Private telecom operators in Bangladesh lost two million mobile subscribers and over one million internet users in September, according to the latest data from the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
The total number of subscribers in the country dropped by 2.15 million in September to 181.43 million, according to the latest data.
In contrast, the number of subscribers stood at 183.58 million in August.
Grameenphone (GP), one of the top telecom operators in the country, lost 1.2 million subscribers in September, while Robi Axiata lost 590,000 and Banglalink 420,000.
However, state-run Teletalk is the only operator in the country that gained 6,000 subscribers during the same period.
Industry insiders said that the ban on SIM sales of Grameenphone with economic strain and increase in SIM chip cost globally strained subscriber growth.
According to GP, the overall growth of the telecom industry slowed down due to the customer demand and supply shortage of GP SIM on the market caused by the ban on SIM sales.
However, GP believes the industry growth momentum will be restored once the ban is lifted.
On the other hand, according to Banglalink, no other operators got the customers GP lost due to the SIM sales ban due to the SIM-chip crisis globally.
Banglalink pointed out that a single SIM chip now costs Tk70 while it was Tk15 early this year, and the rise in the cost of SIM chip has impacted telecom sector growth globally.
According to ABI Research, a global technology intelligence firm, some 4.33 billion SIM cards will be shipped globally in 2022, which is a decline of 8.5 % year on year, as the semiconductor industry continues to be negatively impacted by several factors.
Covid-19 challenges continue to linger supply-chain constraints, chip shortage, and increasing SIM card ASPs are now compounded by a new range of issues, most notably, inflation and the increasing likelihood of recession, impacting 2023 forecast expectations.
This in turn has caused multinational telecom operators to switch to e-SIM instead of the removable SIM chip.
GP also introduced eSIM for its customers earlier this year.
Meanwhile, private telecom operators also lost 1.38 million mobile internet subscribers in September, dropping to 114.74 million from 116.12 million.
However, broadband internet service providers and public-switched telephone networks gained 440,000 subscribers in the period.
The country's total internet subscribers stood at 126.32 million in September from 127.26 million, the BTRC data show.
