• Source: Banglalion

Banglalion Communications Ltd was a privately held Bangladeshi 4G wireless broadband operator. It used WiMAX technology. It had a nationwide license from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to provide broadband wireless access services for data, voice and video. Banglalion covered 7 divisional headquarters and 30 major districts of Bangladesh. As of 2022, it does not provide any products.




History


Banglalion was founded by Major (Retd.) Abdul Mannan in 2008, as a subsidiary of Sunamn Group. The company won a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) license to provide WiMAX technology countrywide in an auction held by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in the September of this year. The company raised Tk450 crore for its setup, with BDT 171 crore loan from 7 banks of Bangladesh, mainly AB Bank and BDT 130 crore from bonds.
By 2011, the operator garnered an overwhelming response with its subscriber count reaching 350,000. At the end of 2012, Banglalion started to expand its business to the major districts of Bangladesh along with divisional headquarters. It was the highest bidder, at Tk 2.15 billion ($31.4M as of September 2008), and chose spectrum in the 2585-2620 MHz bandwidth. In November 2009, it became the second operator, after Augere, to launch a WiMAX network in Bangladesh.
As of 2022, it does not provide any products.




Services


Banglalion used to offer both postpaid and prepaid packages for its users. These packages came in different bandwidth and speed limits. Banglalion's competitors were Qubee and Ollo.




Coverage


Banglalion used to cover 7 divisional cities Dhaka, Gazipur, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur and Barisal. Network had rolled out in other major cities such as Munshiganj, Naraynganj, Rajbari, Mymensingh, Comilla, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Satkhira, Bogra, and Cox's Bazar.




Banglalion officially shut down


In 2021, Banglalion's license was revoked and was officially shut down. In December 2020, Banglalion owed BTRC about BDT 205.94 crore. They cannot afford to repay this loan. As a result, despite the license being valid until 2023, Banglalion's license was revoked.




References






Further reading


Ahamed, Shamim (26 December 2013). "5 companies to get 4G licenses". bdnews24.com.
Uddin, Jamal (5 June 2014). "WiMAX businesses having bumpy ride after 3G service". The Financial Express. Dhaka.
Islam, Muhammad Zahidul (12 July 2015). "WiMAX operators losing customers as tech shifts". The Daily Star.
Islam, Muhammad Zahidul (30 September 2015). "BTRC toughens up on operators for dues". The Daily Star.
"Banglalion, Qubee to lose licences if dues not paid: BTRC". The Independent. Dhaka. 19 September 2016.
Bhuiyan, Adnan Hossain (11 December 2016). "Mobile internet use rises at wireless broadband's cost". The Financial Express. Dhaka.
"BTRC asks IIG operators to reduce 10pc bandwidth supply to Banglalion". The Independent. Dhaka. 13 October 2017.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Banglalion
• List of companies of Bangladesh
• Chittagong
• Mobile network codes in ITU region 4xx (Asia)
• Internet in Bangladesh
• List of LTE networks in Asia
• Telecommunications in Bangladesh
• Farzana Rikta
• Anupama Mukti
• 3G adoption