GP applies for additional number series

Grameenphone has applied for an additional number series for its new connections as projected sales suggest the operator could burn through its existing 017 prefix as early as November this year.

“We will be able to continue selling new connections until November, after which we will have to stop,” Rajeev Sethi, chief executive of Grameenphone, said in a letter to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

The operator would be able to issue a further 10 crore connections if the BTRC agrees to it.

However, the regulator said the allocation of a new number series is only one of the possible solutions to Grameenphone’s predicament. The operator applied for an additional prefix earlier in 2015 as well. At that time, the telecom regulator decided to relax the terms of resale for Grameenphone's existing but out-of-service numbers instead of handing it a new number series.

Grameenphone can now resell numbers that have been out-of-service for 15 months, down from the previous limit of 24. 

As of March, the operator has 5.63 crore active subscribers out of the country's total of 13.09 crore. It has not revealed the actual number of SIM cards sold.

The National Numbering Plan has ten prefixes for mobile operators, of which 010, 012, 013 and 014 are still free.

Among the current operators, Citycell is using the 011 series, Teletalk 015, Airtel 016, Robi 018 and Banglalink 019.

Mobile numbers in the country were already expanded twice, by a digit each time, and it will not be difficult to do that again, said a senior BTRC official.

“However, it will create a burden on the operators. We will do an exhaustive study before any final decision,” he added. 

Grameenphone, which was founded in 1997, needed to expand its number series twice: first after reaching the 10 lakh-landmark and later after hitting the one crore-mark.

The BTRC will also seek a free consultation on new number planning with the International Telecommunication Union, officials said.

The government is also planning to allow the armed forces to launch a non-commercial mobile service soon, especially for disaster management operations.