Warid Telecom Bangladesh

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In December 2005, Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) awarded the sixth nationwide mobile phone license to Warid Telecom, part of United Arab Emirates’ Abhu Dhabi Group. The license allowed Warid Telecom to build and operate a mobile network in Bangladesh for 15 years. Warid Telecom paid US$ 50 million in license fee and provided US$ 3 million in bank guarantee fees to BTRC. Warid Telecom won the international tender conducted by BRTC in October 2005. Warid Telecom was selected because of its competitive call charge, quick rollout plan and promise to invest in other sectors. In September 2005, Abhu Dhabi Group signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangladesh government’s Board of Investment committing to invest around $1 billion in various sectors in the country including telecom, tourism and pharmaceuticals. Omniah of Jordan was the only other bidder competing for the license. The other five mobile operators in Bangladesh are - Norway's Telenor ASA subsidiary GrameenPhone, Telecom Malaysia Bhd.'s AKTEL, Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding's Banglalink, Singapore Telecommunication’s Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd., and state-owned Teletalk. Warid Telecom invested US$ 400 million in 2006 to build the initial network and infrastructure to launch its mobile service. The company planned to invest another US$ 300 million in the next two years to further expand and enhance their network. On May 10th 2007, Warid Telecom launched commercial operations, with a GSM Mobile Cellular network covering 64 districts of the country and encompassing 70% of the mobile phone using population- the single largest launch the country has ever seen. On 19th July, 2007 Warid Telecom announced in major dailies of having achieved one million subscribers in the first of 70 days of operation. In January 2010, Bharti Airtel Limited of India acquired a 70% stake in Warid Telecom for US$300 million. After the purchase Warid Telecom became Air-Tel(BD). The investment of US$54.5 million was calculated based on the share of Air-Tel(BD) in the total number of lines in Bharti Airtel Limited of India. Project Company Name not available Bangladesh company website - http://www.waridtel.com.bd/ In 2007, Warid committed to invest US$300 million over the next three years to reach 10 million subscribers in 2009.