Grameenphone further strengthen the service quality after sim ban

Highlights:

• Share of optical fibre cable connected Grameenphone towers increased from 17% to 27% in 10 months
• The company is working to increase optical fibre connected mobile towers to 34% by the end of this year
• Its number of towers increased from 18,301 to 19,719
• The company will sign agreements with Banglalink, Summit Communication and Edotco to share towers
• It has completed negotiations with Robi to share infrastructure

Grameenphone, which put emphasis on network expansion along with its regular upgradation work at the end of last year, has further sped up its work to ensure its quality of services since the telecom regulator imposed a ban on its SIM sale in June this year.

The largest telecom network operator in the country increased the share of its mobile towers connected by fibre optic cables from 17% at the end of last year to 27% in November this year, according to sources at the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

The company aims to connect 34% of all of its mobile towers by optical fibre cable by the end of this year, said officials at Grameenphone.

Grameenphone's 4G internet download speed was the slowest – far below the standard of 7Mbps, according to the quality of service (QoS) drive tests conducted by the BTRC in the divisional cities across the country last year. When the telecom regulator launched similar tests in November this year, Grameenphone's download speed was around 17Mbps – the highest among all the telecom service providers in the country.

The mobile operator invested Tk1,230 crore to increase the number of its towers from 18,301 at the end of last year to 19,719 in September this year.

"Following the QoS drive tests last year, the regulatory body directed us to improve the areas where our network was comparatively poor. As per their directives and our network expansion plan, we have improved our services in all the areas by August to reach the required threshold," said Hossain Sadat, senior director (corporate affairs) of Grameenphone.

After taking vigorous measures to improve its services, the company submitted a written report to the telecom regulator on its work plan to get back the approval for SIM sale.

The company's pledges regarding network improvement include – connecting mobile towers by optical fibre cables, rolling out the spectrum procured in 2021 and increasing the number of mobile towers.

Besides, the company is in the final stage to sign agreements with Banglalink, Summit Communication and Edotco for tower sharing, said Hossain Sadat.

"Under these agreements, we will be able to use Banglalink towers where we do not have ours and Banglalink will be able to use ours where they do not have their infrastructure," said Hossain Sadat.

The telecom operator has also completed all negotiations with Robi to share each other's infrastructure for the sake of network improvement, he added.