Like all businesses, the country’s telecom and ICT sector has not been spared by the non-stop blockade, with industry insiders saying supply disruptions and reduced customer numbers are draining money out of their pockets.
The 20-party alliance’s countrywide blockade is taking its toll on the major mobile phone operators, while computer distributors claimed of suffering a 70% drop in sales figures and mobile phone sellers claimed sales drop of around 40%.
Senior executives of different mobile operators told the Dhaka Tribune that they also experienced similar downtrend in the market during December 2013 to January 2014, when total revenue and subscribers decreased.
Dilip Pal, chief financial officer of Grameenphone, said: “Prolonged political unrest is bad for all businesses and we are no different. On the one hand we are facing challenges in distribution and network maintenance due to the unrest. On the other, people are not talking as much due to depressed business activities, which in turn effects revenues.
“This sort of situation sends the wrong signals to investors, especially at a time when we are planning our 3G network expansion and strengthening our 2G network,” he added.
Banglalink, on the other hand, said the blockade was causing 5% to 7% negative growth to its revenues.
“As we are part of the economy, we obviously face problems. We expect the situation will be okay soon and we can comfortably continue our business,” said Banglalink Director (marketing) Solaiman Alam.
Robi spokesperson Mohiuddin Babar also expressed some optimism, saying: “Obviously like other sectors, telecom is also affected by this non-stop blockade. But we are also hopeful that the problem will be over within a short time.”
Without revealing any exact figure, industry insiders said the revenue of two top mobile operators – Grameenphone and Robi – have experienced around 3% to 4% negative growth over the last four weeks.
Requesting anonymity, a senior executive officer of another operator said: “The decline of new sales is a matter of concern while the fall of revenue growth also makes us anxious.”
Mobile operators said the situation in Dhaka and big cities like Chittagong and Sylhet were relatively normal compared to the rural regions.
Market sources also pointed out that the usage patterns of the low-income subscribers have seen a downtrend as their daily income has been hit by the blockade, while the process of recharging mobile account balance was also being hampered as roadside refill vendors were unable to open businesses fearing violence.
Mobile phone operators are not the only ones counting losses for the blockade.
According to Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) President AHM Mahfuzul Arif, the blockade has had the highest toll on the computer traders.
“In the city and urban areas, our sales have come down around 70%, and everyday the situation is getting worse and worse,” Arif said.
The BCS was planning to place a demand before the government asking for compensation for the Tk3,000 crore market, he added.
“We are the main component of building a digital Bangladesh, and as we are affected the digital programmes will also be affected,” said Arif.
Like the sellers of computer and technology products, mobile phone businesses have also been hit hard as customer numbers have fallen significantly since the blockade began on January 6.
Sources at one of the leading mobile phone brands in the country told the Dhaka Tribune that their overall sales across the country have been slashed by at least 40%, even though business in Dhaka and Chittagong have not been affected too much.
A senior executive officer of that phone brand, who commented on condition that his or his company’s name would not be revealed, told the Dhaka Tribune that business in the northern region as well as some areas in the south have been hit hard the most.
“Though we lose only 10% to 15% business in Dhaka and Chittagong, but for maintaining this business we also need to increase our business expenditure and increase incentives as well,” he added.
“Customers are frightened to come to the retail point and at the same time we cannot maintain our supply in rural areas,” he also said.
Another executive of that company also claimed although the mobile brand had prepared for a politically turbulent situation, they had not anticipated that the situation would worsen as much.
