Citycell

Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited, (dba: Citycell)[3] was the oldest mobile operator of Bangladesh. It was the 1st mobile operator company in Bangladesh and one of the pioneering telecommunications network companies in South Asia, along with Etisalat of Sri Lanka and Paktel of Pakistan. Former BNP leader & former foreign minister M Morshed Khan is the founder chairman of PBTL (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) & Citycell. It was the only mobile operator in the country using CDMA and EVDO technology. Citycell's total mobile subscriber base was 0.142 million as of August 2016.[4] The ownership structure of Citycell was divided amongst SingTel (44.54%), Pacific Motors (37.95%) and Far East Telecom (17.51%). It was the smallest mobile operator of Bangladesh in terms of subscribers. In 2016, it ceased operations, due to the firms inability to pay dues ordered by the BTRC in 2016.[5]

History

Products offered

Citycell used to offer both prepaid and postpaid plans. Since Citycell operated in CDMA technology, it offered R-UIMs instead of SIMs.

Prepaid

Citycell previously offered nine different prepaid plans. Citycell started offering prepaid plans from 2003. It was the first to offer a prepaid plan with BTTB connectivity in the same year. In 2005, it launched the Aalap Call Me plan - the first phone plan with negative tariff in the country. In the plan, customers received credit towards their balance after they received calls from other Citycell subscribers. In the same year, Citycell launched Aalap Super plan. Subscribers of this plan could make free calls to other Citycell subscribers during late night hours. This espoused numerous copycat products from its competitors. Later that year the regulator, BTRC, ordered all phone companies to cease free call facility offerings. In 2006, Citycell launched Hello 0123 plan. The name 0123 signified tariff of Tk 0 for calls to one Citycell number of the subscriber's choice, Tk 1 for calls to two other Citycell numbers, Tk 2 for calls to all other Citycell numbers and Tk 3 for calls to all other networks. This plan was followed up with a string of other spinoff plans that continued into 2007.

Postpaid

The postpaid plan was branded as Citycell One. The Postpaid subscribers enjoy 4 FnF numbers to other operators, 30 sec pulse applicable for all outgoing, Data service etc. in additional. Besides, two newly launched postpaid plans are available.

In Dhaka International Trade fair 2009, Citycell Introduced a postpaid service called VOICE-DATA plan with cheaper tariff voice call and sms on any operator and BTTB (NWD) and 0.25 Tk/minute voice call and sms on any Citycell Number.

Zoom Ultra

Zoom Ultra is a data plan where the customer receives an internet dongle to surf the web in the regions which Citycell provides coverage. Zoom came with either one of two MODEMs, Huawei EC321 or ZTE MG880+. Zoom Ultra utilizes EV-DO technology. ZTE AC782 or Tianjian E618 is the dongle given with Zoom Ultra. Huawei EC5321 router is also offered for Zoom Ultra service. Zoom Ultra provides download speeds up to 512 kbit/s.

type	Private Limited
industry	Telecommunications
fate	Bankrupt
defunct	20 October 2016‡R1R‡
area served	Bangladesh
key people	Mehboob Chowdhury (CEO) David Lee (COO)
products	Telephony, Mobile Broadband, CDMA, EVDO, SMS
brands	Citycell, Zoom Ultra
revenue	$32 million (2012)
parent	Pacific Motors Limited (37.95%) Far East Telecom Limited (17.51%) SingTel Asia Pacific Investments Pte Ltd. (44.54%)‡R2R‡
foundation	1989
location	8th Floor Pacific Center, 14, Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka, Bangladesh
homepage	citycell.com

History

Products offered

Prepaid

Postpaid

Zoom Ultra

Criticism and penalty

External links

References