Ericssion urges 3G supported frequency in Bangladesh

6 May 2009:

The world’s biggest mobile network maker, called on Bangladesh on Wednesday to issue 3G licences so operators can launch mobile broadband services there.

Mobile broadband services, which require the licensing of the 2100 MHz spectrum band for third-generation services, would give many more people access to the Internet as Bangladesh has a high number of mobile phones and comparatively few fixed lines.

“If the government releases appropriate spectrum for 3G, which is the proven global mainstream for the mobile broadband, then we are confident that it will contribute significantly to the country’s GDP growth,” Arun Bansal, managing director of the Ericsson Bangladesh, told a news confrence.

The mobile phone sector contributed 6.2 percent of Bangladesh’s GDP in 2007. Research firm Deloitte & Touche have estimated that mobile communication has raised GDP growth in Bangladesh by 0.12 percent for each 1 percent increase in penetration.

“It is estimated that there are over 6 million mobile internet users and already today 15 percent of the mobile handsets used in Bangladesh market are 3G enabled,” Bansal said.

Bangladesh’s mobile sector has grown rapidly, with the number of users reaching around 46 million at the end of March from 200,000 in 2001, compared with only 1.37 million fixed-line phones.

Analysts have predicted that by 2011 the number of mobile subscribers could top 70 million, which is nearly half the country’s population.

There are six cellphone carriers in Bangladesh, of which five are foreign operators. Grameenphone, controlled by Norway’s Telenor leads the market with 21 million subscribers followed by Egyptian Orascom Telecom’s Banglalink.

Although nearly half of the country’s population is still below the poverty line, the country has been one of the world’s fastest growing cellular markets.

Telecom analysts have said that the 3G broadband services would enable people to get easy access to information on health, education, agriculture and job opportunities.

source: yahoo news

Discussion about WiMax in Bangladesh: BanglaLion to start WiMax services soon

BanglaLion is starting WiMax services in Bangladesh from 1st of June, 2009. Now the tension grows,

How will be the service?
What will be the speed? Will it be dedicated?
How much affordable it would be?
Whether it will be available in our area?
What value add it will do in terms of speed, affordability & availability when comparing to existing services (GP/Citycell internet and other Internet services)?

Although the packages have been published, the speed and necessary cost failed to satisfy many of us who were eagerly waiting for its successful operations in the country. Just to reiterate below is the packages,

BanglaLion WiMax Service Package:
1. Home User/Individual for Tk 600/Month
2. Corporate (5-10 users) for Tk 550/Month
3. Corporate (10 users above) for Tk 500/Month
4. Day User (Max 3GB) for Tk 45/Day
5. Night Package (12 AM to 9 AM =9 hrs) for Tk 300/Month

If you want to register, pls click here: http://www.banglalion.com.bd/BDLION/index.php

BanglaLion contact information:

BanglaLion Communications
House # 67, Road # 1, Block # I, Banani
Dhaka-1213, Bangladesh
Phone : (880 2) 8814059-60
Fax : (880 2) 9885647

From their website,

Phone :036-99350033, 036-99350000
Email:
info@banglalion.com.bd
corporate@banglalion.com.bd
dealers@banglalion.com.bd
services@banglalion.com.bd

You can post your comments/feelings/thoughts about WiMax in Bangladesh and recent operations by BanglaLion Communications.

Updates:

31-May-2009:
BanglaLion is not going to start WiMAX from 1st June, it may take 2/3 months more to start officially, this is due to technical issues and setup. However they expect to go with test-run from 1st June.

On the other hand Augere is having frequency issues and then can only start trial after AUgust.

3G in Bangladesh

We have been also hearing about 3G in Bangladesh for quite long time by some media sources and seminars on different times, still we are not very sure about its implementation.

3G:

International Telecommunications Union (ITU): IMT-2000 consists of six radio interfaces

W-CDMA also known as UMTS
CDMA2000
TD-CDMA / TD-SCDMA
UWC (often implemented with EDGE)
DECT

3G Considerations:

Speed
Minimum speed of 2 Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle

Service
Converged fixed, mobile, voice, data, Internet and multimedia services. One of its key visions is to provide seamless global roaming, enabling users to move across borders while using the same number and handset

Flexibility
Providing a highly flexible system, capable of supporting a wide range of services and applications. The IMT-2000 standard accommodates five possible radio interfaces based on three different access technologies (FDMA, TDMA and CDMA)

Affordability
3G systems had to be affordable, in order to encourage their adoption by consumers and operators

Compatibility
3G has to be compatible with existing systems. 2G systems, such as the GSM standard

Design
3G must be easily expandable in order to allow for growth in users, coverage areas, and new services, with minimum initial investment

More info: http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/imt-2000/technology.html#Cellular Standards for the Third Generation

 

We already have CDMA2000 in the country, Citycell and other PSTN operators are providing mobile broadband services by CDMA2000 technology. For recent few years our mobile phones has also has got the technology of supporting 3G technology, however we are still stuck at the fact of creating guidelines/ policies etc.

When will we actually get this service?

BanglaLion to start WiMax operation from 1st June in Bangladesh

 

Banglalion Communications has officially announced about launching WiMax operations in Bangladesh from 1st of June 2009.

It says on the advertisement on Daily Ittefaq that the minimum speed would be 128 kbps (16.0 KB) up to several Mbps including coporate business offer.

BanglaLion will offer several tariff plans at a minimum 128 kbps speed :

1. Home User/Individual for Tk 600/Month
2. Corporate (5-10 users) for Tk 550/Month
3. Corporate (10 users above) for Tk 500/Month
4. Day User (Max 3GB) for Tk 45/Day
5. Night Package (12 AM to 9 AM =9 hrs) for Tk 300/Month

If you want to register, pls click here: http://www.banglalion.com.bd/BDLION/index.php

Contact of BanglaLion:
I got below one from my previous post,

BanglaLion Communications
House # 67, Road # 1, Block # I, Banani
Dhaka-1213, Bangladesh
Phone : (880 2) 8814059-60
Fax : (880 2) 9885647

Recently from their site,

Phone :036-99350033, 036-99350000
Email:
info@banglalion.com.bd
corporate@banglalion.com.bd
dealers@banglalion.com.bd
services@banglalion.com.bd

I am eagerly waiting to see its services.

This post has been locked for posting comments. Pls follow my new thread to continue discussion on this topic.