23.06.

2019, Tuzla

MARKET RESEARCH – BANGLADESH

- Country information
- Telecom overview
- Mobile penetration rate

Created by: Ermina Husić

 Market Research – Bangladesh

1. Overall Country Information

Geography: Bangladesh, on the northern coast of the Bay of Bengal, is surrounded by India, with
a small common border with Myanmar in the southeast. The country is low-lying riverine land
traversed by the many branches and tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. Tropical
monsoons and frequent floods and cyclones inflict heavy damage in the delta region.
Land area:
- total: 148.460 sq km
- land: 130.170 sq km
- water: 18.290 sq km
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Official language: Bengali

Population: 159,453,001 (July 2018 est.); 8th in the world; growth rate: 1.02%;
Population density: 1,252/km2
Age structure (2018 est):
- 0-14 years (children): 27.29% (male 22,135,349 /female 21,373,470)
- 15-24 years (early working age): 19.14% (male 15,313,674 /female 15,200,861)
- 25-54 years (prime working age): 40.07% (male 30,626,005 /female 33,267,339)
- 55-64 years (mature working age): 7.09% (male 5,582,450 /female 5,716,763)
- 65 years and over (elderly): 6.42% (male 4,844,612 /female 5,392,478)
Life expectancy of total population: 73.7 years
Literacy of total population: 72.9%
Labor force: 66.64 million (2017 est.)
note: extensive migration of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia

Urban population: 36.6% of total population (2018)

Rate of urbanization: 3.17% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Major urban areas - population: 19.578 million DHAKA (capital), 4.816 million Chittagong,
975.000 Khulna, 880.000 Rajshahi, 776.000 Sylhet (2018)

Main industries: jute, cotton, garments, paper, leather, fertilizer, iron and steel, cement,
petroleum products, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, tea, salt, sugar, edible oils, soap and
detergent, fabricated metal products, electricity, natural gas.

Monetary unit: Taka (1 EUR = 94 BDT).

GDP (2019 estimate): Total - 314.656 billion USD; Per capita - 1,888 USD
Note: 40 million people still live in poverty, and 20 million in extreme poverty (1,9 USD/day)

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 Market Research – Bangladesh

2. Communications and telecom overview

Country's telecom regulator is the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory

Commission (BTRC). As of March 2019, total four mobile operators are truly operational.
The total Mobile Phone subscribers has reached 160.590 Million (April, 2019), as below:
Grameenphone Ltd. (GP) 74.473
Robi Axiata Limited (Robi) 47.574
Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd 34.547
Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. (Teletalk) 3. 995

Telephones - total fixed lines field listing subscriptions: 710,189 (2017 est.) with less than 1
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
Telephones - mobile cellular field listing, total subscriptions: 145,113,669 (2017 est.), with 92
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Telephone system in Bangladesh highlights:

- inadequate for a modern country;
- introducing digital systems;
- trunk systems include VHF and UHF microwave radio relay links, and some fiber-optic
cable in cities;
- fixed broadband penetration in Bangladesh remains very low mainly due to the
dominance of the mobile platform;
- in July 2018 first test run of 5G technology in Bangladesh took place in Dhaka
Domestic telecom market highlights:
- fixed-line teledensity remains less than 1 per 100 persons;
- mobile-cellular telephone subscribership has been increasing rapidly and now exceeds 92
telephones per 100 persons;
- slow to moderate mobile subscriber growth is anticipated over the next five years to
2023; strong local competition
International telecom market highlights:
- landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-4 fiber-optic submarine cable system that provides links
to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia;
- satellite earth stations - 6;
- international radiotelephone communications and landline service to neighboring
countries
Broadband - fixed subscriptions [physical wired connection to the Internet (e.g., coaxial cable,
optical fiber) at speeds equal to or greater than 256 kilobits/second (256 kbit/s)] - 7.296 million
people (5 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants).

Total Internet subscribers: 93.702 Million (April, 2019). The Internet subscribers (in millions) are:
Mobile Internet 87.910
WiMAX 0.060
ISP + PSTN 5.732

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 Market Research – Bangladesh

3. Mobile penetration rate

The mobile industry in Bangladesh has scaled rapidly over the last decade to become the fifth
largest mobile market in Asia Pacific and ninth in the world, with 85 million unique subscribers in
2017 – half the population. With subscribers owning on average 1.7 SIM cards, there were a total
of 145 million connections in 2017, representing connections penetration of 87%.
By helping to promote digital inclusion and support the delivery of essential services, the mobile
industry makes a vital contribution to the economy of Bangladesh and plays a crucial role in
supporting the achievement of the government’s Digital Bangladesh and Vision 2021 initiatives,
as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Penetration rate (2017) Penetration rate (2025 est.)

Unique mobile subscribers 51% 60%
Unique mobile internet subscribers 21% 41%
Total sim connections 87% 102%
Mobile broadband connections 29% 82%

AMTOB is a national trade organization representing all mobile telecom operators in Bangladesh.
It was established in 2001 and is dedicated to the advancement of modern communication
through the establishment of a world-class cellular infrastructure and to delivering the benefits
of all kinds of mobile communication services to the people of Bangladesh. AMTOB membership
is comprised of all cellular operators, namely – Airtel, Banglalink, Citycell, Grameenphone, Robi,
and Teletalk. AMTOB firmly believes that telecommunication is one of the key contributors for
socio-economic development of a country. In a short span of time Bangladesh’s cellular mobile
industry has emerged as a key contributor in the country’s economy. The coming years will see
more and more emphasis on the penetration in the rural market and deployment of 3G/4G/LTE.