Bangladesh’s first private landline phone operator, Bay Phones, is to offer customers 100,000 new connections ending a state monopoly in the sector. Bay Phones, a joint venture between USbased Westec.com and its Bangladesh counterpart Westec Corporation, is one of 12 firms given fixed line licences by the country’s telecom regulator in February 2004. Bay Phones, the first to start operating, will launch services in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong. State-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) had a monopoly in landline phone services up to now. At present, BTTB offers around 950,000 connections. Bay Phones plans to increase the number of subscribers to half a million within two years.
