Grameenphone
Encyclopedia
Grameenphone (DSE
:GP, CSE
:GP), widely known as GP, is the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh
. With more than 32 million subscribers (as of June 2011), Grameenphone is the largest cellular operator in the country. It is a joint venture enterprise between Telenor
and Grameen Telecom Corporation
, a non-profit sister concern of the internationally acclaimed microfinance
organization and community development bank Grameen Bank
. Telenor, the largest telecommunications company in Norway
, owns 55.8% shares of Grameenphone, Grameen Telecom owns 34.2% and the remaining 10% is publicly held.
Grameenphone was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh. It also established the first 24-hour Call Center to support its subscribers. With the slogan Stay Close, stated goal of Grameenphone is to provide affordable telephony to the entire population of Bangladesh.
, who is currently the founder and director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT. He was inspired by the Grameen Bank
microcredit model and envisioned a business model where a cell phone can serve as a source of income. After leaving his job as an investment banker in the United States, Quadir traveled back to Bangladesh, after meeting and successfully raising money from New York based investor and philanthropist Joshua Mailman, and worked for three years gaining support from various organizations including Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Muhammad Yunus
of Grameen Bank and the Norwegian telephone company, Telenor
. He was finally successful in forming a consortium with Telenor and Grameen Bank to establish Grameenphone. Quadir remained a shareholder of Grameenphone until 2004.
Grameenphone received a license
for cellular phone operation in Bangladesh from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. Grameenphone started operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day
in Bangladesh.
Grameenphone originally offered a mobile-to-mobile connectivity (widely known as GP-GP connection), which created a lot of enthusiasm among the users. It became the first operator to reach the million subscriber milestone
as well as ten million subscriber milestone in Bangladesh.
March 26, 1997: Grameenphone launched its service on the Independence Day of Bangladesh.
June 1998: Grameenphone started its services in Chittagong
, the second largest city and the port city of Bangladesh. Cell to cell coverage between Dhaka-Chittagong was established.
1999: Grameenphone started its service in Khulna
, the industrial city of Bangladesh. Also cell to cell coverage between Dhaka and Khulna brought a number of other districts under coverage.
2000: Grameenphone started its services in Rajshahi
, the education city of Bangladesh. Service also started in Sylhet
and Barisal and thus all six divisional headquarters got the cellular network coverage for the first time Bangladesh.
August 2003: Grameenphone's subscribes base has become more than one million. Grameenphone became the first operator in the country to reach the million subscribers.
November 2005: Grameenphone registered more than 5 million subscribers.
November 5, 2006: Grameenphone crosses the 10 million subscriber mark after almost ten years of operation.
September 20, 2007: Grameenphone reaches 15 million subscribers mark.
June 2008: Grameenphone reaches 20 million subscribers landmark.
+880 17 ABCDEFGH
880 is the ISD
code for Bangladesh and is needed only in case of dialing from outside Bangladesh (otherwise, it may be substituted by a 0, making the prefix 017). 17 is the prefix for Grameenphone as allocated by the government of Bangladesh. The eight-digit number ABCDEFGH is the subscriber number.
since 1997. It has invested over BDT 3,100 crore (USD 450 million) during the first three quarters of 2007 while BDT 2,100 crore (USD 310 million) was invested in 2006 alone.
Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network
in the country with over 10,000 base stations
in more than 5700 locations. Presently, nearly 98 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.
The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE
/GPRS enabled, allowing access to dial-up quality speed Internet
and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently nearly 3 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network.
.
Grameenphone also offers postpaid mobile service. xplore Postpaid is the name of its post paid service.
and the International Finance Corporation
(IFC), acting as the sole provider of telecommunications services to a number of rural areas. Most Village Phone participants are women living in remote areas. Village Phone works as an owner-operated GSM payphone whereby a borrower takes a BDT
12,000 (USD
200) loan from Grameen Bank to subscribe to GP (Grameenphone) and is then trained on how to operate it and how to charge others to use it at a profit. As in September 2006, there are more than 255,000 Village Phones in operation in 55,000 villages around Bangladesh. This program has been replicated also in some other countries including in Uganda
and Rwanda
in Africa
.
access and other communication
s services to rural areas. In February 2006, 26 CICs were established across the country as a pilot project. In this project, Grameenphone provides GSM/EDGE
/GPRS infrastructure and technical support and other partners Grameen Telecom Corporation and Society for Economic and Basic Advancement (SEBA), are involved in selecting and training entrepreneurs to run the village centers. The computers in these centers in the pilot project are used by an average of 30 people a day, who pay a small fee to access email or Web pages. These CICs are used for a wide variety of business and personal purposes, from accessing health and agricultural information to using government services to video conferencing with relatives overseas. Grameenphone also trains the entrepreneurs so that they can give people advice on how to set up an e-mail
account and best make use of the Internet.
CIC project is giving up to 20 million
people the chance to use the Internet and e-mail for the first time. Following a successful pilot project, Grameenphone is going to set up approximately 560 centers in communities throughout Bangladesh by the end of 2006. The centers will be located in each Upazila (sub-district) of Bangladesh. As a result, up to 15 villages containing up to 40,000 people will be within reach of each CIC. In this information center, there will be personal computers connected to Grameenphone's existing GSM mobile network, which has been upgraded with EDGE
technology to offer data transfer speeds of up to 16 kilobytes per second.
A grameenphone center (GPC) serves as a "one stop solution" for customers, with all telecommunications products and services, under a single roof. A grameenphone center also sells phones from vendors like Nokia
, Samsung
, Motorola
, Sagem
and Benq
. EDGE
/GPRS modems and accessories such chargers and headphones are also sold at GPCs.
As of September, 2007, there are 76 GPCs and they are strategically located at all major locations of the country is operated by Grameenphone. As of late most of the newly opened gpc's are franchised. Most of these franchised outlets are in non-metropolitan areas.
The GPCs also provide the flexiload service without charging extra for small denominations unlike many retailers in the country. Thus making the gpc's and ideal place for many for such a service.
Every once a while, the GPCs tie up with handset manufactures and start a nationwide marketing scheme by selling the specific vendors products at a price lower than the market's or in bundle with a grameenphone connection loaded with free minutes.
Dhaka Stock Exchange
Dhaka Stock Exchange is the main stock exchange of Bangladesh. It is located in Motijheel at the heart of the Dhaka city. It was incorporated in 1954. Dhaka stock exchange is the first stock exchange of the country...
:GP, CSE
Chittagong Stock Exchange
Chittagong Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the port city of Chittagong in southeastern Bangladesh. It was established in 1995 as the second stock exchange of the country. The exchange is located in the Agrabad commercial area of the city...
:GP), widely known as GP, is the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. With more than 32 million subscribers (as of June 2011), Grameenphone is the largest cellular operator in the country. It is a joint venture enterprise between Telenor
Telenor
Telenor Group is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor Group is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia, working predominantly under the Telenor brand...
and Grameen Telecom Corporation
Grameen Telecom
Grameen Telecom is a not-for-profit company in Bangladesh established by Dr. Muhammad Yunus with a partial stake in Grameen Phone . GTC has driven the pioneering GP program of Village Phone that enables rural poor to own a cell-phone and turn it into a profit making venture...
, a non-profit sister concern of the internationally acclaimed microfinance
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
organization and community development bank Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank
The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral...
. Telenor, the largest telecommunications company in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, owns 55.8% shares of Grameenphone, Grameen Telecom owns 34.2% and the remaining 10% is publicly held.
Grameenphone was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh. It also established the first 24-hour Call Center to support its subscribers. With the slogan Stay Close, stated goal of Grameenphone is to provide affordable telephony to the entire population of Bangladesh.
History
The idea of providing universal mobile phone access throughout Bangladesh, including its rural areas, was originally conceived by Iqbal QuadirIqbal Quadir
Iqbal Z. Quadir , founder of Gonofone and Grameenphone. He is currently the Founder and Director of the Legatum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of Advisory Board at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology...
, who is currently the founder and director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT. He was inspired by the Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank
The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral...
microcredit model and envisioned a business model where a cell phone can serve as a source of income. After leaving his job as an investment banker in the United States, Quadir traveled back to Bangladesh, after meeting and successfully raising money from New York based investor and philanthropist Joshua Mailman, and worked for three years gaining support from various organizations including Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
laureate Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
of Grameen Bank and the Norwegian telephone company, Telenor
Telenor
Telenor Group is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor Group is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia, working predominantly under the Telenor brand...
. He was finally successful in forming a consortium with Telenor and Grameen Bank to establish Grameenphone. Quadir remained a shareholder of Grameenphone until 2004.
Grameenphone received a license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
for cellular phone operation in Bangladesh from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. Grameenphone started operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day
Bangladeshi Independence Day
March 26 is the National Day of Bangladesh.This day is celebrated as the Independence Day in Bangladesh. This commemorates the declaration of independence, and the start of Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971...
in Bangladesh.
Grameenphone originally offered a mobile-to-mobile connectivity (widely known as GP-GP connection), which created a lot of enthusiasm among the users. It became the first operator to reach the million subscriber milestone
Milestone
A milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road or boundary at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile. They are typically located at the side of the road or in a median. They are alternatively known as mile markers, mileposts or mile posts...
as well as ten million subscriber milestone in Bangladesh.
Chronology
November 28, 1996: Grameenphone Ltd. received cellular license by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Bangladesh.March 26, 1997: Grameenphone launched its service on the Independence Day of Bangladesh.
June 1998: Grameenphone started its services in Chittagong
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
, the second largest city and the port city of Bangladesh. Cell to cell coverage between Dhaka-Chittagong was established.
1999: Grameenphone started its service in Khulna
Khulna
Khulna is the third largest city in Bangladesh. It is located on the banks of the Rupsha and Bhairab rivers in Khulna District. It is the divisional headquarters of Khulna Division and a major industrial and commercial center. It has a seaport named Mongla on its outskirts, 38 km from Khulna...
, the industrial city of Bangladesh. Also cell to cell coverage between Dhaka and Khulna brought a number of other districts under coverage.
2000: Grameenphone started its services in Rajshahi
Rajshahi
The city of Rajshahi is the divisional headquarters of Rajshahi division as well as the administrative district that bears its name and is one of the six metropolitan cities of Bangladesh. Often referred to as Silk City and Education City, Rajshahi is located in the north-west of the country and...
, the education city of Bangladesh. Service also started in Sylhet
Sylhet
Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...
and Barisal and thus all six divisional headquarters got the cellular network coverage for the first time Bangladesh.
August 2003: Grameenphone's subscribes base has become more than one million. Grameenphone became the first operator in the country to reach the million subscribers.
November 2005: Grameenphone registered more than 5 million subscribers.
November 5, 2006: Grameenphone crosses the 10 million subscriber mark after almost ten years of operation.
September 20, 2007: Grameenphone reaches 15 million subscribers mark.
June 2008: Grameenphone reaches 20 million subscribers landmark.
Changing logo
On the November 16, 2006 GP formally changed its logo to match its parent company Telenor's logo. According to GP the new logo symbolizes trust, reliability, quality and constant progress. The name Grameenphone was kept as part of the new identity because the name Grameenphone carries with it all of the heritage, success and values of the company's past, added the then CEO of Grameenphone Erik Aas.Numbering scheme
Grameenphone uses the following numbering scheme for its subscribers:+880 17 ABCDEFGH
880 is the ISD
International Subscriber Dialling
International direct dialing or international subscriber dialing is the process of an international telephone call being placed by the caller rather than by an operator. The term international subscriber dialing was used in the United Kingdom and Australia until the terminology was changed to...
code for Bangladesh and is needed only in case of dialing from outside Bangladesh (otherwise, it may be substituted by a 0, making the prefix 017). 17 is the prefix for Grameenphone as allocated by the government of Bangladesh. The eight-digit number ABCDEFGH is the subscriber number.
Network
According to Grameenphone, it has so far invested more than BDT 10,700 crore (USD 1.6 billion) to build the network infrastructureTelecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...
since 1997. It has invested over BDT 3,100 crore (USD 450 million) during the first three quarters of 2007 while BDT 2,100 crore (USD 310 million) was invested in 2006 alone.
Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network
Telecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...
in the country with over 10,000 base stations
Base Station Subsystem
The base station subsystem is the section of a traditional cellular telephone network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile phone and the network switching subsystem...
in more than 5700 locations. Presently, nearly 98 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.
The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
/GPRS enabled, allowing access to dial-up quality speed Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently nearly 3 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network.
Mobile Telephony
Grameenphone was the first operator to introduce the pre-paid mobile phone service in Bangladesh in September 1999. It offers the pre-paid subscription under the name Easy Prepaid which is currently calld "smile prepaid". Besides smile, Grameenphone also offers a youth based mobile to mobile connectivity within Bangladesh named djuiceDjuice
djuice is a youth based mobile phone plan from Telenor. It is currently available in Bangladesh, Hungary, Montenegro, Norway, Pakistan, Sweden and Ukraine. Djuice was available in Malaysia, New Zealand and Thailand...
.
Grameenphone also offers postpaid mobile service. xplore Postpaid is the name of its post paid service.
Other Services
- Internet : Grameenphone provides internet service in its coverage area. As it has EDGE/GPRS enabled network, any subscriber can access to internet through this network. Grameenphone was the first mobile operator in Bangladesh to offer EDGE services to its subscribers.
- BillPay : A service to enable users to pay their utility bills Electricity/Gas through mobile.
- CellBazaar : A service to enable users sell or buy products through mobile or internet.
- Various other services like StockStock marketA stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
Information, Instant Messaging, SMS Based Alerts/Services, Voice-based Services, Downloads, MusicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, CricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
Updates, WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
SMS, Mobile Backup etc.
Village phone
With the help of Grameenphone, Grameen Telecom operates the national Village Phone programme, alongside its own parent Grameen BankGrameen Bank
The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral...
and the International Finance Corporation
International Finance Corporation
The International Finance Corporation promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries.IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States....
(IFC), acting as the sole provider of telecommunications services to a number of rural areas. Most Village Phone participants are women living in remote areas. Village Phone works as an owner-operated GSM payphone whereby a borrower takes a BDT
Bangladeshi taka
The Taka is the currency of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country controls the issuance of the currency except one taka and two taka notes, which are the responsibility of Ministry of Finance of the government of Bangladesh...
12,000 (USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
200) loan from Grameen Bank to subscribe to GP (Grameenphone) and is then trained on how to operate it and how to charge others to use it at a profit. As in September 2006, there are more than 255,000 Village Phones in operation in 55,000 villages around Bangladesh. This program has been replicated also in some other countries including in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
Community Information Centers
Community Information Center (CIC) or GPCIC is aimed at providing internetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
access and other communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
s services to rural areas. In February 2006, 26 CICs were established across the country as a pilot project. In this project, Grameenphone provides GSM/EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
/GPRS infrastructure and technical support and other partners Grameen Telecom Corporation and Society for Economic and Basic Advancement (SEBA), are involved in selecting and training entrepreneurs to run the village centers. The computers in these centers in the pilot project are used by an average of 30 people a day, who pay a small fee to access email or Web pages. These CICs are used for a wide variety of business and personal purposes, from accessing health and agricultural information to using government services to video conferencing with relatives overseas. Grameenphone also trains the entrepreneurs so that they can give people advice on how to set up an e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
account and best make use of the Internet.
CIC project is giving up to 20 million
Million
One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
people the chance to use the Internet and e-mail for the first time. Following a successful pilot project, Grameenphone is going to set up approximately 560 centers in communities throughout Bangladesh by the end of 2006. The centers will be located in each Upazila (sub-district) of Bangladesh. As a result, up to 15 villages containing up to 40,000 people will be within reach of each CIC. In this information center, there will be personal computers connected to Grameenphone's existing GSM mobile network, which has been upgraded with EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
technology to offer data transfer speeds of up to 16 kilobytes per second.
Grameenphone Centers
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, Sagem
SAGEM
SAGEM was a major French company involved in defence electronics, consumer electronics and communication systems.In 2005, Sagem merged with SNECMA to form SAFRAN...
and Benq
BenQ
BenQ Corporation is a Taiwanese multi-national company that sells and markets consumer electronics, computing and communications devices under the "BenQ" brand name, which stands for the company slogan Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life .- Company :BenQ sells and markets technology products,...
. EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
/GPRS modems and accessories such chargers and headphones are also sold at GPCs.
As of September, 2007, there are 76 GPCs and they are strategically located at all major locations of the country is operated by Grameenphone. As of late most of the newly opened gpc's are franchised. Most of these franchised outlets are in non-metropolitan areas.
The GPCs also provide the flexiload service without charging extra for small denominations unlike many retailers in the country. Thus making the gpc's and ideal place for many for such a service.
Every once a while, the GPCs tie up with handset manufactures and start a nationwide marketing scheme by selling the specific vendors products at a price lower than the market's or in bundle with a grameenphone connection loaded with free minutes.
Awards
- Grameenphone received the GSM in the Community Award at the global GSM Congress held in CannesCannesCannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in February 2000 for its Village Phone initiative. - In 2002, Grameenphone was adjudged the Best Joint Venture Enterprise of the Year at the Bangladesh Business Awards.
- Grameenphone was presented with the GSM Association's Global Mobile Award for ‘Best use of Mobile for Social and Economic Development' under Bridging the digital divide category at the 3GSM World Congress held in SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, in October 2006, for its Community Information Center (CIC) project. - In the next year, 2007, Grameenphone was again presented with the same award for its `HealthLine Service' at the 3GSM World Congress held in BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, in February.