Teletalk to inject Tk 5,554cr to boost network

Teletalk is set to go on a massive investment haul to expand its network and upgrade its existing infrastructure with the view to getting it up to speed with its nimble-footed competitors.

The operator is now dealing with five separate projects involving Tk 5,554.24 crore to establish 6,800 new towers with a mixture of 2G, 3G and 4G capability and upgrade 5,494 of its existing towers to 3G and 4G, according to a document of the parliamentary standing committee.

"Teletalk will get a chance to breathe through these projects," said Md Shahab Uddin, managing director of the country's lone state-owned mobile operator.

The funding for the projects will come from various sources: its own, loans from the government and other countries.

"We are trying to improve our network and service quality with the limited resources and at the same time are trying to manage funds from different sources to expand it," Shahab Uddin told The Daily Star.

The flurry of projects comes as the operator lags behind its competitors, all of whom are private players.

As of September, Teletalk has 39.45 lakh active SIMs, yielding the operator a 2.53 percent market share.

Teletalk's revenue in fiscal 2016-17 shrank about 28 percent year-on-year to Tk 710 crore -- the lowest in three years.

LG U+ has offered Teletalk a commercial loan of $1.2 billion for infrastructure development and improvement of the core network, according to the document of the parliamentary standing committee.

One of its conditions is that Teletalk will have to take steps to ensure 4G coverage in 98 percent of Bangladesh's geographical area with 11,275 towers.

At the same time, it also wants to improve Teletalk's core network to make it capable of handling 2.4 crore customers, the document reads.

The loan is accompanied by 3 percent interest along with 15-20 years of payback time, according to the papers.

Teletalk has taken up a Tk 987 crore worth project with its own fund, under which 550 towers have already been established mostly in Dhaka and the process is going on to set up 550 new ones in district headquarters for 4G network.

Another 1,500 towers will be upgraded for 2G/3G in rural areas under the project. The towers established in Dhaka will soon be commercially launched, said Shahab Uddin.

The government has also given a loan of Tk 675 crore to establish and upgrade about 1,700 towers for 2G/3G network of the country's smallest operator.

Teletalk has also sought a Tk 3,282.15 crore fund from the government to build 4,000 towers for 3G and 4G network expansion, Shahab Uddin said. "It would give us a boost if the government approves the project."

Plans have already been taken to develop solar power run towers with an Indian credit of Tk 425.52 crore in areas where there is no electricity.

Above all, the state-run company will get another Tk 184.57 crore from the social obligation fund—created with 1 percent of the gross revenue of all the telecom operators but Teletalk—for network expansion in haor areas.

"Saudi Telecom Company has earlier sought a strategic partnership proposal to provide funds to Teletalk. We sent the proposal papers, but the Saudi Arabian firm has not given any reply yet."

Teletalk's effort to get listed with the stock exchange went in vain as the operator could not fulfil the conditions of the stock market regulator to post profits for three years in a row, reads the document.