Bangladesh: Grameen Telecom

Presented to-:V.Subramanyam
Presented by-:Anurag

Ashish Yadav

Ashwani Maurya

Atul Pratap Singh

L1S2-sec-C
Agenda

 Introduction
 Business model
 Foundation
 Infrastructure
 Human capacity
 Policy
 Enterprise
 Content
 Conclusion
Introduction:
Grameen Telecom’s village phones

 Grameen Phone is a commercial operation providing cellular

services in both urban and rural areas of Bangladesh, with
approximately 40,000 customers.
 A pilot programmed of Grameen Phone, through the Grameen
Bank and a wholly owned subsidiary called Grameen Telecom.
 It is enabling women members of the Grameen Bank’s revolving
credit system to retail cellular phone services in rural areas.
Foundation

 Grameen Phone is a commercial operation providing cellular

services in both urban and rural areas of Bangladesh.
 founded by three visionaries: 1- Iqbal Quadir, an investment
analyst who saw the role that telecommunications connectivity
can play in poverty reduction
 2- Partnership with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the
Grameen Bank
 3- Khalid Shams, Deputy M. D. of the Grameen Bank
Business Model

 Telephones in the Grameen Telecom Village Phone

programme bring in 3 times as much revenue as urban cellular
phones.
 GSM cell phone technology is a high-cost solution for
universal access in rural areas.
 Revenues per phone of $93 a month in March 2001,twice as
much as GP’s urban mobile phones.
 Rural phones represent less than 2% of phones on GP’s
network and bring in only 8% of total revenue.
Infrastructure

 Bangladesh’s 65,000 villages by 2000,but only 4543 in

March,2001.
 Primary constraint-BTTB
 Second constraint- WLL by Sheba and BRTA
 GSM-5 kilometers and WLL -50 kilometers and better
bandwidth at a lower cost.
Map of GrameenPhone Coverage
Human Capacity

 According to Grameen Bank staff, out of the 2,300,000 Grameen

Bank borrowers in Bangladesh, 95% are women who lack any

collateral to borrow money from conventional

banks.
 82% of the Grameen Bank member phone users were recorded
as women
facility
 Electricity - Widespread access to electricity in rural
Bangladesh enables the phone operator to recharge
batteries or power the phone
 Solar power
 Call Charges & Profit – Grameen Phone charges
Grameen Telecom Tk.2 ($.043 USD) per minute for a
local call at peak hours, whereas urban GP subscribers
pay Tk.4 ($.086) per minute. For NWD (national) and
ISD (international)
Policy

 Bangladesh’s telecom regulatory regime is both antiquated and

anti-competitive.
 Scarcity forces Bangladeshis to pay large sums both legal and
illegal.
 When BTTB launches its own GSM mobile network became
disadvantage to GP.
Enterprise

 Credit and bill collection services provided by Grameen Bank and

the infrastructure and urban network provided by Grameen Phone.

 Discount by 50% the rate charged to GT for a phone call.

 Competitor in rural BRTA and Sheba.

Content

 The Average consumer savings for a phone call from a village

to Dhaka ranges from 2.6% to 9.8% of the user’s mean monthly
household income
 Most important function of village phone is to facilitate
remittances from relatives
 Local business people and farmers use it to reduce cost, get
better prices for their products.
 Conclusion
Grameen telecoms village phones might
already serve all of Bangladesh 65000
rural villages. The high revenue
generated by the shared axes business
model suggest how powerful market
drivers of such approach can be and as
a development centered If strategies
the village phone program promises
board development benefits including
enhanced productivity and social
welfare and new sources of rural
income