17.5 lakh new mobile internet users in May

Some 17.5 lakh people took up internet connections on their handsets in May to take the total number of active mobile internet subscribers to 4.59 crore in May, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

Industry people said mobile internet subscriptions are fast increasing due to the flourishing 3G network.

Like the other sectors, it too was struck by the political turmoil that prevailed in the first three months of the year.

"Now that the political turmoil is over, we can plan differently," said Ekram Kabir, vice-president of Robi. The operator introduced free internet services in May and was met with positive response from the market.

By contrast, three WiMax operators together lost about 10,000 users in May.

The number of total internet connections, including mobile, broadband and WiMax, stood at 4.74 crore in May, which was 4.57 crore in April.

The number of active mobile users also increased over 1 percent to 12.6 crore in May from April.

Grameenphone, the largest operator, has 5.28 crore subscribers now, while Banglalink has 3.21 crore and Robi 2.71 crore.

Airtel has 85.16 lakh users, state-owned Teletalk 41.61 lakh and Citycell, the oldest operator, 12.07 lakh.