NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY

BUS498
Sec: 87

Internship Report
On
Banglalink Digital Communications Limited

Submitted To:
Rushdy MD. Bakth
Lecturer
Department of Accounting & Finance
School of Business & Economics
North South University

Submitted By:
Leo Rahman
ID: 1321733030

Submission Date: 3rd May 2018

pg. i
pg. ii
Letter of Transmittal
3rd May 2018
Rusdy MD. Bakth
Lecturer
Department of Accounting and Finance
North South University

Subject: Internship report on Corporate and Regulatory Affair Department of Banglalink Digital
Communications Ltd.

Dear Sir,

This is my great pleasure to submit the Internship report of my three months period Internship
Program at Banglalink Digital Communication Ltd. in Corporate and Regulatory Affairs
Department. This report has been prepared to fulfill the requirement of my internship program at
my assigned department in Banglalink. I have put my best effort to make this report effective. It
has been a joyful and educative experience to work in this organization and prepare this report.

I am thankful to you for your guidance and constructive criticism during the preparation of this
report. I have included all the materials that was mentioned in the guideline so that you can evaluate
me based on the grading criteria set for this assignment. I truly believe that you will enjoy reading
this report and appreciate the organization and its culture.

Sincerely,

Leo Rahman
1321733030

pg. iii
Acknowledgement
This internship report is an accumulation of many people’s endeavor. Major contribution was
received from the officers of Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd. as from Corporate and
Regulatory Affairs Department. I would like to express by sincere gratitude to my line manager,
Abu Nazam Md Tanveer Hossain, Head of Public Policy and Digital, who has been very supportive
and helpful throughout my internship period. I would especially thank Syeda Sakina Mumtaz Huq,
Manager, Digital Policy, for guiding and supporting me throughout this program. I would also like
to thank all the members of CoRA department and Banglalink authority for giving me the
opportunity to complete my internship program in this renowned organization. The experience
gained in Banglalink helped me to understand necessary elements related to my study. Most
importantly, I would like to express my sincere and immense gratitude to my internship supervisor
Rusdy MD. Bakth, Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Finance, SBE, North South
University, for supervising me throughout my internship period. His valuable suggestion and
guidelines greatly contributed in preparing this report in a well-organized manner.

pg. iv
Executive Summary
Banglalink started their journey on February of 2005. Today is it one of the leading telecom
industry in Bangladesh that have a customer base of around 30 million. I was one of the fortunate
to do my internship in this organization for a period of three months. I was assigned to Corporate
and Regulatory Affairs (CoRA) department. CoRA has five wings and I was assigned to Public
Policy and Digital under Abu Nazam Md Tanveer Hossain, who also happened to be the head of
this wing. This report examine the functions and responsibility of this team. In this report I have
covered all the materials that was mentioned in the guideline. I have included a brief overview
about the company which involves how this organization emerged, it also includes the function of
CoRA department, my internship experience, relation with my supervisor where I talked about the
people who work here and also the additional services that is provided to the employees, job
responsibility and the types of work that was given to me, also the problems that I faced while
doing those tasks and how I tackled them. While doing this internship I have learned a number of
new skills which I believe will help me in my job life as well, I have briefly explained the skills
that I have acquired in this three months period. I got the first taste of office culture during this
three months program and by doing this internship I have found few significant difference between
what I was taught in academic life and what I practically experienced, I have explained those
differences in expectation verses experience chart. Working for Banglalink has greatly influenced
by career plans and in this report I have also detailed how it affected by future ideas. My experience
about this internship program was very amazing and it has also helped me gain practical knowledge
that will be useful in my work life.

pg. v
Table of Contents
1. Company Overview ......................................................................................... 1
1.1 About Banglalink ........................................................................................ 1
1.2 Products and Services Offered ................................................................... 4
1.3 Corporate and Regulatory Affairs (CoRA) Department .......................... 5
1.4 Public Policy and Digital ............................................................................ 6
2. Work Environment and People ....................................................................... 7
3. Interaction with Supervisor and Coworker.................................................... 9
4. Experience ...................................................................................................... 11
5. Work Responsibilities .................................................................................... 14
6. Lessons and skills acquired ........................................................................... 17
7. Difficulties ...................................................................................................... 19
8. Expectation Vs Experience ............................................................................ 20
9. How the Internship Program influenced my career plans........................... 21
10. Re-Do the Internship ................................................................................... 21
11. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 22
12. Reference ...................................................................................................... 23
13. Appendix ...................................................................................................... 24

pg. vi
1. Company Overview
1.1 About Banglalink

Banglalink started their journey in the February of 2005. They acquired 30 million customer base
over a decade, and working relentlessly to serve their customers better. They were the first in
Bangladesh to reduce the call rates and make mobile telephony an economic choice for the
consumers. Banglalink’s strategy to become successful came up with a simple mission: “Bringing
mobile telephony to the masses”.

Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd. was granted license in 1989 to operate in the rural areas of 199 upazilas.
Later it obtained GSM license in 1996 to extend its business to cellular mobile and radio telephone
services. It launched operation in the last quarter of 1997 as a Bangladesh-Malaysia joint venture.

In September, 2004, Orascom Telecom Holdings purchased 100% of the shares of Sheba Telecom
(Pvt.) Ltd. (“Sheba”). In March 2008, Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd. changed its name as Orascom
Telecom Bangladesh Limited, matching its parent company name. Afterward it was re-branded
and launched its services under the “Banglalink™” brand on February 10, 2005. After entering
Bangladesh, Banglalink made mobile telephony an extremely affordable communication tool for
people, for which they became the fastest growing mobile operator of the country within one year
of its operation with a growth rate of 257%.

pg. 1
Banglalink’s Head Quarter (Tiger’s Den) is the first certified Green Office by World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF) in Bangladesh. The company follows a flat organizational structure.

Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd. is a fully owned company of Telecom Ventures Ltd.
which is a 100% owned subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding. VEON owns 51.0% shares of
Global Telecom Holding following a business combination in April 2011, between VEON Ltd.
After the 2011 ownership structuring in the parent company, it changed its name for the second
time to Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd. in July of 2013, as a part of becoming a digital
company, moving away from traditional telecom operator.

pg. 2
Vision

Banglalink’s vision is to be a pioneer, for which they are working relentlessly at the frontline to
unlock new opportunities for customers as they are navigating to the digital world.

Mission

The mission of Banglalink is based on a simple statement: “Bringing mobile telephony to the
masses”, which also happens to be the foundation of the company’s strategy. They want to make
mobile communication an economic solution that will enhance the lives of the people. In simple
words, the mission of Banglalink are:

 Deliver superior service in every phase of customer experience (before, during and after
sales).
 Enhance shareholders’ values.
 Guarantee a leading position in the mobile market of Bangladesh.

pg. 3
1.2 Products and Services Offered
Banglalink SIM comes in two packages; Pre-Paid Package and Post-Paid Package.

Pre-Paid package has two plans; that is Banglalink DESH and PLAY. On the other hand Post-Paid
package has three plans, they are Banglalink Inspire, SME and PRO-Paid.

Besides, Banglalink also has a long range of Digital services to offer. Some of which are:

pg. 4
1.3 Corporate and Regulatory Affairs (CoRA) Department
Corporate and Regulatory Affairs department is responsible for managing the external
stakeholders eg: Government. Their primary job is to overlook if the organization has met all the
legislative requirements and keep track of the ever changing laws and regulations of digital world.
A total of around 25 members are working for this department. This department is further divided
in five key units, each unit with its own unique functions and responsibilities. I was assigned to
Public Policy and Digital headed by Abu Nazam Md Tanveer Hossain.

Organogram of CoRA

pg. 5
1.4 Public Policy and Digital
This is the team where I was assigned to. Business environment changes all the time and to cope
with these changes the company needs to be dynamic and adaptive. Public Policy and Digital deals
with this function, they also do research and provide future guidelines and policies for the
organization. They advocate different policy related to the organization and its future. This team
is made up of people who are specialized in telecommunications rules and regulations. This wing
was heavily involved and worked untiringly when organization was yet to receive the 4G license.
They reviewed the guidelines provided by BTRC regarding the permit and also advocated to what
extent it is compliant in real life.

Organogram of Public Policy and Digital

pg. 6
2. Work Environment and People
Work Place: The work environment of this Telco giant is really very healthy. They have open
desk and the environment here is perfect and secured for doing work. Open desk does not mean
that is it hampering the privacy, everyone is well aware of the office code. Besides, they also do
fire drill once in a while where everyone have to clear the building in seven minutes, this is to train
the employees what should their actions be in case of emergency. There is Wi-Fi connectivity
around the building and all the employees are equipped with a laptop, an email id and an official
sim card with a certain credit limit which includes the interns as well. Banglalink has been certified
as the first green office of the country. Therefore, as a part of this, paper work is minimum and all
the communications are done through email and other means.

Photo: During fire drill at Tiger’s Den

Photo: During fire drill outside Tiger’s Den

while ERT (Emergency Response Team)
helping out the employees

pg. 7
Additional Services- The organization have a pantry in every floor where the employees take
refreshments like tea or coffee whenever they are tired or need a break, it is sometimes used for
get-togethers and celebrate birthday parties as well. It is very much known to everyone that
Banglalink has one of the best canteen which is on the first floor. The food that is served is hygienic
and have four menus from which we can choose only one. It is free for interns but the employees
have to pay a negligible amount.

Photo: Having refreshment at pantry

People: From boss to newcomers, everyone is very pleasant and helpful. It really amazed me to
see their competence and smartness while conducting their daily tasks. Whenever there is any
issue, even though if it is minor, they do not delay solving it, rather they try to resolve it in the
shortest time possible. The people are very cooperative and always willing to help. Another thing
that impressed is their pleasant nature. There are around seven hundred people working in Tiger’s
Den, but the building has only two lifts which is not enough, then I have noticed Erik Aas (CEO)
and other CxOs waiting in the queue, whereas they could have easily gone first.

Photo: An empty desk at Tiger’s Den

pg. 8
3. Interaction with Supervisor and Coworker
My line manager was Abu Nazam Md Tanveer Hossain. He is a very humorous and cheerful
person who always love to crack jokes that would make any tense situation light and joyous. My
relation with him was very candid and we maintained a low power distance. For this reason, I
could easily approach him if I did not understand any task. At the beginning, I was very introvert
but gradually after knowing him well I could easily go and talk to him about any matter, not
necessarily that it has to be office related. He always refrained from giving me any difficult task
and ensured that I will be able to do it before bestowing me with something complex. Sometimes
I asked him to explain the same thing multiple times, which he did every time with same interest.
I also talked about my career plans, my personal experience in Banglalink and improvements that
should be undertaken to make this internship program more effective.

As I worked for other wings of CoRA department, thus I got to know a lot of people. They were
also very cheerful, my interaction with them was very candid and we maintained low power
distance as well. CoRA department had four inters including me and in this three months we
became really good friends. We helped each other in every possible way and also acted as a moral
support at times of difficulties. There were around thirty interns in total and all of us became very
good friends, promising to keep in touch after this internship program is over. The employees were
also very cooperative and pleasant. For instance, it was my second day and unknowingly an
employee asked me to scan and send a document in his email, something which I never did.
Therefore, instead of hesitating he showed me how it is done and also gave a rational explanation
about the machine.

Photo: Random chit chat with coworker

pg. 9
In all, they tend to maintain a casual relationship, so that we can work in relaxed mind instead of
getting anxious thinking what to do when the boss arrives. They do not support standing up to
greet the boss or address someone as ‘sir’, a custom which they expect from the interns as well.
Together, we had lunch outside quite some times in many occasions and this played a vital role in
building a candid relation. It also helped me in approaching the supervisor and coworkers when I
had difficulties with work.

Photo: Interns of CoRA Department

pg. 10
4. Experience

Photo: AIP 1801

I was from batch AIP 1801 (Advanced Internship Program). As a fresh graduate, I got the first
taste of a true multinational corporate culture from Banglalink. On the first day, when we were
taking photo for ID card, suddenly the CEO came to me and said candidly, “Hey, Let’s take a
picture together” and everyone started saying, “Oh! You lucky guy”.

Our department have breakfast together on Sundays. Every Sunday one of the employee have to
bring breakfast for all and next Sunday the other, in this way the circle continues. We celebrated
birthdays of both employees and interns. We also celebrated Boshonto Uthshob on 13th February,
it was not official but every one wore traditional cloths and that day was festive with no work

pg. 11
pressure. In the evening everyone took pictures which made the environment very joyous.
Banglalink officially celebrated Pitha Uthsob in Tiger’s Den canteen where there was traditional
songs and pitha stalls.

Photo: Banglalink collaborated

with google to contribute bangla
words

On the occasion of 21st February, Banglalink collaborated with Google and started an initiative to
contribute bangla words in google to make Google Bangladesh better. There, I along with other
interns voluntarily contributed our bit to make the search engine better at bangla.

Photo: Interns while contributing bangla words to Google

pg. 12
I would consider myself lucky enough to witness 4G launching ceremony because this is
something that we do not see every day. Banglalink launched 4G within few seconds of acquiring
the license at BTRC, but the ceremony was held at Tiger’s Den outside the building with everyone
wearing Banglalink T-Shit and all the media personnel covering the event. I was proud to be a part
of that crowd. Later, a cake was also cut to celebrate the event and everyone involved shared their
experience.

Photo: Tigers celebrating 4G launch

My personal experience about the internship program was really amazing. I got to meet new people
who were undoubtedly very smart and prompt. I learned the corporate culture and it also changed
my view on how conventional bosses are. In the orientation day, we were shown a slideshow that
gave us a brief idea of what Banglalink is about, also the dos and don’ts in the office which helped
me to survive for the next twelve weeks.

pg. 13
5. Work Responsibilities
As an intern I was not bestowed with tasks that involves rocket science, rather I was given simple
tasks, but it required significant attention. As mentioned earlier, I did not work for only my wing
but other wings as well which gave me the opportunity to get a holistic learning experience. For
this reason, I did not had any fixed routine work that has to be done on a daily basis but different
types of work in different days.

Made official calls: I made phone calls to government offices like different Pally Biduth offices
to get the billing supervisor’s number and also convince them to change the name of the towers to
Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd, provided that all the paper works are done. This is
because their towers are in different names like Sheba and Orascom etc. and as per a new
government policy the company would get a five percent tax return at the end of the year if the
tower names are correct.

Photo: Taimur Rahman, Chief

Corporate and Regulatory Affairs
Officer, sharing his experience at
‘BASIC SOFTEXPO 2018’

Composed write-ups: I wrote an article that included all the philanthropic work by Banglalink,
taking information from the internet, reports and newspaper journals. It had to be done with
significant attention because the write-up was included in the “White Paper” that was launched in
‘BASIS SOFTEXPO 2018”. Besides, I also wrote another article on “Office Etiquettes” in

pg. 14
Bangladesh which included the dos and don’ts in office. To write this, I had to both surf the internet
and talk with different people working in Tiger’s Den to share their experience. This also required
attention to details because it was for a research purpose as informed by my line manager.

Summarization: I summarized “Digital Security Act 2016”. At first, I was asked to summarize
2018 version but it was not available, thus I did 2016 version with the consent from my line
manager. It was written in legal language and to make the situation worse it was in bangla, thus
this was one challenging task. I took help from other interns, search engines, translators and
anyhow finished it within the deadline of one week.

Prepared forms: I was given a sample copy and from it I prepared hundreds of forms related to
connection name change. Then filled them up from Banglalink’s side, packed them, put addresses
accordingly and sent them to different district’s Pally Biduth offices via dispatch.

Photo: Taking a snap holding 4G

license application before
submitting it to BTRC

pg. 15
Wrote letters: I regularly wrote letters to BTRC on different issues. Firstly, I was thoroughly
described what the letter is about, then explained how to put them into words. Sometimes the
managers used to write them in a page and then I was asked to type them in a word file. Finally, if
all was good then it was printed and sent to BTRC.

Data entry: I entered data on excel file regarding how many phase of electricity each tower has
used and also other issues. Besides, I also looked for information on excel files.

Photocopy/Scan/Print: I did countless photocopies and scanned numerous documents. Only the
CoRA interns had access to printers because we had a lot of print jobs.

Made presentation slides: I prepared a number of presentation slides for my line manager on
different topics.

pg. 16
6. Lessons and Skills acquired
The most significant thing that I learned from this three months internship program is the corporate
culture. I got the first true taste of corporate culture from Banglalink which I expect to carry
throughout my life.

Photo: Celebrating Pitha Uthsab at Tiger’s

Den

Professionalism: After being in a corporate culture I developed a level of professionalism. Some

of which includes arriving in office on time irrespective of the traffic congestion, what to share
with coworkers and what not to, also how and at which tone to communicate with them. I learned
to groom myself, starting from what type of shoe to wear to the length of hair that we should have.

Managing task conflicts and deadlines: No pressure was set on me but nevertheless, sometimes
there used to be conflict among two tasks. For instance, there were times when I was asked to fill
up a large number of forms and at the same time I had to write a letter that is scheduled to go to
BTRC at a specific time. While working at Banglalink I had to deal with a lot of deadlines and by
this I have learned to manage time.

Communications skills: I had call government offices to convince them to do the work, by doing
this I learned how to make official calls and communicate professionally. I also attended guests
from other Telco and vendors who were both from Bangladesh and other countries and by this I
acquired good communication skills.

pg. 17
Technical skills: While working here I had to use their photocopy machine a lot. The machine
can photocopy multiple pages at the same time, scan documents and send them to emails, it is also
capable of printing. I acquired all those skills and in addition, I learned how to fix that machine
and also the printers if they are jammed with papers.

Microsoft Office skills: All the email communications in Banglalink is conducted under
Microsoft Outlook platform. I have never used outlook, thus this was something new that I learned
from Banglalink. Besides, I also acquired good knowledge on Microsoft Excel. I knew excel before
but that was not enough, there I learned some new features which includes V-look up and making
charts etc.

Write-up skills: I wrote many compositions in school and university, but the write-up there had
to be of their level. My manager showed me few samples and told me to write in that way. I also
wrote letters to BTRC and by doing this I learned how to write a professional letter on different
issues.

Photo: Interns celebrating coworker’s birthday at

Tiger’s Den

pg. 18
7. Difficulties
It is not that the three months were very smooth, sometimes I had to deal with difficulties. The
people working here are really very smart and prompt, but for me as a newcomer it was not possible
to match with their pace then gradually I picked up speed. The people were exceptionally
cooperative and helpful, they taught my work responsibilities with the finest details and for this
reason it was not too much troublesome.

Reluctance in providing information: As mentioned in work responsibilities, I was asked to call

Pally Biduth offices to get the work done, it was sometimes very difficult because few PBS officers
were very reluctant. Then after seeing the managers and how they talk, I started imitating them.

Restricted access to different websites: My work was heavily dependent on getting information
from the internet. For this reason, only CoRA interns had access to internet, but unfortunately most
of the sites were blocked. As a solution, I had to use mobile internet which was very troublesome
in many cases.

Lack of adequate knowledge on Microsoft Excel: I was bestowed with excel related work, but
I never had good command over this program. Therefore, at the beginning it was very tough, but
gradually by surfing the internet and watching the coworkers I learned to use this program.

Lack of familiarity on Technical words: While working here I had to deal with a lot of technical
words like number of phases, spectrum and technological neutrality etc. At first, I could not
understand what they meant, then by asking my line manager and surfing the internet I learned
about these words.

Lack of Confidence: In the beginning it was very difficult for me to communicate and share any
work related issues with my coworkers as I was new in this environment. Later, my line manager
along with other employees took me for lunch as an initiative to make me familiar with the
atmosphere and people, so that I can approach them freely in case of any issue.

pg. 19
8. Expectation Vs Experience
Expectation Experience

The boss will be like the one we had a mindset My boss was very candid and we maintained a
of, like he will be rigid and maintain high low power distance. If I did not understand a
power distance. thing, then he would explain me with a smile
on his face.

In academic life, less emphasis was given on In real life, if we summarize the whole office
learning technical skills. We were given a basic related tasks in Banglalink, it can be said that
knowledge on Microsoft Excel and we had no they are majorly dependent on Microsoft Excel
expertise on Outlook. and for communication, they are reliant on
Outlook platform.

In our academic life, we learned that there are But in practical world, rather than following
certain criteria in decision making process. the criteria, they emphasize more on instinctive
Therefore, I expected that those rules will be approach which came after years of industry
applied in office as well. experience.

In my academic life, I had a perception that In real-world, I found office environment to be

office environment would more rigid and more flexible in terms of timing, deadlines and
inflexible than what we experience in our other issues.
classrooms.

In academic life, all of us have been in teams In office, when we were bestowed with group
and did group projects. Therefore, we all are works, the team members were unthinkably
well aware of its taste. cooperative and prompt.

pg. 20
9. How the Internship Program influenced my career plans
I experienced the corporate culture for the first time in Banglalink and it was really a good one.
The people here are very cooperative and prompt, thus I have already created a good image about
this Telco giant, their culture and people, which impacted my career plans greatly. For this reason,
I would definitely try my best to build my career in a leading telecom industry in Bangladesh, if
possible then Banglalink.

I believe that I can easily fit in their culture because it did not take much time for me to get adjusted
with the people and their values during my internship program. Besides, as Banglalink is moving
toward a digital company, away from the conventional telecom operator, thus they have a
tremendous growth opportunity in the near future. Therefore, if I can be a part of this then it would
definitely boost up my career and open up more opportunities.

Banglalink offers placement for fresh graduates without a master’s degree which is a really good
thing about this company. Besides, the remuneration that they offer to the fresh graduates is very
lucrative. Moreover, when someone work for Banglalink, it certainly enhances the value of that
person in the job market and being employed in one of the leading telecom industry in Bangladesh
itself works as a motivation.

10. Re-Do the Internship

If I could re-do my internship then I would have done that in Marketing Department instead of
Corporate and Regulatory Affairs. I did my major in marketing and therefore, if I could do my
internship in that field as well then it would have been a bit easy for me to find a relation between
academic learning and what I practically did. Banglalink does not disclose the department that we
are assigned to before orientation program and for this reason, it is not possible to know where we
are placed. Only I did not face this problem, another intern from my department had the same issue
and our line managers discovered that our CV was not placed accordingly by the HR. Despite of
all this, I did not face much difficulty because I discovered that practical learning is very much
different than academic learning and it does not demand following any strict guidelines from
textbooks.

pg. 21
11. Conclusion
To be true, as an intern my contributions did not bring any significant change in the organization
but the work that I did greatly affected my manager and others, because I acted as a supporting
agent and if I was not there then they would have to do it all by themselves which would take a lot
of their time, but instead they could concentrate on other important issues that would help the
organization in moving towards its future goals. In addition, I got the opportunity to work with
few brilliant minds who has years of industry experience and the skills that I acquired after working
with them could have been difficult to get it from elsewhere.

Photo: Bidding farewell in the last day

pg. 22
12. Reference

1. Anon., 2018. Banglalink. [Online]

Available at: https://www.banglalink.net/en/about-us/about-banglalink
[Accessed 30 April 2018].
2. Mini, A., 2017. Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd., s.l.: s.n.

pg. 23
13. Appendix

pg. 24
Journal 1

Week 1, Journal 1 (14th January to 18th January)

We are batch AIP 1801 (Advanced Internship Program) of Banglalink Digital Communications
Ltd. On the first day, 10th January, we had our orientation program which was conducted by
Ruhul Amin Niloy and Maisha Binte Abdullah who are the members of Talent Acquisition
Team. They showed us a slideshow, gave a brief idea of what Banglalink is about, told us about
the dos and don’ts and also gave us some tips on how to survive the next 12 weeks. After we
were done with our orientation, we took a group selfie that was uploaded in their official
facebook page. Then we were taken to take the picture for our ID card. There, a funny thing
happened with me, when it was my turn to take the photo. Erik Aas, the CEO of the organization
was passing by and when he saw us he came to me, put his hand around my shoulder and said
candidly ‘Hey! Let’s take a picture together’, and everyone started saying ‘Oh, your lucky guy’.

Next day was our first official office day so we didn’t have much to do. We got our temporary
ID cards and spent most of the time knowing each other. There I also met my fellow interns and
got to know which department I was assigned to and also about my line manager. I was assigned
to Corporate and Regulatory Affairs (CORA) headed by Taimur Rahman, there are also sub
divisions and my division was Policy. CORA have a total of four interns including me. An
official sim was given to me with an allowance of 1000TK where the office will contact me. The
interns were asked to open whatsapp in that number to communicate among themselves but
beside we also opened a facebook group chat as we are more active on messenger than other
chats. The name of my line manager is Abu Nazam Md Tanveer Hossain, he is a very helpful
and jolly person; never gave me too much pressure and before assigning a task always ask me if I
can do it, moreover never hesitate to explain me twice or thrice if I don’t understand something.

The first three days I had no work as everyone was busy in preparing 4G license application
because 14th January was the last day of submission and CORA is responsible to look into this
matter. But on 11th I was asked to look into few pages to find if there is any mistake and on 13th
before the bosses start for Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to
submit the application we all took a picture where Jannatul Akmam, Nusrat Sharif and Tanvir
Ahmed, the other interns in my department, were also included. In later days a laptop and email
pg. 25
ID was assigned to me and I was also taught how to photocopy, scan and send the scanned items
to email addresses. I was also taught how to shred papers which is nothing but to put the papers
in a machine that will cut it into smaller pieces. At first I was shocked to see why do we have to
shred papers, then Wazed bhaiya, a member of CORA, gave me a rational explanation. He said
that they shred papers because sometimes there are confidential information which don’t want to
leak.

pg. 26
Journal 2

Week 2, Journal 2 (21st January to 25th January)

On the first day of the second week, Wazed bhaiya gave us a task to complete. He distributed a
list of districts of Bangladesh equally among four of us and told us to go to the official PBS
(Pally Biduth Samity) website of those districts and collect the AGM and Finance manager’s
mobile phone number and enter it to an excel file. Banglalink have thousands of towers around
the country but many of them are registered under different name as Banglalink was formerly
known as Sheba, later it was under Orascom and then Vimplecom which now became Veon that
is operating with the name Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd.

A percentage of tax has to be given to the Bangladesh government for the towers but as per a
new law five percent of the total tax given will be refunded to the organization at the end of the
year. But Banglalink is not being able to enjoy this luxury because the towers are registered
under different names and therefore to enjoy this additional benefit the organization has decided
to change the name of its towers. As a part of this process, we had to arrange the number of the
PBS AGMs, call them up and take the number of the Billing Supervisor who will change the
name to Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd in the monthly bill copy, provided the
organization have done all the paper works. At the end of the year when the organization submits
the bill copy under the name Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd it will get five percent tax
refund. Our next task was to call up the Billing Supervisor and confirm them that we are done
with the paper works and have submitted the documents, also we have the permission from the
ministry and REB chairman and that now they have to change the name before the bill for the
month of January is printed.

Wazed bhaiya taught us how to talk and handle the matter because most of them would not want
to talk, besides many are from outside Dhaka and as it is a government office we may not like
their behavior or their way of talking. However, still we have to manage and convince them to
confirm us that they have actually changed the name, also most will say that the bill for the
month of January is already printed and in that case we have to convince them to change the
name and print it again. We started calling up and continued throughout the week as the list was
long, moreover we had to spent a lot of time in some cases.
pg. 27
Journal 3

Week 3, Journal 3 (28th January to 1st February)

On Sunday 28th January, I took a leave from the office as I had to go to the university to
complete the payment, collect forwarding letter from CPC and transcript. My line manager
Tanveer bhaiya, who also happens to be the senior manager for CORA was very busy with 4G
license therefore in the meantime Wazed bhaiya who was responsible to change the name of the
towers asked us interns to help him complete the project until we get any task from our line
managers.

On Monday Wazed bhaiya told us that he found few PBS offices which did not change the name
despite of confirming us that they did. There are on an average four to five Zonal offices under
each PBS. He suspected that maybe the zonal offices confirmed that they changed the name in
the bill copy so the PBS in turn assured us but in reality some of them didn’t do their work. He
told us to call up the billing supervisor again and take the number of those zonal offices’ billing
supervisor, he had the list beforehand. We went back to work and started calling up again. After
collecting all the numbers, we started calling zonal offices’ BS to confirm. Bhaiya beforehand
briefed us how to tackle them and convince them to do the job in the soonest time possible.
Some of them told us that they don’t have the permission or didn’t get any papers that will ask
them to change the name. He told us to leave those cases to him and continue with the rest.

We continued with phone calls for the rest of the week. But sometimes in between Tanveer
bhaiya, who is my line manager, gave me some documents and letters related to the license to
type and print, or some documents to scan and send it to him. Besides, I also got to do some data
entries in excel files.

pg. 28
Journal 4

Week 4, Journal 4 (4th February to 8th February)

On the first day of fourth week, we were still left with calling some of the zonal offices of PBS
to confirm if they have done their job. We called them and took their confirmation on that day.
Tanveer bhaiya, who is my line manager, wanted to give me some work but as I was busy he told
me to inform him when I am done with the current work. On second day, I told Tanveer bhaiya
that I have finished the work and at that time he mailed me an excel file that was already
prepared. He then asked me to add another column and write down the clauses related to 4G
license. There were multiple clauses so it took me the whole day to complete and after I was
done I sent it to Tanveer bhaiya. The next day I didn’t had much work in the morning as Tanveer
bhaiya was busy in a meeting so I decided to help Tanvir Ahmed, another intern, in entering
some datas in an excel file. By noon, Tanveer bhaiya was free, then he mailed me the same excel
file; asked me to add another column and add few more information. I did that work for the rest
of the day. On fourth day, I did scanning, photocopied some documents and also assisted
Tanveer bhaiya in printing some documents in letterheads. Later that day, he asked me to type
some papers for him and after I was done I left as Tanveer bhaiya told me to leave early because
Khaleda Zia’s verdict was scheduled to be delivered the next day. On Thursday, 8th February, the
former premier’s verdict was delivered so fearing some unrest on the road I took a day off.

pg. 29
Journal 5

Week 5, Journal 5 (10th February to 15th February)

On Sunday, 10th February, Sakina apu, who is also one of my boss, gave my team member
Jannatul Akmam to summarize the policies of Veon, the parent company of Banglalink Digital
Communications Ltd, which contains around 17 chapters. And as I didn’t have much work that
time so I helped Akmam completing the task. Later that day, apu also gave me to type a letter for
her that will be sent to BTRC and in between I also made some printouts and scanned necessary
document for Tanveer bhaiya. The next day, Sakina apu asked me to write a letter for her and
also directed some documents to the dispatch through me. As per the company policy we cannot
send any letter directly to the CEO, it has to go through dispatch. Tuesday was 13 th February, 1st
Falgun, also the auction day for spectrum set by the Government of Bangladesh. Everyone went
to the auction so didn’t had much work that day and almost everyone in the office wore panjabi
and saree, we took pictures all day with everyone and other interns as well. By evening,
everyone was back from the auction, then our whole team took a group picture. In addition, I
also took a picture with my line manager Tanveer bhaiya, Sakina apu and Taimur bhaiya, who
also happens to be the Chief Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Officer (CCRAO). On
Wednesday, my line manager along with other high-ups went to the ministry to complete some
formalities regarding the license. So on that day as well I along with other interns passed leisure
time, and in between I did some photocopy and typed few letters for Sakina apu. Thursday was
the last day of the week and on that day me and one of the intern, Nusrat Sharif, were asked to
summarize a magazine “Bangladesh: Driving Mobile-Enabled Digital Transformation”, as it was
quite big so it took us the whole day to complete the work. In the meantime, I did some scanning
for Marzieh Sabrin apu, who is the Planning and Coordination Administrator for CORA. I also
helped Sakina apu in writing few letters and print them out.

pg. 30
Journal 6

Week 6, Journal 6 (18th February to 22nd February)

On Sunday 18th February, I didn’t had much work to do because everyone was busy with the 4G
license. But in between I scanned some papers which includes both legal papers and letters.
There is a certain way to scan legal documents and I learned it that day. The next day was the 4G
license handover ceremony thus we were free in the office and passed leisure time. On Monday,
Tanveer bhaiya gave me to type some legal papers which I did for him and later printed them.
The license handover ceremony took place in Dhaka Club on that day so almost everybody from
my department went there, that was all for Monday. On Tuesday, we had 4G launching
ceremony at Tiger’s Den 1st floor. Hence, early in the morning everyone including me went
there, our CEO, Erik Aas, along with others who were involved gave speeches and shared their
experiences. That day we had a festive environment in the office. On Wednesday, Tanveer
bhaiya was busy with his work so I had nothing to do in the morning. Later, Mehedi bhaiya who
is the Corporate Responsibility Program manager, asked me to review the ‘White Paper’ that was
scheduled to be launched on Saturday, 24th February in ‘BASIC SOFTEXPO’ in Bangabandhu
International Conference Center. I reviewed the papers, made few copies and gave it to Mehedi
bhaiya. He also told me to make ten copies of it and bring it to BICC on 24th, but later did it
himself when he found out that I will go to BICC directly from home. On Saturday, 24th
February we all went to BASIC SOFTEXPO where Banglalink held a conference and launched
‘The White Paper’. Thursday was the last day of the week. I was free in the morning but later
Tanveer bhaiya asked me to summarize the ‘Bangladesh Digital Security Act’. I looked for 2018
version but couldn’t find it, then downloaded ‘Digital Security Act, 2016’ draft 1 and
summarized it. Tanveer bhaiya told me that it is not possible to finish within one day so I did as
much I could for the rest of the day.

pg. 31
Journal 7

Week 7, Journal 7 (25th February to 1st March)

25th February was Sunday and I continued with summarizing the Digital Security Act. It was
much bigger than I expected. There were 36 sections, each section has around 10-15 subsections
and each subsection have a number of items. The acts were written in legal format so it was
really difficult for me to understand actually what they meant. I took a lot of time to write only
the first few of them, but gradually I picked up speed. I also took help from google if I didn’t
understand any item or any difficult words. That was a busy day for me as I had to do this for the
rest of the day, also in between I scanned few papers and sent some emails. 4G commercial
launch was scheduled the day after so all the employees got a Banglalink T-shirt which they had
to wear, official 4G television commercial was also launched the same day. On Monday,
everyone wore the orange color Banglalink T-shirt but as intern we got a cap. I came to office
and saw everyone standing outside the building waiting for the commercial launch, I also joined
my fellow inters in the crowd. There were TV channels and media personnel all over covering
the news. Finally, the countdown began, the long awaited 4G was commercially launched with a
blast, official 4G television commercial was launched at the same time and I was lucky enough
to witness all these. After everything was over, I came back to work and continued with
summarizing. On Tuesday, as a part of maintaining good relationship with the policy makers, we
were asked to print some letters that congratulated the government officers who got promotions
recently. I along with my team prepared the letters and after doing that work I got back with
summarizing. That day, I finally completed summarizing Digital Security Act and emailed it to
Tanveer bhaiya and Sakina apu. On Wednesday, I again typed few letters printed them and also
did some scanning for Tanveer bhaiya. Later that day I was free, because I recently completed a
big task so they wanted me to pass some free time. But instead I decided to write the journal for
the course BUS498 as I didn’t had the time to write for the past few days. I was free on Thursday
as well, so I wrote another journal. That is how I completed week seven.

pg. 32
Journal 8

Week 8, Journal 8 (4th March to 8th March)

8th March was Sunday and I had little work in hand. Later that day, Sakina apu called me and asked
me to compose a write up on Office Etiquettes that will be required for a research purpose, she
also asked me to make a presentation slide on that same write up. Sakina apu explained me how
to prepare the write up; what to include and what not. After she was done, I started conducting the
research on the internet. In the meantime, Wazed bhaiya came and gave me few documents, he
asked me to make 68 copies out of it by next day. It had to be done by next day because it was
related to changing of the connection name and the job had to be done in the shortest time. Next
day, Monday, I made the copies and it took a good amount of time to complete as the amounts to
be made were too high. By evening, I was done so I called Wazed bhaiya up to inform him. On
the phone, he instructed me to take the signature of the department head as he is out for other work.
I took the signature and by then the office hour was over. On Tuesday, Wazed bhaiya came to me
in the morning and asked me to fill up the documents with necessary seal and information. It took
me the whole day to complete the task and in the mean time I also wrote and printed few letters
for Tanveer bhaiya. When I was done with the task that Wazed bhaiya gave me, I packed them up
and passed it to the dispatch to send it to its designated place. The next day, that was Wednesday,
I could finally start the work that was assigned to me by Sakina apu, she also gave me a deadline
till Tuesday. The whole day I did research and made a draft write up, also in between I scanned
and typed few documents for Tanveer bhaiya. I took a day off on Thursday because I was sick and
had an eye infection.

pg. 33
Journal 9

Week 9, Journal 9 (11th March to 15th March)

Sunday, 11th March, I came to office and continued with the draft write up that Sakina apu gave
me. The whole day went by editing and adding information to the write up. On Monday, 12 th
March, I was almost done with it and started writing the final copy. By midday I was done with
the write up and started making PowerPoint slides of it. It took me quite some time because I had
to choose the templates and that put me in a dilemma as it had to look professional. Finally, I
selected one and got back to work. I finished half of it on Monday and kept the rest for the next
day. On Tuesday, I started the work early morning and was done with it by lunch break. After
lunch, I asked by fellow interns to see if it looks good as a proof check. After getting their green
signal, I mailed both write up and presentation slide to Sakina apu. Around 30 minutes later, she
said to everyone that it is made by me and that she liked it very much, apu also said that she will
show this to everyone. That was a moment of joy for me since getting appreciation from boss
feels really good. By Wednesday, I was done with my assigned work, so in the morning I passed
quite a leisure time. As I was free so others gave me small tasks that would help them, like
scanning or copying few documents. Later that day, Tanveer bhaiya asked me to type few letters
and print them for him. On Thursday, everyone from my department went to Sylhet for some
official work. As my department was empty so I didn’t had any work that day. I went to other
floors and asked them about their work, experience etc. I also talked with the SAPS to share their
experience, how to secure a good job and what does an employer look for in a fresh graduate.
They gave me few tips that would help me when I will be actually looking for a job. That is how
I spent week 9 at Banglalink.

pg. 34
Journal 10

Week 10, Journal 10 (18th March to 22nd March)

On 18th March, Sunday, most of the employees from my department did not come to the office as
they went for official visit to Sylhet last week, Thursday. Therefore, I spent a leisure time that day
except that I did some printings and photo copied some documents. Monday, 19th March, I did not
had much to do in the morning, but later that day Wazed bhaiya gave me some task that would
help him complete his work quicker. First, he asked me to make fifty-eight copies of the documents
regarding the connections. It took me quite some time because the numbers to be made were quite
high and there were other people waiting for the copying machine. My team member Nusrat Sharif
also helped me in making the copies. The next day, Tuesday, I came early in the morning and
completed making the last few copies that were left. Then, I went to Wazed bhaiya to show him if
it was alright. Later, bhaiya showed me how to fill up the documents and asked me to do it for the
rest. I completed the task which consumed a lot of time, also gave seal in them and took the
signature of the department head. On Wednesday, I packed them up and put address in them
accordingly, and sent them to the dispatch. After lunch break, when Tanveer bhaiya saw that I was
free, he gave me to type a letter and print it in letter head for him. As I did a big task for Sakina
apu few days ago, so she decided to give me a free time and did not give any work that week
except for scanning few documents. For that reason, I spent week ten quite smoothly, without
much pressure. On Thursday, none of the intern had any work except for Nusrat Sharif. So we
talked about each other’s aim and what we will do next. Together we applied for jobs online and
also discussed how to prepare for them. Tanveer bhaiya also joined us and gave us some
suggestions and tips that would make our road in the real world a bit easier. That is how I spent
week ten, which was also happened to be my second last week in Banglalink.

pg. 35