Bangladesh is the 8th most populated country in the world. It is located in Southeast Asia. The country has 4 major network providers – Grameenphone, Robi Axiata, Banglalink, and Teletalk. Out of these 4 companies, the top three are Grameenphone, Robi Axiata, and Banglalink which have captured 95% of the telecom market in the country. Teletalk is growing slowly as well. There was one more service provider called Citycell which was wound up in 2016 as it was only CDMA compatible and was not able to pay its dues. Not many people use CDMA phones these days, and 99% percent of the phones are GSM compatible (having SIM card slots).
All four operators operate on 2G and 3G frequencies. Grameenphone, Robi Axiata, and Banglalink have started offering 4G/LTE services from 2018. Whether you are a tourist or a local, SIM card registration is mandatory as per Bangladeshi laws. In 2015, a new SIM registration system was launched through which the Bangladeshi nationals could send their national ID number via SMS to register their SIM card. For foreigners, it is recommended to buy and register their SIM cards from the official stores of the service providers through their passport and visa details. Typically, a SIM card in Bangladesh is sold anywhere between 100 BDT (Bangladeshi Taka) and 500 BDT. SIM cards and top-up vouchers are easily available everywhere in the country. For more details, let’s learn about all 4 service providers.
1. Grameenphone
Grameenphone, known popularly by its abbreviation GP, is a joint venture between Grameen Telecom Corp. and Telenor (Norwegian telecom company). It is the largest wireless carrier in Bangladesh, with more than 53 million users (46% of the market share). The company offers several prepaid starter packs like Nishchento, djuice, Bondhu, etc. all available for 100 BDT. These packs are different in terms of voice and SMS and don’t provide data at all. The default data rate outside any data pack is 1.22 BDT per MB. The data packs offered by the company are – 5 MB with 2 days validity for 2.67 BDT, 1 GB with 7 days validity for 77 BDT, 10 GB with 30 days validity for 399 BDT, 50 GB with 30 days validity for 998 BDT, and many more.
If you use Facebook more, the company also offers many Facebook data passes through which you can use unlimited Facebook. There are 3 such passes – (i) unlimited Facebook and 20 MB of data, valid for 1 day at 1.5 BDT. (ii) unlimited Facebook with 75 MB of data valid for 7 days at 6 BDT. (iii) unlimited Facebook and 300 MB of data valid for 28 days at 18 BDT.
2. Robi Axiata
Robi Axiata Ltd. is the second-largest operator in the country in terms of the number of users. It’s a joint venture between Axiata Group (Malaysia) and Bharti Airtel Ltd. (India). Its 68.7% shareholding is with Axiata group and 31.3% with Bharti Airtel. Robi Axiata launched its 4G/LTE services in 2018. Robi’s prepaid starter packs are all sold for just 100 BDT, all of them containing a minimum amount of data with varying rates for voice and SMS. Its top-up vouchers are available for BDT 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 providing validity between 30 days to 365 days.
The company also offers some data featured plans like – 45 MB with 1-day validity for 12.20 BDT, 150 MB with 3 days validity for 23 BDT, 1.5 GB with 7 days validity for 101 BDT, 6 GB with 7 days validity for 129 BDT, 7 GB of data with 30 days validity for 649 BDT, and many more. All these plans renew automatically after their validity is over. To deactivate any plan before its auto-renewal, dial *8444#.
3. Banglalink
Banglalink Digital Communication Company Ltd. is managed by VEON, a subsidiary of Telenor. It serves 31 million subscribers, capturing a 26% market share. It is the country’s fastest network. The company offers 3 prepaid starter packs – Desh, Play, 1 Sec Pulse for about 100 BDT. None of these starter packs provide any data at all. The default data charge without any active pack is 1 paisa per 10 KB. The company also offers many data featured packs. Some of them are – 50 MB of data valid for 1 day at 13 BDT, 250 MB of data for 7 days at 36 BDT, 3 GB of data for 30 days at 399 BDT, and many more.
Apart from data packs, the company also offers data add-ons in the form of top-ups. Some of the data add-ons are – 250 MB of data valid for 7 days at 36 BDT, 1.5 GB of data for 30 days at 209 BDT, 5 GB of data for 30 days at 499 BDT, 25 GB of data for 30 days at 1,799 BDT, etc. All the prices of data packages, top-ups, and data-ons have tax included in them. There is also a social media pack available for using Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook, with a maximum of 100 MB of data, valid for 7 days available for only 7 BDT.
4. Teletalk
Teletalk Bangladesh Limited, famous for its brand name Teletalk, is a state-owned telecom company. It is the smallest wireless carrier in Bangladesh with just a 2% market share, serving only about 4 million subscribers. Its major plus point is that it provides data and voice calls at the cheapest rates in the country, though the major drawback is that its service is not at all at par with its counterparts. But for people who are visiting Katka Sea Beach, Dublar Char Island, Sunderban, and Jamtola Beach, should carry a Teletalk SIM as a secondary SIM card because in these areas there is no network except for Teletalk.
A Teletalk SIM card is available for 150 BDT + tax. The top-up vouchers of Teletalk range from 20 to 1000 BDT, providing validity from 60 to 365 days. The company offers several data-featured plans on its 3G and 4G network (wherever it is available). Some of its data plans range from 9 BDT to 445 BDT, giving data from 100 MB to 45 GB. It also provides many combo packs which include data, voice minutes, and SMS. These combo packs range from 33 BDT to 648 BDT, with a minimum validity of 4 days and maximum validity of 30 days.