Grameenphone Ltd. today crossed the magic number of 10,000 3G sites at 10,000 locations across Bangladesh, bringing in around 90% of the population under GP's 3G coverage.
State Minister, Begum Tarana Halim, MP, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and IT inaugurated the 10,000th 3G site at a celebration ceremony, arranged at a local hotel. BTRC Chairman Dr. Shahjahan Mahmood was also present on the occasion as special guest along with Grameenphone CEO Rajeev Sethi.
Earlier in January this year Grameenphone CEO, Rajeev Sethi announced the goal to reach 10,000 3G sites by June in the presence of Telenor Group President and CEO, Sigve Brekke.
This is one of the fastest as well as the largest 3G rollout in terms of population coverage in the region. This expansion will not only connect almost all the people of the country to 3G but will enable government and other organizations to take their digital services to the people more effectively.
The State Minister thanked Grameenphone for this achievement, which she believes will help in realization of Digital Bangladesh.
Speaking on the occasion Grameenphone CEO said, “Five months ago we took on a challenge to roll-out our 3G network at an unprecedented speed. Our investment and our achievement today is not only Grameenphone's alone. 10,000 3G sites is no less a national achievement and we share it with Bangladesh."
The BTRC Chairman requested Grameenphone to show the same passion to maintain quality that has been shown during this breakneck 3G rollout.
Grameenphone CTO Medhat ELHusseiny narrated the journey to convert 10,000 BTS to 3G through a presentation which depicted the extraordinary efforts of the employees. To finish this task 14,14,877 man hour has been invested, while they traveled 1,311,040 Kilometers and climbed 680,000 meters which is equivalent to 80 Mount Everest.
After the inauguration Grameenphone CEO talked to the GP officials working at the 10,000th BTS through Video call.
Grameenphone has run an aggressive 3G roll-out plan and had covered all 64 districts in 6 months, much sooner than the 36-month conditionality stipulated in the 3G license agreement by the regulator. The network expansion has not only involved adding new 3G sites and conversion of thousands of 2G sites to 3G sites, but also up gradation of existing 2G sites to further enhance 2G services for general customers.