Augere launches first WiMax for Dhaka

Jerry Mobbs, chief executive officer of Augere, speaks at the launch of the company's wireless broadband service in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: Masthead PRStar Business Report

Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd yesterday launched the much-waited wireless broadband service through WiMax in some designated areas in Dhaka.

Augere, one of the two WiMax licensees, is the first company in Bangladesh to launch such service under the brand name 'Qubee'.

Augere is initially offering two packages. Customer will have to pay Tk 3,400 a month for the Qubee 512 kbps package. The monthly charge for the Qubee 1 Mb has been fixed at Tk 6,200, while the modem price for both the packages is Tk 7,000.

Initially, the Qubee service is available for businesses and residential customers in Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Mirpur and Uttara. Qubee will be available across Bangladesh soon.

WiMax is a technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access. The technology supports peak download rates of up to 46 Mbps and peak uplink rates of up to 14 Mbps.

Jerry Mobbs, chief executive officer of Augere Bangladesh, Russell T Ahmed, chief marketing officer, were present at the launching ceremony.

"We can offer low priced packages, but our goal is to ensure quality first," said Ahmed. "We believe our services will satisfy our customers."

Augere also unveiled a Qubee Flagship Store at Gulshan to provide 24-hour customer services.

Three bidders -- BanglaLion Communication, BRAC BD Mail Network Ltd and Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd -- won the WiMax licences through an auction organised by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in September last year. However, BRAC later refused to take the licence.

UK-based Augere Holdings owns 60 percent of Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd along with two local companies. Teleport Bangladesh owns 30 percent and Aamra Resources Ltd owns the remaining 10 percent.