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Bangladesh’s state-run mobile operator Teletalk could not manage to clinch a position in any performance metrics based on ten indicators, according to OpenSignal.
The second largest operator Robi Axiata, having 5.5 crore subscribers, followed Teletalk by winning only one metric “4G availability”.
OpenSignal, an independent global standard for global mobile networks, has recently revealed its latest Global Network Experience Report (GMNE).
The Bangladeshi mobile network market continues to be a two-horse race between Banglalink and Grameenphone, according to the report.
Banglalink won in the highest 7 metrics---4 solely and 3 jointly—while the country’s largest operator Grameenphone won in 6 metrics—3 solely and 3 jointly, outperforming the other two operators by big margins, according to the report carried out by the UK-based research organisation.
However, neither Robi nor TeleTalk won any award outright, but Robi was a part of the three-way ties for “4GAvailability”.
The OpenSignal report was prepared based on data collected between April 1 and June 29, 2022, and categorised performance based on three indicators--overall performance, coverage and consistency.
Teletalk received the lowest points in every metric with 41.5 points in video experience, 34.9 points in games experience, and 67 points in video app experience with 100 percentage points.
It provided a 4.8Mbps download speed experience while Banglalink became the highest with 15.3Mbps speed. Teletalk provided a 1.5 Mbps uploading speed while topper Grameenphone provided 6.2 Mbps.
Followed by Teletalk, the other least performer Robi got 45.1 points in video experience, 39.9 points in gaming experience and 69.5 points in video app experience in 100 percentage points.
Robi provided 9.1 Mbps download speed, and 4.4 Mbps uploading speed, the second lowest in all aspects.
When it comes to coverage, Teletalk’s coverage was 69 per cent of the time and Robi’s 82.9 per cent time while Grameenphone managed to connect at the highest 83.2 per cent of the time.
Teletalk, which first introduced 4G and 5G networks in the country, got only 1.6 points out of 10 while the highest performer got 7.3 points.
In excellent consistent quality, Teletalk got 9.5 points, Robi 35.6 in the percentage of tests while Grameenphone has the highest 52.3 points in the consistency test.
When asked about Teletalk’s lowest performance in the report, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar said, “The straight answer is investment. Teletalk is carrying forward a low investment since its inception.
“If we do not get necessary investment, we cannot build better network infrastructure, which ultimately makes the operator’s performance down, that is what happened,” he said adding, “Teletalk has 33 times less investment than that of Grameenphone. So, we should not compare Teltalk with Grameenphone in terms of services and network quality.”
However, Shahed Alam, head of the Regulatory Affairs at Robi Axiata Limited, said, “We (Robi) do not subscribe OpenSignal. Robi never subscribes such commercial entities that rates operators’ performance or gives award. The methodology the organization follows is not compatible with our services. They do not have our network information. So, we do not depend on their reports.”
He furthered, “Their technology receives the operator’s better performance whose no of subscribers are lower and the operator’s performance varies based on the place they are taking into accounts.”Grameenphone and Banglalink remain the two horses
Banglalink and Grameenphone continued to secure the two top positions in download and upload speed respectively.
Banglalink won the download speed experience with a much-improved score with users’ average speeds of 15.3Mbps followed by Grameenphone with 14.1Mbps. On the other hand, Grameenphone ranked first in the upload speed experience with users’ speeds increasing from 4.1Mbps to 6.2Mbps.
Banglalink came in second with its speeds from 3.4Mbps to 5.2Mbps. Robi took the third position with a speed from 2.7Mbps to 4.4Mbps.
On the basis of market share of subscribers, Grameenphone remains the largest operator in the country with 7.92 crore users while Robi holds the second position with 5.5 crore users.
Out of a total of 18 crore mobile SIM users, Banglalink owns only 3.98 crore while state-run Teletalk owns 66 lakhs.
