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Mobile, land phone firms asked to roll out networks in hill

Md Hasan
The telecoms regulator yesterday asked mobile and land phone operators to start rolling out their networks in municipal areas of three hill districts as early as possible, a decision industry insiders say will benefit around 6 Ikah people out of 14 lakh in the region.
"You are now free to offer their services in limited areas of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban districts," Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Manzurul Alam told operators at a meeting in Dhaka.
The BTRC chief also asked six mobile and some land phone operators to follow the guideline on providing services in the areas, once troubled by tribal insurgency that ended following the December 2, 1997 peace accord between the govern-ment and Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity.
The chief adviser last month made the announcement to allow mobile and private land phone operations in municipal areas of the three hill districts.
Under the BTRC-fixed guideline the mobile operators have been asked to share common infrastructure to offer services instead of setting separate infrastructure.
The government restricted the use of mobile and private land phones in the hill dis-
tricts, fearing that network connection in the region might be a serious threat to the law and order situation there.
Telecoms industry insiders hope the government's decision to allow wireless telephone in the three districts will boost the economic activities in the region of about 13,184 sq km area, which is approximately one-tenth of the total area of Bangladesh.
Welcoming the government decision, the country's leading mobile phone operator Garmeenphone's Chief Executive Officer Anders Jensen said, "The regulator has issued a guideline and now we will be getting ready to provide coverage in the region as soon as possible."
"We are also looking for-ward to sharing infrastructure with other mobile operators in the region," he said.
Echoing Jensen, Muneer Farooqui, chief executive officer of Warid Telecom, said,"Warid is ready to launch its services at the earliest possible time in compliance with the guidelines."
The cellular phone companies now have their network coverage in 61 districts out of 64. The mobile phone services were introduced in the country more than one and a half decades ago.
According to the latest figures released by the BTRC, up to March 2008, the number of total mobile phone subscribers reached 38.93 million, up by 68 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. The total mobile phone subscriber
was 23.38 million by the end of March 2007.
A stiff competition is set to loon large in the three districts since both the land phone and mobile phone operators offer wireless telephony services.
"The hill districts could be a battle field for mobile and land phone operators to get new
customers," said a high official of a mobile phone operator.
"We are happy that the people of the areas are getting phone connections," said Masrur Nawaz Waiz, head of operation and coordination forRankstel.
hasan@thedailystar.net