2000 Implemented new credit policy
 February, 2000 Launched its services in Sylhet
 April, 2000 Launched its services in Barisal
 April 2000 coverage of all six divisional cities
 June, 2000 7, 50,000 subscribers.
 December, 2001 Expect to achieve the coverage of the whole country
 December, 2001 11,50,000 subscribers
 December, 2002 Coverage 61 districts
 December, 2004 Projected 21, 00,000 subscribers and 62% market share
 November, 2005 50,00,000  subscribers
 February, 2006 60,00,000 subscribers
 November, 2006 100,00,000 Subscribers. 10 year of Operations and change of logo
 May, 2007 8650 BTS covering whole Bangladesh
 December, 2007 10000 BTS covering whole Bangladesh
 June, 2008 200,00,000 subscribers
 December, 2009 started offloading shares

 August, 2003 Became the first operator in the country to reach the million subscribers

 September, 2007 150,00,000 Subscribers

 subscribers

Grameenphone nearly doubled its subscriber base during the initial years while the growth was
much faster during the later years. It ended the inaugural year with 18,000 customers, 30,000 by
the end of 1998, 60,000 in 1999, 193,000 in 2000, 471,000 in 2001, 775,000 in 2002, 1.16
million in 2003, 2.4 million in 2004, 5.5 million in 2005, 10 million in 2006, 15 million in 2007,
20 million in 2008 and ended 2010 with 27 million customers.

Investments

Grameenphone is one of the largest private sector investors in the country with an accumulated
investment of BDT 16,000 crores up to April 2011. Grameenphone is also one of the largest
taxpayers in the country, having contributed nearly BDT 19,446 crore in direct and indirect taxes
to the Government Exchequer over the years.
Customer service

 Grameenphone’s stated goal is to provide cost-effective and quality cellular services in

Bangladesh. The success of the company is dependent on customer satisfaction. Grameenphone
puts emphasis on that point and quickly succeeds to achieve huge popularity around the country.
From the very beginning, Grameenphone placed importance on providing good after-sales
services. In recent years, the focus has been to provide after-sales within a short distance from
where the customers live. It has a very good network throughout the country covering nearly all
62 districts.

Grameenphone service desk

There are now more than 800 GP Service Desks across the country covering nearly all upazilas
of 62 districts. The Grameenphone Centers in all the divisional cities remain open from 8am-
8pm every day including all holidays.

 The Village Phone

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, Grameenphone is delivering the digital

revolution to the doorsteps of the poor and unconnected. By being able to connect to urban areas
or even to foreign countries, a whole new world of opportunity is opening up for the villagers in
Bangladesh. In addition, the Village Phone Program, also started in 1997, provides a good
income-earning opportunity to more than 210,000 mostly women Village Phone operators living
in rural areas. The Village Phone Program is a unique initiative to provide universal access to
telecommunications service in remote, rural areas. Administered by Grameen Telecom
Corporation, it enables rural people who normally cannot afford to own a telephone to avail the
service while providing the VP operators an opportunity to earn a living. The Village Phone
initiative was given the “GSM in the community” award at the global GSM Congress held in
Cannes, France in February 2000.

 This is why Grameenphone in collaboration with Grameen bank is aiming to place one phone in
each village to contribute significantly to the economic uplifts of those villages. Grameen
Phone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. In contrast to the island strategy
followed by some companies which involves connecting isolated island of urban coverage
through transmission link. Grameen Phone builds continuous coverage cell after cell, while the
intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic
strategy of cell to cell coverage is applied through-out Grameenphone network.

 Community Information Center (CIC)

The Grameenphone Community Information Center (CIC) is a shared premise where rural
people may access a wide-range of state of art services such as internet, voice communications,
video conferencing and other information services. The project of establishing CICs started in
February 2006 with 16 CICs. Today it has become a massive operation with over 500 operational
in nearly 450 Upazillas. Run by local entrepreneurs; the centers are equipped with PCs
connected to the Internet via the Grameenphone mobile network using EDGE technology. They
provide high speed Internet access and other information-based services in rural areas. The short-
term plan of this initiative is to establish at least one CIC in each of the 462 Upazillas. As a
result, up to 15 villages containing up to 40,000 people will be within reach of each CIC.

 Grameenphone Centers

Grameenphone Centers (GPC) serves as a “one stop solution” for customers, with all
telecommunications products and services, under a single roof. A Grameenphone Center also
sells phones from vendors like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and benq. EDGE/GPRS modems and
accessories such as chargers and headphones are also sold at GPCs. As of late most of the newly
opened GPC’s are franchised.

 Corporate responsibilities (CR)

Some of the key CR initiatives of Grameenphone are-

 Safe motherhood and infant care project

 Free eye care support
 Awareness building on varied national issues-AIDS, National Immunization Day
 Economic freedom for more than 400,000 Village Phone operators
 More than 500 Community Information Centers- connecting life and learning
 Sponsor of Bangladesh Special Olympics team
 Employment opportunity to acid survivors
 Scholarship for underprivileged meritorious students
 Establishment of Blood Bank at Bogra for underprivileged patients
 Emergency relief effort in natural calamities

 Climate Change Program

Grameenphone being a socially responsible company adopted systematic processes to ensure

that, wherever possible, it manages and mitigates the probable negative impact of its business
activities on the environment. Grameenphone’s Climate Change Program was initiated in early
2008 with a vision for reducing carbon emission, being environment friendly and creating a
momentum with the community and the people. The ambition of the program is:

 To become the leading corporate company in climate initiatives in Bangladesh within

2015
 Reduce 15%  carbon emission by 2012 and 40% by 2015
 Create momentum with community and people
 Corporate transformation: ‘Green Company’
 Aware-Engage-Advocacy GP employees

Sponsorship
Grameenphone engages in sponsorship to deliver its brand promise and to create mutual benefits
for its partners. Grameenphone has been relentlessly supporting different organizations through
sponsorships to preserve and glorify the national heritage and patronize the potential developing
sectors of Bangladesh. Some sponsorship activities are:

 Partner of Bangladesh Cricket Board, the national team

 Cricket academy
 Football
 Golf
 Tennis
 Weight Lifting
 National Art Exhibition
 Zainul-Quamrul International Children’s Painting Competition
 Rabindro Utshob
 National Poet’s Birth Anniversary
 Tree Plantation Movement
 Police week
 Acid survivor’s welfare
 Anti Drug Movement
 Bengali new year

Slogan

A connection exists between every person regardless of the distance that separates. And each
person is designed to seek out those connections, to stay in touch. Grameenphone serves as that
correlating string that connects thousands of people across the country, across the world. It
makes the daunting physicality of distance and time trivial. And thus it brings people together,
holding their dreams and hopes, joys and sorrows, helping them to ‘stay close’ which is the
slogan of Grameenphone.

Vision

‘This means that we help our customers get the full benefit of communications services in their
daily lives by making it easy to buy and use our services, delivering on our promises, being
respectful of differences and inspiring people both inside and outside the company to reach
higher goals’.

 Mission statement

Grameenphone Ltd. aims at providing reliable, widespread, convenient mobile and cost effective
telephone services to the people in Bangladesh irrespective of where they live. Such services will
also help Bangladesh keep pace with other countries including those in South Africa region and
reduce the existing disparity in telecom services between urban and rural areas. Coming to
Grameenphone’s mission statement, it is: “To be the leading telecommunication service
provider in the country with satisfied customers, shareholders and enthusiastic employees.”
If we analyze this mission statement we realize that Grameenphone wants to be the market leader
in the mobile telecommunication business of Bangladesh. This implies that they also consider
BTCL as their competitor and they want to keep a win-win situation for their customer,
shareholders and employees.

 The Purpose

Grameenphone Ltd. has a dual purpose to receive an economic return on its investments and to
contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where telecommunications can play a
critical role. This is why Grameenphone, in collaboration with Grameen Bank, is aiming to place
one phone in each village to contribute significantly to the economic uplift of those villages.

 The Strategy

The basic strategy of Grameenphone Ltd. is for the overall coverage of both urban and rural
areas. It continues coverage, cell after cell, with an intention to bring the whole country under its
network. Though the priority of the intensity of coverage varies from area to area, the basic
strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied through the whole country. Presently it has network
coverage in 62 districts around the country including all six divisional headquarters, with 10,000
base stations in operation.

 The People

The young, dedicated and energetic employees have made the enormous growth of
Grameenphone possible. All the employees know in their hearts that Grameenphone is more than
a phone. This genuine sense of purpose gives them the dedication and the determination of
producing the biggest coverage and the highest subscriber base in the country. The talents and
the energy of its people are among the keys of both of its core and distinctive competencies.
Grameenphone knows it well and treats its employees accordingly.

 Base stations

Any cellular operator has an Operation and Maintenance department which is responsible for
making cellular network available for 24 hours. Grameenphone has built the largest cellular
network in the country with over 10,000 base stations in more than 5,700 locations. To face the
huge competition at telecom industry by rival other 5 mobile operators Grameenphone may have
to increase her base stations to comply with consumers needs. To keep the status of the current
market leader in future, Grameenphone has to keep her service standard to the customer
satisfaction level. To meet that the quality of new on air base station has to be top class.

Network

Grameenphone built a healthy and robust infrastructure in terms of telecommunication network

which is expanded at a record pace every year as well. The Radio in terms of coverage and
capacity, Transmission and Switching network in terms of number of base station, connecting
transmission line, switching system (MSC) and so on.
Switching Network

The switching capacity has been strengthened with 27 Mobile switching centers 42 Base Station
Controller and other equipments added to in 08 divisional cities. Grameenphone is also offering
a different type of services to the valued subscribers continuously by deploying different service
equipment SMSC, VMSC, EDGE and so on.

Transmission Network

Bangladesh is located at the Ganges delta basin so the landscape of Bangladesh is dominated by
the rivers and channel. Therefore an important part of the infrastructure is based on radio
resources (Microwave Links) owned by Grameenphone. Grameenphone built a strong
infrastructure by taking lease dark fibers from the Bangladesh Railway around 2000 km. The
second tier backbone covers approximate 1200 km of new fiber optic cable was laid apart from
leased optical fiber from Bangladesh Railway to enhance the capacity and to ensure higher
redundancy in transmission end.

 Radio Network

It has built the largest network with the widest coverage. Presently, nearly 100% percent of
population has now been brought under the coverage of the GP network, which covers more than
450 Upazilas of 62 districts. Almost 10,000 base stations are operating around the country.

 The Result

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, Grameenphone is delivering the digital

revolution to the doorsteps of the poor and unconnected. By being able to connect to urban areas
or even to foreign countries, a whole new world of opportunity is opening up for the villagers in
Bangladesh. Grameen Bank borrowers who provide the services are uplifting their services
economically through a new means of income generation while at the same time providing
valuable phone services to their fellow villagers. The telephone is a weapon against poverty. The
subscriber base of GP continues to grow at a healthy pace.

Awards and recognition:

 “GSM  in the community” award  by GSMA in 2000

 “Best Joint Venture Enterprise of the Year” award at Bangladesh Business Awards in
2002
 “Commonwealth Innovation Award”  in 2003
 “Best use of Mobile for  Social and Economic Development” category in 3GSMA
Global Mobile Award,2006
 “Best use of Mobile for  Social and Economic Development” category in 3GSMA
Global Mobile Award,2007
 “Best Brand Award” by Brand Forum in 2007
 First  “Telecom Asia Awards” 2008 “Asian Telecom Innovation of the Year ”
  “Best use of Mobile for  Social and Economic Development” category in 3GSMA
Global Mobile Award,2008
 Grameenphone and Huawei for “ Building a Greener Mobile Network”
 “Best  Brand Communication” for  2009

 Behind the Success Story

 Grameenphone – Largest Network Coverage

 Districts 64 out of 64

 Indoor and  Highway Coverage

Widest Distribution and Reach:

 Grameenphone Centre – 82

 Community Information Center-500

 Network Service- covers almost 100% of the country’s population

 Base Stations-10,000

 Roaming Partners- 118 Countries.

Conclusion

Grameenphone believes in services, a service that leads to good business and good
developments. Telephony helps people work together raising their productivity. This gain in
productivity is development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service; generating
a good business thus development and business go together.

grameenphone :     at a glance

Type                        Limited

Industry                  Mobile Telecommunication

Founded                 1997

Headquarters         GPHOUSE, Basundhara, Baridhara, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh.

Key people             Tore Johnsen, CEO

Products                 Telephony, EDGE, GSM

Revenue                 891Million USD

Net income             6,403.8 Million Taka

Parent                     Telenor 55.8%, Grameen Telecom 34.2% & Public 10%

Website                   www.grameenphone.com