Teletalk to launch 4G in August

Bangladeshi state-owned operator Teletalk has announced plans to launch 4G services in August, six months after its private rivals.

The company will initially limit its rollout to major cities.

Teletalk has faced parliamentary criticism for its plans to invest just 2 billion taka ($23.8 million) of its own funds to deploy 4G services.

According to the report, since inception  incumbent Grameenphone has invested 390 billion taka, Robi has invested 290 billion taka and Banglalink 192 billion taka, while Teletalk has only invested 38.4 billion taka.

The operator has a minimal presence outside of capital city Dhaka, and parliamentarians have expressed concerns that it won’t be able to increase its presence and compete effectively without substantial investment.

Teletalk has so far only revealed plans to upgrade around a quarter of its network sites to 4G. But the company insists it aims to ensure 4G coverage to 98% of the country’s geographical area by 2020, including every upazila (sub-district) by 2019.

The operator also expects to be able to improve its active customer base from the current 4 million to 10 million by 2020.

Teletalk secured a 4G license in February along with its larger rivals, but faced delays rolling out services due to a lack of funds.