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DHAKA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's biggest cell phone operator Grameenphone has crossed the magic number of 10,000 3G or third generation sites at 10,000 locations across Bangladesh, bringing in around 90 percent of the population under its 3G coverage.
In January this year, Grameenphone, 55.8 percent owned by Norwegian telecom company Telenor and 34.2 percent owned by local Grameen Telecom, announced at a program in capital Dhaka in the presence of Telenor Group Chief Executive Officer Sigve Brekke the goal to reach 10,000 3G sites by June.
Bangladeshi State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and IT, Begum Tarana Halim, at a celebration ceremony in Dhaka inaugurated the 10,000th 3G site, said the company in a statement received here Monday.
This is one of the fastest as well as the largest 3G rollout in terms of population coverage in the region, it said, adding this expansion will not only connect almost all the people of the country to 3G but will enable government and other organizations to take their digital services to the people more effectively.
The state minister thanked the largest cell phone operator for this achievement, which she believes will help in realization of Digital Bangladesh.
Speaking on the occasion, Grameenphone Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Sethi said "Five months ago we took on a challenge to roll-out our 3G network at an unprecedented speed. Our investment and our achievement today is not only Grameenphone's alone. 10,000 3G sites is no less a national achievement and we share it with Bangladesh."
Grameenphone Chief Technical Officer Medhat ELHusseiny narrated the journey to convert 10,000 BTS to 3G through a presentation which depicted the extraordinary efforts of the employees. To finish this task, 14,14,877 man hours have been invested while they traveled 1,311,040 kilometers and climbed 680,000 meters which is equivalent to 80 Mount Everest.
Grameenphone, which was set up in March 1997 by 2006 Nobel peace prize winner Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus, is the country's top cell phone operator. As of May, the cell phone operator has 57.393 million subscribers. The total number of Bangladesh's mobile phone subscribers reached 132.649 million at the end of May this year.
