The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is struggling to manage the giant multinational Grameenphone's monopoly in the telecom sector that is already out of the bottle.
Grameenphone was declared a significant market power (SMP) a few years ago and was subjected to various restrictions.
Grameenphone's still holds a commanding lead, often hovering around 45-48% of the mobile subscriber base, which is significantly larger than its nearest competitor.
The BTRC has not been able to do anything. Declaring Grameenphone Significant Market Power (SMP) was a major regulatory action. However, the expectation that this alone would quickly dismantle its market dominance was unrealistic.
SMP regulations are the right tool to control the giant's behavior, making the other players in the market grow strong enough to challenge it.
The multinational company Grameenphone Limited has long held a dominant position. Economists call this situation a monopoly, where a single company controls the entire market. In the UK, if a company holds 25 per cent of the market share, it is considered a monopoly. In Bangladesh's telecom sector, The BTRC considers any company holding 40 per cent or more of customer base, revenue, or spectrum allocation as having significant market power, or significant market power (SMP). Meanwhile, competing companies struggle to survive amid unfair competition.
Currently, four mobile operators-Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink, and the state-owned company Teletalk-serve nearly 190 million customers in the country. The total business size in this sector is BDT 322.98 billion, with Grameenphone holding a clear monopoly. By the end of 2024, the company's total revenue reached BDT 158.45 billion, which accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the country's mobile telecom sector. During the same period, Robi Axiata earned BDT 99.5 billion, Banglalink BDT 59.78 billion, and Teletalk only BDT 5.52 billion.
Last year, Grameenphone made a post-tax net profit of BDT 36.31 billion. In the same period, Robi earned BDT 7.03 billion. This means Grameenphone's net profit was more than five times that of Robi. This information comes from an analysis of financial reports by BTRC and the companies involved.
Grameenphone challenged the allegations of not fully complying with the conditions in court. The court issued a show-cause notice to BTRC. Later, the imposed restrictions were lifted. Subsequently, BTRC prepared a list of 20 restrictions for SMP operators, which was supposed to be issued gradually. However, Grameenphone also took the process of implementing these restrictions to court. The court ordered BTRC to issue fresh directives within 30 days, including two amendments to the process. These were finally issued at the end of June 2020.
BTRC officials say that currently there are three types of restrictions on Grameenphone as an SMP. Among them, Grameenphone must get approval from BTRC before launching any new service in the market. Other operators do not have this obligation; they only need to inform the regulator. Regarding mobile termination rates (MTR), there is a BDT 0.03 difference between Grameenphone and other operators. When a call is made from a Grameenphone SIM to another operator's SIM, Grameenphone receives BDT 0.10 as interconnection charge. In contrast, when a call is made from other operators' SIMs to Grameenphone SIM, Grameenphone receives BDT 0.07. For mobile number portability (MNP), Grameenphone has a longer locking period than other operators. In such a case, if someone wants to switch from another operator to Grameenphone, it takes 90 days. But switching from Grameenphone to another operator takes 60 days. Apart from these, new SIM sales by Grameenphone were suspended for almost a year.
a committee was recently formed under the leadership of the commission's Vice Chairman, Md Abu Bakar Siddique .The committee is currently collecting and analyzing data from the telecom sector. However, Grameenphone and its competitors have demanded a review of the SMP policy. BTRC plans to gather opinions from both sides.
In terms of market share, Robi Axiata PLC holds the second position in the country's telecom sector. In 2020, the operator's market share was 29.92 percent. The following year, it stood at 29.65 percent. In 2022 and 2023, Robi's market share was 30.19 and 30.75 percent, respectively. By the end of 2024, it was 30.22 percent. Most recently, at the end of June this year, it rose to 30.46 percent.
Competing operators have long accused Grameenphone of abusing its market dominance to hinder a competitive environment in the country's telecom sector. Robi, Banglalink, and Teletalk urged BTRC to implement the SMP regulations quickly as soon as they were declared. Recently, the two competitors, Robi and Banglalink, have filed formal complaints against Grameenphone with the Bangladesh Competition Commission.
According to sources at the Competition Commission, Robi and Banglalink have filed complaints against Grameenphone this year for violating competition laws. The complaints mainly focus on selling SIM cards at very low prices-that is, Grameenphone is providing SIM cards at dumping prices.
The Bangladesh Competition Commission says that whenever a complaint is filed against any company in the telecom or any other sector, it does not proceed with a case without thorough analysis and extensive review. The law has several procedural steps, and the commission follows these steps before making any decision.
A high official of BRTC told The Daily Observer that these measures level the playing field; they do not tip the playing field against the dominant player. They are meant to stop Grameenphone from abusing its power, not to punish it for being successful or to artificially shrink its market share.
