The number of mobile subscribers in December rose about 6 per cent year-on-year to 18.10 crore, data from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission showed recently..
This translates to customer acquisitions of telecom operators continuing to grow surpassing the country's population figure, or in other words, many are now using multiple SIMs.
The industry lost around 30 lakh customers during the March-June period in 2020 as the country went into a full lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Since then, the number of users has been growing almost every month.
Similarly, the number of internet users rose 10.73 per cent year-on-year to 12.38 crore in December. It was 11.18 crore in the same month in 2020.
Currently, 11.37 crore subscribers use internet through handheld devices while the rest rely on internet service providers and public switched telephone network operators.
However, the number of both mobile and internet subscribers dropped in December last year compared to that of a month earlier as the operators lost about 5 lakh mobile customers and internet users dropped by 28 lakh.
Robi Axiata, the second-largest operator, which crossed the 5-crore subscriber landmark in September 2020, grew by 5.30 per cent in December last year to reach 5.36 crore customers. During the same month in 2020, it was 5.09 crore.
The operator lost about 1 lakh customers in December last year compared to that a month earlier.
According to Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer at Robi Axiata, customer figure fluctuations were a normal and regular phenomenon in the industry.
"However, the extent of churn and add back observed clearly indicates that we have a hyper-competitive market. Such a scenario only increases the overall cost of acquisition for smaller operators," he said.
Third-placed Banglalink grew 5.6 per cent year-on-year in December to take the number of customers to 3.72 crore.
It lost only about 20,000 customers in December compared to a month earlier.
"2021 was a year of significant growth for Banglalink despite several challenges. Our Ookla-certified fastest 4G network powered by new spectrum was the key to the expansion of our customer base," said Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer of the operator.
Apart from this, he said its wide portfolio of digital services played a significant contribution. "It is encouraging to see our targeted investments yielding such good performances throughout the year," he said.
Market leader Grameenphone's total mobile phone customers jumped 5.56 per cent to 8.34 crore in December from 7.90 crore in December 2020.
However, the operator lost over 5 lakh customers in December compared to November. According to Md Hasan, head of external communications of Grameenphone, the operator converted all its towers into 4G in 2021 in order to ensure a better customer experience, resulting in continuous customer growth.
"In addition, the company is continuously investing in modernising its network through rolling out of new towers, deploying additional spectrum to 10,000 plus sites and improving its service quality significantly," he said.
For state-owned Teletalk, which lags behind all the private operators by a big margin, 2021 was a year to celebrate as it added about 17 lakh customers in the past 12 months.
It grew by 35 per cent to reach about 67 lakh customers year-on-year in December. While other private operators lost customers in December compared to November, Teletalk added over 1 lakh customers.
Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar attributed the growth to Teletalk's network expansion and infrastructural development.
"We have taken our network to many remote areas and invested heavily on infrastructure development, which paid off well," he said.
About the operator's weak market position compared to other private operators, he said Teletalk's investment was meagre compared to Grameenphone or Robi.
"So, now we want to invest more and take the service to remote areas where other operators do not provide services," he said.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/telecom/news/mobile-internet-users-grow-2021-2957756