The popular wireless internet service provider (ISP) Qubee Bangladesh is planning to upgrade its network and services despite being riddled with a funding crisis which could reportedly force its withdrawal from the country.
According to sources, the company has been struggling with financial trouble for the past couple of years and has been undergoing the process of cost-cutting.
“The company is planning to lay off its employees as part of wrapping up its business in Bangladesh because it has failed to resolve the crisis,” a high official in the company, requesting anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Qubee has already moved its head office to Dhaka’s Mirpur area from the posh corporate zone in Gulshan.”
Despite the financial squeeze, Qubee recently signed a deal with another wireless ISP, Banglalion Communications Ltd, and is planning to move its subscribers under Banglalion’s operations, sources said.
Qubee is run by Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd (AWBBL), a subsidiary of UK-based WiMax broadband internet company Augere.
It launched its services in Bangladesh in 2009 after obtaining a licence from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
It provides wireless broadband to households and businesses in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna, Cox’s Bazar and other major cities and districts across the country.
At the peak of its business, Qubee had over 300,000 subscribers, but that number has since dropped to below 50,000 users, according to sources.
Several Qubee officials, all requesting to remain unnamed, said they had been having difficulty with paying the operational costs because the local partners and shareholders are not investing in the company to overcome the funding crisis. Other sources said Qubee owes the government around Tk33.26 crore as frequency fees up to June 2017.
Amid the financial trouble, the company on Monday announced its new plans to launch LTE, also known as 4G, internet services and gradually improve coverage all over the country.
The company signed the deal with Banglalion on June 14 – a move which the sources believe to be a part of the “wrapping up” of its business in Bangladesh.
However, the top brass of Qubee say they have no intention of quitting the country.
“We are not wrapping up our business; we are working to provide better services to our customers,” Prateek Kundu, chief commercial officer of AWBBL, told the Dhaka Tribune.
In a recent company statement, Qubee said Prateek Kundu had signed the deal with Banglalion in order to offer similar services to all customers within the coverage of WiMAX/LTE of Banglalion.
“We are currently in the process of upgrading our network to the state-of-the-art Long-Term Evolution (LTE), which will enable … much higher speed and better data throughout. The new Qubee LTE network will be deployed over the next few months,” the statement read.
Sources said the BTRC has not been officially informed about the Qubee-Banglalion merger.
“The regulators must be informed if an operator moves their subscribers to another operator, but they have not been notified about the deal between Qubee and Banglalion,” a senior BTRC official said.
