Grameenphone (GP), the largest mobile phone operator in the country, is all set to officially launch its 3G (third generation) services on September 29 in Dhaka and Chittagong.
Commercial launch of the service, however, will be on October 8 for customers in the capital and the port city within a month of the spectrum auction.
Meanwhile, GP has already begun test runs in several areas in the capital on Wednesday night, said Tanveer Mohammad, chief technology officer at GP.
“We have already set up two 3G BTSs in the GP House (GP headquarters) area for testing and are also trying to set them up in some other parts of the city. Within the next ten days we will be able to have a significant number of 3G BTSs up online.”
Another high-ranking official within the operator said: “After the test runs we will do a soft launch in the GP House to test the quality of services.” GP has sought approval from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for its numerous 3G packages, he said.
The company has already made an appointment with the Telecom Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun for the launching programme, which will also be attended by some high-ranking officials from Telenor, GP's parent company.
Officials said Bashundhara, Uttara, Dhanmondi, Banani, Gulshan, Baridhara, Mirpur and Motijheel areas in Dhaka will be connected to GP’s 3G network on a priority basis and that services will be extended to the rest of Dhaka, and the districts of Narayanganj and Gazipur by November.
At a press conference last week, Vivek Sood, chief executive officer at GP said: “This marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Grameenphone and Bangladesh. The country is getting ready for the data centric era, and our mission is to help the nation move ahead by providing internet for all.”
GP has employed ninety experts towards introducing their 3G services to its subscribers, sources said.
Another operator, Robi, is also trying to commercially launch 3G within this month, around the same time or even before GP.
Robi has made preparations for a programme on October 5 at a city hotel, sources inside the company said.
GP, which is aware of Robi’s preparations, might also rethink their launch date, according to an official at GP.
Along with Robi and Airtel, GP received the 3G license and No Objection Certificate (NOC) on September 12. Before receiving the license and NOC, GP had selected its equipment vendor and received three containers of equipment this week.
At the September 8 auction, GP acquired 10MHz of spectrum for $221m while the other three operators Robi, Airtel and Banglalink bought 5MHz each.