swot analysis

Source: https://mushfiq009.wordpress.com/%E2%80%9Coverview-of-mobile-telecommunication-industry-in-bangladesh-%E2%80%9D/

Now we will see the brief company profile of these rivals:

grameen phone

Grameenphone is a GSM (global system of mobile communication)-based cellular operator in Bangladesh. It has started operations on March 26, 1997. It is partly owned by Telenor (62%) and Grameen Telecom (38%). Grameenphone is the largest mobile phone company in Bangladesh with 23.04 million customers as of october, 2008. It is also one the fastest growing cellular telephone network in Bangladesh. At the end of 2008, it had about 5200 BTS (Base Tower Stations) around the country. Grameenphones stated goal is to provide cost-effective and quality cellular services in Bangladesh. On the 16th of November, 2006 GP formally changed its logo to match its parent company Telenors logo. According to GP the new logo symbolizes trust, reliability, quality and constant progress. Grameenphone has already picked up 425 core taka of Non-convertible Senior Coupon Biasing Bond @ interest rate of 14.5 by the help of ten financial group of the companies. The company is recently going to call for IPO (Initial Public Offering) to collect capital from share market of the country of 6 core 50 lakh dollar (449 core taka). GP has submitted the prospectus of proposal for IPO in 12/12/2008 to the chairman of SEC (Security and Exchange Commission). The name of present CEO of GrameenPhone is Odver Heszedal.

The name Grameenphone was kept as part of the new identity because the name Grameenphone carries with it all of the heritage, success and values of the companies past, added the then CEO of Grameenphone Erik Aas.

Hawaii, and Ericsson provides technological support to GrameenPhone. The tower range ofGPexists5-7 km.The technology used by Grameenphone is1G(First Generation) which is supportable to2G(Second Generation).

>>Products offered

Grameenphone offers subscription in two categories, Prepaid Subscription and Postpaid Subscription.

>>Prepaid subscriptions are sub-divided into three plans:

1. Smile:

smile(mobile to mobile connectivity within Bangladesh),

smilePSTN(nationwide and international mobile and land line connectivity)

1. djuice(a youth based mobile to mobile connectivity within Bangladesh).

>>Postpaid plan:

xplore(nationwide and international mobile and landline connectivity)

Grameenphone also offers different value-added services including SMS, MMS, Welcome Tunes (Ringback Tones), Voice SMS, SMS Push-Pull Service, Voice Mail Service (VMS), and Fax and Data among others. Grameenphone was the first mobile operator in Bangladesh to offer EDGE services to its subscribers.

>>Other activities

>>Village phone

With the help of Grameenphone, Grameen Telecom operates the national Village Phone programme, alongside its own parent Grameen Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), acting as the sole provider of telecommunications services to a number of rural areas.

>>Community Information Centers

Community Information Center (CIC) or GPCIC is aimed at providing internet access and other communications services to rural areas. In February 2006, 26 CICs were established across the country as a pilot project. In this project, Grameenphone provides GSM/EDGE/GPRS infrastructure and technical support and other partners Grameen Telecom.

>>Grameenphone Centers

A grameenphone center (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,Sagem and Benq. EDGE/GPRS modems and accessories such chargers and headphones are also sold at GPCs.

CSR(Corporate social responsibility):

Grameenpnone focuses its CSR on the field of followings:

1. It contributes its responsibilities toward countries education, empowerment & health sector.

2. Beautification of the city towns.

3. It is the official sponsor of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

SWOT analysis:

According to the executive opinion we have analyzed the SWOT of the company. According to a executive of GP their-

Strength:Network coverage (94%of total area of the country.) &Total number

of customer.

Weakness:Short term defensive strategy & high call rate, which may hamper

the companys good will & Future competition.

Opportunity:To get link to the up coming technology i.e. Wi-Max.

Threat:Up coming technology may not support the present technological

infrastructure. And Banglalink.

Banglalink

With a slogan of making it difference- banglalink started operations in February 2005. Previously, it was known as Sheba Telecom Pvt. Ltd that had been providing GSM (global system of mobile communication) services in Bangladesh since 1998. Orascom Telecom bought 100% share of Sheba Telecom in 2004 and gave its new name as banglalink.

banglalink, is the second largest cellular service provider in Bangladesh. As of August, 2008, banglalink has a subscriber base of more than 10 million. 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. banglalink provides its powerful network by 5500(approx) BTS (Base Tower Stations) is covering 486 Thanas reasonably and 61 districts, covering a total population of around 90% till mid of 2008. After Govt. withdrawal of the restriction of planting network infrastructure from the three hilly districts (i.e. Banderbarban, Kagrachori & Rangamati) banglalink covered the 64 districts within very short time. The name of present CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of banglalink is Ahmed Abu Domer.

The logo of the company is designed on keeping the national animal i.e. Royal Bangle Tiger in mind, which symbolize to the faster growth. During the 3rdquartile of this year which means july-september, 2008 the company earned 524 core BDT. And the companies market expanded to 10.17 million customers. An banglalinks executive opinion about this was, the quality of product & service and continuous development of network has help them to reach this position. He also hoped that the customer size of the company will increased to 10.35 million by the end of this year. banglalink serves their customers with more than 700 CCP(Customer Care Point). Till now banglalink has invested 6,324 cores BDT. for the development of network and infrastructure.

Nokia-Siemens network & Hawaii provides technological support to banglalink. The tower range of banglalink exists 5-9 km. in case sometime it varies to about 13-15 km. The technology used by banglalink is 1G (First Generation) which is supportable to 2G (Second Generation). Banglalink also has

1500 km. of Fiber Optic cable which gives the surety of good network. During the occasional periods banglalink ensures much better service than the other operators.

Products Offered

Prepaid Packages

banglalink currently offers two prepaid plans. All the prepaid plans come in two phasesStandard (T&T incoming and outgoing with NWD and ISD) and M2M. All connections provide GPRS to subscribers.

desh, with the slogan One country, one rate, is one of the cheapest prepaid plans in the country by tariff.

ladies, first!, with the slogan Shomporker Network (means network of relationship), is tailored for women.

Postpaid Packages

Currently there are three postpaid plans from banglalink. These packages are called enterprise personal. All packages come with T&T local, NWD, ISD and e-ISD connectivity.

personal package 1

personal package 2

personal call and control

banglalink enterprise

banglalink enterprise offers a wide range of products and services to suit the needs of the business community. The current packages are:

enterprise corporate; targeted at the corporate segment

enterprise SME; targeted at the SME segment

enterprise personal

banglalink CU

banglalink CU package is targeted at the shopkeepers, which offers PCO facility to the general public. It comes in two varieties:

CU

CU call and control

banglalink point

banglalink points are aimed at providing a complete mobile solution, connections, handsets, accessories and provide selected customer services like SIM replacement, reconnection, bill payment etc. They are strategically located at key points around the country. Kallol Group a local distribution company had partnered with banglalink to operate at least forty banglalink points through out the country. As of March, 2008, the deal with Kallol Group has been called off and banglalink is focusing on managing its own customer care centers.


Banglalinkfocuses its CSR on the field of followings:

1. Tradition & culture of Bengal.


3. It is the official sponsor of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation.

4. It has under taken the voting campaign to vote for Cox-bazaar and sunder-boon and cleaning Cox-bazaar.

5. It has provided Trolley for the passengers of Zia International Airport.

SWOT analysis:


Strength:Active distribution management and sales personnel & brand

image. And network coverage (95% of total population).

Weakness:Time constant with other companies are not suitable.

Opportunity:Rural market & corporate customers.

Threat:Only time sense.

The executive also emphasized banglalink as best mobile company of the country. And are capable to be a market leader within short period of time. According to him team sprite, superior-subordinate relationship, and working environment is excellent. The company is ready to take any challenges and have the capability to overcome it.

AKTEL

Telekom Malaysia International Bangladesh (TMIB) Limited is a joint venture between Telekom Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (70%) and NTT DoCoMo (30%).

Aktel is the third largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh in terms of revenue and subscribers (8.14 million as of August 2008). In early 2008 Aktel slipped from the second position to the third after facing fierce competition from banglalink.

AKTEL launched its operations on the 15 November, 1997 in Dhaka and on 26 March, 1998 in Chittagong. Its founding chairman is Late Mr. Zahiruddin Khan, an ex-commerce minister. AKTEL was formed as a joint-venture between Telekom Malaysia and A.K. Khan Company. All along through its insception it was ranked as No.2 mobile operator and was placed far behind the industry leader GrameenPhone in terms of revenue and no. of subscribers. AKTEL started investing heavily with funds from Telekom Malaysia (the majority stake owner) on expanding its network in 2001 but the investment was far too inadequate in comparison with GrameenPhones investment.

Products offered

Akteloffers an array of different packages. In addition to offering the fundamental pre-paid and post-paid mobile services, it offers a wide range of value added products and services such as, SMS, GPRS, mobile data services, infotainment services, SMS banking, Caller Ring Back Tone, Ringtones download, Picture Messaging, MMS, Voice Greetings, Call Blocking on 4th August 2008, which give subscriber to control which call he or she receive or not and Bengali SMS.

Customer care

AKTEL has 19 Customer Care Centers[8] and 200 Customer Service Points in 61 allowable districts all over the country[9]. Aktel has another 670 AKtel Touch Points (ATP) scattered along the most densely populated areas.


Aktel has been offering scholarships to three Bangladeshi students every year for bachelor courses in engineering, information technology and business administration since 1998 to study at Multimedia University in Malaysia. It is the founding member of Chittagong Skills Development Centre (CSDC) that is offering technical training and business management education through its strategic partnership with Penang Skill Development Centre (PSDC) of Malaysia and its internal members. It also beautifies the city areas. In 2007 Aktel received Standard Chartered-Financial Express Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award 2006 for their significant contributions to CSR and philanthropic activities.

SWOT Analysis


Strength:Call rate superiority (at present situation.) & network system

Weakness:poor customer service & late response to competitors offer.

Opportunity:great opportunity to expand market by present network

system which adopt the Wi-Max technology.

Threat:other potential GSM network like Warid(NGN)

CITYCELL

Citycell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is the first mobile communications company of Bangladesh. It is the only CDMA (Code division multiple access) network operator in the country. As of 1st March, 2008, Citycells total mobile subscriber base is 1.56 million, up 137 per cent or 680,000 from two years ago, giving it the best growth rate of the company till date. Citycell is currently owned by Singtel with 45% stake and the rest 55% owned by Pacific Group and Far East Telecom.

In 1989 Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL) was awarded a license to operate cellular, paging, and other wireless communication networks. Then in 1990 Hutchison Bangladesh Telecom Limited (HBTL) was incorporated in Bangladesh as a joint venture between BTL and Hutchison Telecommunications (Bangladesh) Limited. HBTL began commercial operation in Dhaka using the AMPS mobile technology in 1993 and became the 1st cellular operator in South Asia[2]. Later that year Pacific Motors bought 50% of BTL. By 1996 HBTL was renamed as Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (PBTL) and launched the brand name Citycell Digital to market its cellular products. Michel Seymour is the present CEO of Citycell

Hawaii, Ericsson & Motorola provides technological support to Citycell. The tower range of Citycell exists to 5-6 km. in case sometime it varies to about 9 km.(Max.) The technology used by Citycell is CDMA1X(Code division multiple access). Citycell is consolidating its position in wireless data by launching their Zoom EV-DO (evaluation data optimize) for the broadband wireless internet service.

Although CDMA1X technology is the latest technology citycell could not not flourishing the companies market position although it was the first company to launch Mobile cellular phones. Executive opinion abut this is that the failure of the policy maker to take right decision in right time is the main cause . But he also appreciated the policies of present CEO of citycell for capturing the market position. He also thinks that the countries most Mobile companies are GSM, so they may induce the GSM union to capture the market.

Products Offered

Citycell offers prepaid, postpaid and fixed phone plans. Since Citycell operates in CDMA, RIMs are usually sold with a phone mostly cheap Chinese sets produced by ZTE, Huawei, Samsung, Motorola and Alcatel. Citycell currently has the cheapest phone+connection tariff at 1399 taka.

Customer Care Center

There are 6 Customer care centers of Citycell in the country. One for each division and there are another 500 Customer care Points scattered around the country

Performance

World operator rank by connections : 258th

Market Share : 4.5%

Market Penetration : 1.1%

[*Data Q2 2008]


Citycellfocuses its CSR on the field of followings:

1. It contributes its responsibilities toward countries education, anti-drug & health sector.


3. It is the official sponsor Bangladesh Football federation.

SWOT analysis:


Strength:Digital technologyCDMA1X.And network coverage (92% of

total population).

Weakness:Failing of making consciousness to the people aboutCDMA1X

technology.

Opportunity:Broadband wireless technology ofEV-DO(evaluation data

optimize). And up coming technologies are supportable to the

present technology.

Threat:GSM technology where people habited with the change of

Handset.

WARID

Warid Telecom International Ltd. is a GSM-based cellular operator in Bangladesh. Warid is the sixth mobile phone carrier to enter the Bangladesh market. It is currently struggling but is trying to find a way out.

Warid officially launched their commercial services in Bangladesh on the May 10, 2007 with a GSM Mobile Cellular network covering 64 districts of the country and encompassing 70% of the mobile phone using population- the single largest launch the country has ever seen.

In December 2005, Warid Telecom International LLC paid $50 million dollars(US) to obtain a GSM license from the BTRC and became the sixth mobile phone operator in Bangladesh.

In a press conference on August 17, 2006, Warid announced that his network would be activated two months ahead of schedule, in October, 2006. Again in October, 2006 Warid Telecom put off the launch of its cellphone services in Bangladesh until April, 2007 after its major supplier Nokia walked out on an agreement over a payment dispute. The present CEO of WARID Mr. Munir Farooqui.

Products Offered

Warid provides both post-paid and pre-paid connection plans. The post-paid plan is branded and marketed across the country under the name Zahi Post-paid, which means leader or royalty. The pre-paid segment is branded and marketed as Zem Pre-Paid.

TheZem Prepaidcategory is divided into four segments:

Zem (24 hours)

Zem 1 Sec

Zem Fun

Zem FnF

TheZahi Postpaidcategory is divided into three segments:

Zahi Royal

Zahi extra

Zahi-Post-paid and Zem Pre-paid user enjoy various value added services(VAS), such as SMS, MMS, GPRS, 64K SIM, Dual SIM product, Corporate packages for product advertising via SMS, and a host of other features. However, International Roaming is available only to Zahi (post-paid) users.

CustomerCare Centersand Franchises

Warid Telecom Franchise.

Warid has ten customer care centers around the country located at key locations. These centers are directly run by Warid itself. Warid has another 120 franchises spread across Bangladesh, the largest chain of retail outlets in the country, which is further backed up by a chain of sub-franchises, affinity partners & distributors.

SIM Cards, Scratch Cards and sometimes mobile sets are sold at these outlets. Bill collection for post paid users and Zem top up for pre-paid users can also be availed at the franchises. These franchises directly appoint dealers and sub-dealers in their designated areas.

SWOT Analysis


Strength:Customer service & NGN network.

Weakness:Product design & product marketing.

Opportunity:Adopting Wi-Max which will definitely supported by the

3G(NGN) network.

Threat:Other potential competitors.

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.Product offered:

Teletalk offers an array of different packages. In addition to offering the fundamental pre-paid and post-paid mobile services, it offers a wide range of value added products and services such as, SMS, GPRS, mobile data services, infotainment services, SMS banking, Caller Ring Back Tone, Ringtones download, Picture Messaging, MMS, Voice Greetings.

The pre-paid packages are-

Standard

Shapla (Pre-paid)

Shadheen

And the post-paid packages are-

Standard (rajanigandha)

Shapla (Post-paid)

Teletalk Customer Care Point(CCP)

Teletalk has established their customer care point only in the divisional cities and the big citied only. In their CCPs they provides free services to their customer and also sells the mobile hand sets, and mobile accessories.

SWOT Analysis


Strength:Govt. owned public ltd. Co. & they use the frequency of BTCL

Which is covered all around the country.

Weakness:Poor customer service & bad product design.

Opportunity:great opportunity to expand market by present network

system which adopt the Wi-Max technology.

Threat:other potential GSM companies.

v Forecast about telecommunication market in Bangladesh:

Over the last two to three years, the number of mobile subscribers in Bangladesh has been more than or close to more than doubling on an annual basis. By end-2007, the subscriber base had reached 34 million and was continuing to grow at an annual rate of around 60%. With the momentum that has been developed on the back of the governments deregulation process, the strong growth seemed likely to continue.

IEMRs Mobile Forecast on Bangladesh provides over 65 operational and financial metrics for the Bangladesh wireless market. We cover quarterly historical data starting in 1Q2004 and ending in 1Q2008. We also provide four-year forecasts at the operator level going out to 2010. Operators covered for Bangladesh include: Bangalink/Sheba (Orascom Tel), GrameenPhone (Telenor), TM Intl (Telekom Malaysia), PBTL (SingTel), and Warid BTTB. Our Mobile Forecasts are updated quarterly and are available for one-time delivery or through regular updates. Notable highlights of the 3Q08 Bangladesh Mobile Forecast include:

1) Total subscribers in Bangladesh will increase from the projected 46.9 million in 2008 to 58.2 million in 2010. We, therefore, forecast that the level of wireless penetration will increase steadily in Bangladesh from our projected 29.0% in 2008 to 34.7% in 2010.

2) The level of competition in the wireless market will continue to increase, and the HHI index will go down from 0.298 in 2008 to 0.285 in 2010. The three largest operators in the country (Bangalink/Sheba, GrameenPhone, and TM International) will be losing market shares to Warid.

3) The largest operator in the country will continue to be GrameenPhone (Telenor), but its market share (by subscribers) will decrease from 45.0% to 42.9% in the forecast period, 2008 ? 2010.

In the figure below BMI (business monitor international) had forecasted a rapid growth and average y-o-y growth of 56% per year between year 2007 and 2011.

Market penetration should be reached by 50% by the end of 2009 and can be increased by 75% during the forecasted period. So, according to the forecast, by the year 2011, mobile subscribers will be 115millions. That sounds like a great potential market. (ibid)

The reality is close to the forecast. According to BTRC, The total number of Mobile Phone Subscribers has reached 32.33 million at the end of October 2007, when BMIs expectation was about 35 millions. Mr. Manzurul Alam, Chairman BTRC while answering a question, has given the latest information. As of April 2008, the total number of mobile phone subscribers stands at 40.34 millions. And the average growth rate falls in the range of 1 million subscribers per month.

Figure: BMI forecast

v Brief about PSTN Operators in Bangladesh:

Beside the six mobile telecommunication companies there are twelve PSTN (public switched telephone network) companies in Bangladesh. Among these BTTB was only govt. owed company, which has been converted into Public Ltd. Co. in august this year and now it is working as a name BTCL (Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Ltd.). Accept BTCL all other PSTN use wireless system CDMA (Code division multiple access) technology. The raise of private PSTN companies made the market of PSTN in the country very competitive. Now the call rate of PSTN has been reduced than the previous rate.

Here the list of PSTN subscribers of the country is shown in a figure with their customer size bellow:

Operators

Subscribers

December 2007

Subscribers

September 2008

Subscribers

October2008

BTTB

872.409

872.409

873.265

Ranks Telecom Ltd.

112.560

148.173

149.495

Telebarta Ltd.

55.809

56.424

56.424

Jalalabad Telecom Ltd.

3.948

4.949

5.110

Onetel Communication Ltd.

30.126

38.364

38.529

National Telecom Ltd.

17.521

48.467

51.496

Peoples Telecom Ltd.

32.961

46.211

53.085

Westec Ltd.

17.400

17.000

17.000

Dhaka Telephone Co. Ltd.

27.793

58.074

59.436

Sheba Phone Ltd. (ISL)

8.232

10.018

9.930

S.A Telecom System Ltd.

8.134

14.372

14.804

Banglaphone

0.026

0.026

0.026

Total

1,186.919

1,314.487

1,328.600

*Subscribers in ThousandsSource: BRTC

v CONCLUSION

The buyer is powerful in the industry, but since the market is growing largely, it will be easy for the company to hold its own share, because of poverty, the population will be unlikely to avail the switching cost. And this also reduces the risk of high availability of substitutes.

The supplier is not powerful in this case which is a plus for the company and the company can play with the price to keep the production cost low. Since the market is yet to be matured and growing very fast, we assume that the suppliers companies are also increasing. Some multinational companies are showing their interest to enter into the market. This can lead some new suppliers to arrive into the market and make the environment more competitive. So at some stage the bargaining power of the suppliers will become very low.

So from the above discussion, it can be said that the Bangladesh telecom market has a lot of potential to offer considering strategically ignorable or somehow alterable threats. The market looks very potential and prospective. Lots of opportunities are waiting.

Bangladesh has cheap skilled and willing to be skilled labor. Communication infrastructure is in good condition and has the ability to serve the international entrants. Customer demand for telecom product is very high due to the high growth rate of the market. As the industry is becoming bigger, availability of supporting industries are increasing and already there are lots of supporting companies in the market. And finally the government policies are very welcoming and liberal.

From the above discussion we can comment that the mobile telecommunication of Bangladesh is very competitive & the rivals are facing huge competition in the market. Therefore we observe that the mobile companies are changing their strategies day to day to survive in the market. So it will be difficult for any new company to enter in this market. But we can simply say that the mobile telecom market of Bangladesh is a well balanced & fully competitive.

swot analysis

Documents