Grameenphone Ltd, the country’s leading cell phone operator, has added almost one million new subscribers in the third quarter of 2009, pushing up the total number of subscribers close to 22 million.

This was disclosed when the company made public its latest financial situation at a press conference at its Gulshan office on Thursday. ‘The GP has added almost one million new subscribers in the third quarter of 2009, and now has close to 22 million subscribers,’ said the CEO of Grameenphone, Oddvar Hesjedal.

The GP, however, crossed the 22 million mark on 1 October. Acquisition of 8,22,000 new subscribers in the third quarter was driven by a start-up price campaign on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr and also after the holy month of Ramadan, he said. The revenue for the quarter was more than Tk 1,650 crore, compared to about Tk 1,500 crore in the same period last year, indicating a 10% growth, said Hesjedal. The revenue from increase in the number of subscribers was, however, partially offset by reduced local and international call rates.

Expressing his satisfaction with the growth in the number of subscribers, Hesjedal said, ‘The total number of cell phone users has just crossed the 50 million mark, and of them GP alone serves the largest share of 44 per cent.’ The average revenue from each user increased by 6 per cent compared to same period last year, mainly as a result of raised tariff. Hesjedal pointed out that reduction or withdrawal of the SIM tax of Tk 800 would help the economy to recover sooner because internet and telecommunications generate more economic activities and speed up development.

After the formal approval for GP’s Initial Public Offering by the Securities and Exchange Commission in August, the IPO lottery was concluded amidst huge and unprecedented participation from investors. In total 312,501 shares were allocated, of which 2,77,757 were for resident Bangladeshis, 34,720 for non-resident Bangladeshis and 24 for Mutual Funds. The company’s officials said that trading of Grameenphone’s shares at the stock exchanges of Chittagong and Dhaka is expected to commence in November, subject to approval by the regulators and stock exchange authorities.

-New Age