Mobile telephone density in Bangladesh has increased by 1,585 per cent in five years -between January 2002 and January 2007, according to an official document. Mobile telephone density in the country, merely one per cent in January 2002 touched 16.85 per cent in January 2007, according to the Bangladesh Economic Review 2007 published recently by the government.

Although more than 90 per cent of the population live under the coverage of mobile phone, only 17 out of 100 people use mobile phone in Bangladesh. Up to January 2007, the number of mobile subscribers had reached 2.18 crore. The Asian Development Bank, in a recent estimate, has said that the number of mobile subscribers in Bangladesh would double to 44 million in the next two years. Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd launched first mobile phone using analog AMPS technology in 1993. Later it migrated to digital CDMA option.

In November 1996, licences to operate cellular mobile phone networks were issued, and GrameenPhone, Telekom Malaysia International Bangladesh Ltd (Aktel) and Sheba Telecom Ltd entered the market. Later, Teletalk (state-owned) and Warid Telecom were licenced to operate in Bangladesh. Sheba Telecom Ltd was acquired by Orascom in September 2004 and re-branded to Banglalink.

Mentionably, all the operators, except Teletalk, are joint ventures in which Bangladesh units collaborate with foreign companies. The Economic Review 2007 also said that the government had issued 37 licences in the private sector for the operation of fixed telephone to meet the growing telephone demands of the country.