Muhammad Yunus may bring reforms to Bangladesh telecoms, mobile operator says
By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Olivier Sorgho
Aug 13 (Reuters) -With Muhammad Yunus in charge, Bangladesh may see much-needed reforms and investment in its telecoms sector given the caretaker government leader's knowledge of the industry, according to one of the country's leading mobile operators.
Yunus, who took over last Thursday, founded the Grameen Bank that won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the microcredit movement. He is also a stakeholder in Grameenphone GRAE.DH, Bangladesh's leading telecom operator, jointly owned by Yunus' non-profit Grameen Telecom and Norway's Telenor TEL.OL, which holds 55% of Grameenphone's shares.
"I'm happy to see that the interim government leader is someone who is very familiar with our industry, who is very familiar with foreign direct investment and what international investors actually expect," Kaan Terzioglu, head of mobile operator Banglalink's parent company Veon VON.AS, told Reuters.
Banglalink is the third-largest mobile operator in Bangladesh.
Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, executive director at Tech Global Institute, a tech policy and human rights non-profit, also said Yunus' experience would be useful in bringing reforms to a highly complex, competitive, and regulated telecom industry.
She also cited Yunus' work in advancing microfinancing as a pathway to lift people out of poverty, but noted that competition within traditional banking and mobile financial services as well as reforms to the financial sector would have to be addressed first.
Another challenge for the next Bangladeshi government will be reducing the significant unconnected population too.
More than half of the South Asian country's 170-million population has no access to a mobile network, while only a third can use mobile internet services, according to estimates by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association.
Mobile service taxes are also serving as a barrier to wider internet access, especially for low-income households, it said in a report.
Yunus will not be directly responsible for overseeing telecoms and information and communications technology.
On Friday, he appointed 26-year-old student Nahid Islam, who spearheaded the protests that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as the new telecommunications minister.
Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Olivier Sorgho, additional reporting by Fanny Potkin; editing by Milla Nissi and Tomasz Janowski
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
