Top officials back Grameenphone

On April 6, Grameenphone, Telenor’s Bangladeshi mobile operator, received a visit from Trond Giske, the Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry. He was accompanied by Ragne Birte Lund, Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh, and Sigve Brekke, Chairman of Grameenphone Board and Head of Telenor Asia. Grameenphone CEO Vivek Sood and the Grameenphone management team hosted Giske’s entourage and presented information on the company’s development, its role in connecting the unconnected population and its contributions to the Bangladeshi economy.

Giske views telecom as key enabler
The Minister showed interest in Grameenphone’s corporate responsibility projects such as Online School and Teledermatology. Giske commented, “The telecom industry has emerged as the key enabler to the socio-economic progress of Bangladesh. I’m happy to see Grameenphone and Telenor Group leading that industry not only in numbers but also with contribution to that development.”

During the visit Sigve Brekke referred to Grameenphone as an important part of Telenor Group and said, “Grameenphone still has a significant role to play in the future development of the industry. The next big challenge is to provide every Bangladeshi with access to affordable data services, but we need a stable and investment friendly regulatory regime.”

Baksaas shares our views with the Prime Minister
The weekend also included a meeting between Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas, Trond Giske and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Baksaas took the opportunity to share Telenor’s views on the future of the Bangladeshi telecom industry, and how a predictable and investment-friendly framework enables further investment.

“Telenor Group is among the largest foreign investors in Bangladesh. As a long term partner to Bangladesh our commitment has gone beyond just numbers. For 16 years, Telenor Group has played an instrumental role in connecting the unconnected people of the country through our majority ownership in Grameenphone. With our support, Grameenphone has established itself as the industry leader, and the company has always been in the forefront of introducing innovative new services that is having a huge positive impact on improving people’s daily lives, and that strongly contributes to the overall development of the Bangladeshi society,” said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group.

“I believe that Grameenphone has a significant role to play in the future development of the telecommunications sector. The next big challenge is to provide every Bangladeshi with access to affordable data services, but we need a stable regulatory and investment regime characterized by predictability and fairness to be able to make the investments needed to deliver on the country’s ambition. The message to the Government is that if the industry doesn’t get more predictability our ability to make future investment is at risk,” he added.