Grameenphone Sings $600 Million Deal With Chinese Huawei For Network Expansion In Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Grameenphone, the Bangladesh subsidiary of Norwegian Telenor, has signed a deal with Huawei to develop its infrastructure at a cost of $600 million.

Under the deal, the Chinese telecom conglomerate will build a nationwide Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) soft switch core network and radio network of Grameenphone in high traffic areas of Bangladesh including the capital, Dhaka and Sylhet.

Zhang Hui (Tony), chief executive officer of the Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Ltd, reportedly said that his company has already signed the contract with the Grameenphone.

The Huawei are now arranging a function for formal announcement of its GSM contract with Grameenphone on Tuesday at a local hotel in the capital, Dhaka.

The Grameenphone called for bids three month back, with Ericsson and Huawei taking part. But Grameenphone choose Huawei because of it had offered to complete the work at a significantly lower price than Ericsson, local reports said.

Norway's Telenor owns 62 per cent shears of the company, which launched operation in 1997, with the balance 38 per cent being held by local Grameen Telecom Corporation, a non-profit sister concern of the micro-credit pioneer Grameen Bank.