News Title : GP plans to offer new products

News Date : 2015-11-17

-Ishtiaq Husain
Grameenphone is planning to introduce some innovative programmes in Bangladesh considering the prospect of the industry. Rajeev Shethi, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, came up with the disclosure while talking to a select few of journalists at the Grameenphone head office in the city recently. Rajeev Shethi, CEO of Grameenphone “Although people in remote areas in Bangladesh still have no access to proper education and heath services, they are changing their lot just using internet as the power of internet is huge. Internet usage in Bangladesh is a bit different but freelancers are still working even in those rural areas,” said Rajeev. “As part of our innovation programmme, Grameenphone, in partnership with Telenor Digital, announced the launch of a pilot for its ‘MyStudy’ project, a mobile learning application brought by the GP and developed by Telenor Digital.” The application targets the SSC students in 9th and 10th grades and currently focuses on the national curriculum of Mathematics and English II paper. “MyStudy” programme provides access through mobile. Initially, it launched Mathematics and English. Gradually, the number of subjects will be increased as all potential students across the country will get this service, he added. “After this application, Grameenphone is also planning to bring another applications named ‘Health Services’ which will be launched January next year,” he disclosed. Pointing out that technology could be a great equaliser of a country, he said, “Grameenphone invested significantly in telecommunication sector in 2015.” “As the youths have many creative ideas without money, GP’s programme will help them facilitate their initiatives. We will train the youth on marketing as well as mentor them to make their ideas into reality,” he hoped. The youth under the first batch of this programme will start their journey in January 2016 while these entrepreneurs will represent the world after completing their training. Elaborating his ideas, the Grameenphone boss said, “Our vision is to create more entrepreneurs engaging them in different programmes as well as simplifying customers life. People are deprived of proper education and health services in rural areas.” Terming Grameenphone young people’s tools, Rajeev said: Grameenphone is an aspiration of brand, a matter of pride and responsibility and also an institution, which increased people’s expectation high. In response to a question, the GP CEO said: “The company is not shifting its focus by introducing the innovative ideas although voice and data services are its main business.” Responding to the allegations of a higher number of call drops, he said, “Actually, mobile operators will have to be provided with quality services at the end and GP is maintaining ITU’s standard for providing the services while the operator is taking all the feedback very positively.” He also explained: So many factors like weather, fibre cuts, network issues and handset issues are involved with the wireless services. Association of Mobile Telecom operators in Bangladesh (AMTOB), national trade body representing all mobile operators in the country, is working on compensation issues in the backdrop of call drop. Rajeev has compared GP’s service with the European countries, as the mobile operators call drop is less than any other operators in Bangladesh. “Though we are focusing on data services, but voice consumption is also increasing as call price is going down,” said GP CEO. On 6 October, Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) signed a deal with a company of chartered accountants for conducting a second time audit of the market’s leading mobile operator Grameenphone. The regulatory body’s audit has not started yet. Rajeev said Grameenphone is technically capable to launch 4G or LTE services, but a lot of issues will have to be settled before introducing the services

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