Inter. Business Management M.B.A. (International) /1 CHAPTER-1 Introduction 1.0. Introduction: Grameen Phone has been successful to build a superior image in comparison to the other operators. In other words, GP has a clear advantage over the competitors. It has some additional features in comparison to its competitors. It is playing a vital role to increase the subscribers and GP users are mostly satisfied with the initial price of GP connections and handsets. Because, before GP s introduction to the market, mobile phones were totally out of reach to the major part of the current market. Moreover, Grameen Phone subscribers are happy with the country wide network. In spite of this, GP users are not satisfied with service of the company. Considering the importance of customer satisfaction, this project was designed to assess the satisfaction level o GP s subscribers. If GP does not take care of these dissatisfactions and other company enters the market with similar offers, it will be difficult for them to keep current market share intact. A survey was thus conducted focusing on different customer satisfaction factors of Grameen Phone. Many important factors are acting behind this overall dissatisfaction. Significant dissatisfactions were observed in the factors like quality of air time and network availability, service of helpline, service of info centers, high billing rate, and so on. Customer satisfaction was observed in the areas like initial price, wide network etc. Most importantly, a significant portion of the GP subscribers were found not fully loyal toward the company. The findings of this survey have recently reduced this problem to a limited extent. At this moment GP is trying to reach the customers with various promotional activities and are attempting to make their brand presence felt. Through their significant advances in Bangladesh, they are moving ahead on the track to achieve their goals.
Inter. Business Management M.B.A. (International) /2 June 2009 June 2010 June 2011 June 2012 June 2013 The Increasing Scenario of Mobile Phone Users in Bangladesh Year Total number of Mobile Phone Active Subscribers 43.72 million 46.7 million 59.69 million 66.98 million 96.434 million Table-1 Source: www.btrc.gov.bd/newsandevents/mobile_phone_subscribers 1.1. Preamble: Bangladesh is a developing country where per capita income is very low. Very few people have access to telecommunication and in this situation Grameen Phone (GP), the market leader in the mobile telecommunication industry of Bangladesh, started (GP) their operation. GP with endeavor to provide the best possible technical quality, customer service, and coverage even in the rural areas at the most favorable prices, to as many customers possible in Bangladesh. They are on the mission to develop one GSM cellular mobile communications network in Bangladesh designed with latest computer assisted design technology. They started their business approximately 11 years and since then, they have been operating in the market for a long time. During this time GP went for diverse types of mergers as well as acquisitions. They gained success from the very beginning of their maneuver and were capable enough to hold the success year after year. Their main competitors are BANGLA LINK, ROBI, AIRTEL, CITYCELL & TELETALK. One of the strongest sides of GP is its customer s service and relationship. 1.2 History: Before Grameen Phones inception, the phone was for a selected urbanized few. The cell phone was lavishness: a flouting accessory for the select privileged. The mass could not chew over mobile telephony as being part of their lives. Grameen Phone started its journey with the Village Phone program: a pioneering initiative to empower rural women of Bangladesh and then their name translates to Rural phone. GP is a joint venture between Bangladesh and Norway. Major shareholders were Telenor (68%) and Grameen Telecom (32%). In 2008 it went public and recently
Inter. Business Management M.B.A. (International) /3 the shareholder status of the company is Telenor (61.2%), Grameen Telecom (28.8%), Institute (5%), and Public (5%). Telenor is the state owned telecommunication company of Norway which has operations in different countries of the world. On the other hand, Grameen Telecom is the sister concern of Grameen Bank and one of the biggest Non Government Organizations (NGO) of Bangladesh. The graphical outlook of their contribution is given below: Figure 1- The graphical illustration of the shareholders Grameen Phone was awarded license to operate as a mobile telecommunication service provider in Bangladesh on 28 th November, 1996. It officially launched its network on 26 March, 1997 Independence Day of Bangladesh and went into commercial operation on 15 journeys in Bangladesh at a glance: Table 2- Dates and Facts for Grameenphone Date Operation June,1998 GP started its services in the port city of Chittagong, the second largest city in the country. Cell to cell coverage in the Dhaka Chittagong corridor also enabled GP to introduce its service in a number of other districts along the way. September, 1999 GP started its services in the port city of Chittagong, the second largest city in the country. Cell to cell coverage in the Dhaka Chittagong corridor also enabled GP to introduce its service in a number of other districts along the way.
Inter. Business Management M.B.A. (International) /4 June, 2000 GP started its services in Sylhet, Barisal and Rajshahi, bringing all six divisional headquarters under the coverage of its network. The service in Barisal region was started after the microwave link between Khulna and Chittagong was completed. August, 2003 After six years of operation, GP has more than one million subscribers. November, 2005 GP continues to being the largest mobile phone operator of Bangladesh with more than 5 million subscribers November, 2006 After almost 10 years of operation GP has over 10 million subscribers. GP has built one of the most extensive infrastructures of Bangladesh and is a major contributor to the development of the national economy. December 31, 2007 GP becomes one of the largest private sector investments in the country with an accumulated investment of USD $1.7 billion up to December 2007. GP is also one the largest taxpayers in the country, having contributed nearly BDT 5000 Crore in direct and indirect taxes to the Government Exchequer over the years of which is amount, BDT 1670 Crore was paid in 2005 alone. January, 2008 Launched BlackBerry first time in Bangladesh for business segment. August, 2008 Launched Bill-Pay Service. January& February, 2009 Launch of Phone Back Up, In-flight Roaming Service and GP Internet September & October 2009 April 2010 July 2010 Launch of Grameen Phone Handset and study line service. Launch of Internet Minipack. Shift to GP's new Headquarter, GP House and Launch of new Network Campaign. At the end of December, 2013, it has found that so far GP invested more than BDT 26,797 crore to build the network infrastructure and becomes one of the largest taxpayers in the country, having contributed more than BDT 32,153 crore in direct and indirect taxes to the Government Exchequer over the years. Now GP has more than 5000 full and temporary employees and
Inter. Business Management M.B.A. (International) /5 300,000 people are directly dependent on GP for their livelihood, working for the GP dealers, retailers, scratch card outlets, suppliers, vendors, contractors and others. 1.3. Overview of the Industry: Before going to the analytical part of the paper, some description about the mobile phone operators of Bangladesh are provided below to make the reader gain some basic concepts on the industry. The mobile phone market in Bangladesh is consist of six operators where there are 56.36 million subscriber and Grameenphone dominated the market with 43.56% market share which is far higher than its follower Banglalink with 26.51%, Robi with 19.20%, CityCell with 1.89%, Teletalk with 1.13% and Warid with 3.03% (in May, 2010). The other basic description about the operators are given below 1.3.1. Grameenphone: Grameenphone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in November 28, 1996. In March 26, 1997 Grameenphone launched its service on the Independence Day of Bangladesh. Since its inception in March 1997, Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with over 10,000 base stations in more than 5700 locations. Presently, nearly 98 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network. Grameenphone was also the first operator to introduce the pre-paid service in September 1999 (Asif, 2010). As on May 2010, Grameenphone is the largest mobile phone operator of Bangladesh with nearly 44% market share. At present GP offer three (3) types of prepaid packages and a postpaid package. The prepaid package consists of Shohoj, Bondhu and Apon. 1.3.2. Banglalink: When Banglalink entered the Bangladesh telecom industry in February 2005, the scenario changed overnight with mobile telephony becoming an extremely useful and affordable communication tool for people across all segments. Within a year of operation, Banglalink became the fastest growing mobile operator of the
Inter. Business Management M.B.A. (International) /6 country with a growth rate of 257%. This milestone was achieved with innovative and attractive products and services targeting the different market segments; aggressive improvement of network quality and dedicated customer care. As on May, 2010 Banglalink is the 2nd largest mobile operator in the country and we have recently celebrated with 1.6 crore customers with more than 26% market share. This has been achieved in just three and a half years (Asif, 2010). At present Banglalink offer four (4) types of prepaid packages and three (3) types of postpaid packages to the customer. Prepaid packages consist of Banglalink Desh, Banglalink Desh Ak Rate, Banglalink Desh Ak Rate Darun and Banglalink Desh Rongdhanu. And postpaid packages consist of Banglalink Postpaid, Banglalink Business and Banglalink SME. 1.3.3. Robi: It is a joint venture company between Axiata Group Berhad, Malaysia and NTT DOCOMO INC, Japan. Axiata (Bangladesh) Limited, formerly known as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh), commenced its operation in 1997 under the brand name Aktel among the pioneer GSM mobile telecommunications service providers in Bangladesh. Later, on 28th March, 2010 the company started its new journey with the brand name Robi. With its unique ability to develop local insights, Robi creates distinct services with local flavor to remain close to the hearts of its customers. As on May 2010 it has 11 million subscribers with more than 19% market share (Asif, 2010). At present Robi offer five (5) types of prepaid packages and two (2) types of postpaid packages to the customer. Prepaid packages consist of Simple Plan, Normal Plan, Shorol Plan, Extra Simple Plan and Ek Second Tariff Plan. And postpaid packages consist of Simple Plan and Normal Plan. 1.3.4. Warid Telecom: Warid Telecom is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Group & SingTel Group. Abu Dhabi Group entered into a strategic alliance with Singapore Telecom. Subsequent to this transaction in July 2007, telecom giant SingTel acquired 30% percent equity stake in Warid Telecom, Pakistan, for US$758 million. This partnership is part of a strategy to support Warid Telecom s continued growth and to enhance its market position (Asif, 2010). Recently Bharti Airtel of
Inter. Business Management M.B.A. (International) /7 India purchase its major part of the ownership. At present it has over 3 million subscribers with only over 5% percent of market share. At present Warid offer four (4) types of prepaid packages and a postpaid package to the customer. Prepaid packages consist of Basic Plan, My Favorite, Day Talker and Super Saver. 1.3.5. City Cell: City Cell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is the first mobile communications company of Bangladesh. It is the only CDMA network operator in the country. City Cell is currently owned by SingTel with 45% stake and the rest 55% owned by Pacific Group and Far East Telecom. By the end of 2007 City Cell had refurbished its old brand identity and introduced a new logo and corporate identity; the new logo is very reminiscent of the old logo. However the slogan has remained unchanged "because we care". After May 2010 City Cell has nearly 2 million subscribers with only over 3 percent market share (Asif, 2010). At present City Cell a prepaid packages and a postpaid packages to the customer. 1.3.6. Teletalk Bangladesh Limited: Teletalk Bangladesh Limited was incorporated on 26 December, 2004 as a public limited company under the Companies Act, 1994 with an authorized capital oftk.20, 000,000,000 being the only government sponsored mobile telephone Company in the country. On the same day the Company obtained Certificate of Commencement of Business. It is the only governmental mobile phone operator of the country. At May 2010 had over 1 million subscribers with 2 percent market share (Asif, 2010). At present Teletalk offer four (4) types of prepaid packages and a postpaid package to the customer. Prepaid packages consist of Shadheen 66, Shadheen, Standard and Shapla.