Efforts of Banglalink:

To achieve the goal through fully motivated, committed and dedicated work force.
Committed to the clien:
Respond to the customer needs with speed and accuracy
Share their values and beliefs
Grow as our customer grow
Offer first rated solutions of client problems and issues
Provide product and service at competitive pricing
Create life long relationship based on mutual trust and respect
Provide service with high degree of professionalism and use of most modern technology
Value of Banglalink:
Banglalink aims to understand peoples needs best and develop appropriate communication
services

to

improve

peoples

life

and

make

it

simple.

To ensure their vision is achieved, they have set their selves a few values, they want to be:
Customer focus
Integrity quality
Team work
Respect for the individual
Responsible Citizenship
Straight Forward
Reliable
Innovative
Passionate

Making a Difference:
When Banglalink entered the Bangladesh telecom industry in February 2005, the scenario
changed overnight with mobile telephony becoming an extremely useful and affordable
communication tool for people across all segments.
Within one year of operation, Banglalink became the fastest growing mobile operator of the
country with a growth rate of 257%. This milestone was achieved with innovative and
attractive products and services targeting the different market segments; aggressive
improvement of network quality and dedicated customer care; and effective communication
that emotionally connected customers with Banglalink.

Level of Competition:
The level of competition of the Banglalink is very high. We can divided the competitors in to two
categories:
Close Competitors:
Grameen Phone
Airtel
Robi
Teletalk
Citycell

New approach towards PR and Communication

In the process of coming up with any new approach, it was a crucial to draw both the positive
or negative, pros and cons and etc. Only doing so, it will be clearly visible what can be done
in order to come up with any new approach in this aspect as the PR and communication team
of Banglalink is already competing with the market leader that it is a hard thing to figure out
what new approach could be implemented as new approach. Now, some current problems of
the PR communication will be highlighted which from my perspective stand as fixable issues.
They follow
After observing critically, I have figured that Banglalink is somewhat deviated from their

core business plan. Initially, they started off with the plan of reaching the maximum market
share but 10 years down the line they have move from their core business plan to just
keeping up in the completion with the other competitors in the market.
On the other hand, the pricing setting should be one of the major concerns here since

customers nowadays prefer lower price over the brand. Premium price in this case is not a
very good decision to make considering the image Banglalink has in the market.
Banglalink needs to make the market population more aware of their brand because the

customers knowing about this specific brand will help them to increase their market share.
For example, the latest advertisement of Banglalink, Bondhut-ter khelay jitbe shobai
created an AIRTEL impression in customers mind which was somewhat negative in
terms of Banglalink because everyone thought that it was an AIRTEL advertisement.
Message clarity is also a crucial for any brand to make sure that the messages that are

being generated are clearly understandable and serving the messages proper purpose.
For example, the 1GB smart internet pack was a TVC which was somewhat provided no
clear view and the usefulness of the product. In this case, the advertisement could not
convey a proper message to its customers.
Banglalink also has to be aware of its image that this brand carries. One of its campaigns
was Banglalink Desh where they were very much successful about the campaign until it
was exceeding its limit. The campaign had different phases and all of them had a festive
and singing and dancing theme which ultimately became more like an identity of the
entire Banglalink. Eventually that festive theme of started becoming sort of negative for
Banglalink because it was loud compared to all the other brands at that specific period of
time.

SWOT Analysis

Through the SWOT analysis of Banglalink brand, the marketing brand gets a transparent view
of what their strength, weakness, opportunity and threats which they have to utilize in order to
bring changes to ensure growth and success. The marketing department of Banglalink is
responsible for its brand name, fame, growth, fall and etc.
The strengths that were figured out are some of the most important ones to mention where
the first one is conveying messages which are inspiring and motivational to the target
consumer as well as the entire nation because their message is something that gives a clear
and similar meaning that people have in their mind. On the other hand, not only the marketing
department adds value, all the departments add ample amount of value in the company.
These workforces are also dependent on the resources that Banglalink has without which it
would be a critical journey to achieve goals. These resources include vendors, people outside
the corporate as well as people from various regions and etc. These are some of the
strengths that has been highlighted of Banglalinks marketing focusing on their marketing
activities.
Next to the strength, there are some weaknesses that are standing on the way. Price is a
significant issue in this case because in the telecommunication market, price and quality are
the 2 basic factors where these factors basically decide the position of each company of the
company.

All though the network of Banglalink is significantly better than most of the other companies,
they charge a slightly more than some of the other companies. This stands as weakness for
Banglalink. On the other hand, the government regulations sometimes create many
obligations which stop the company to make new moves and ultimately stand increases
weakness. Tax rate fluctuation is also harmful for the brand because customers rather focus
on the rate than what the tax rate is. Here, lack of innovation is also a weakness in terms of
new changes in the tradition and ways. Banglalink should emphasize on generating
innovative idea as well as bringing new changes in their campaigns.
On another note, there are several opportunities open to Banglalink to grab which will bring
positive change in the company. Capturing the growing market is a big opportunity for the
company to increase its market share which is one of the core goal for all the companies in
the telecommunication industry. Internet is already in the market which also brought many
changes in the tradition nut bringing new features or use of internet can also be a great
opportunity for the company to grasp. An opportunity also lies between the use of voice call
and data call. These to services can be separated in order to make both of them run in the
market properly. Banglalink mainly focus on the youth in most of the cases where as they can
grasp the opportunity to target different segments of the market and serve them separately
which will give the company the opportunity to step aside from the traditional flow.
Finally, in a highly competitive market, a company must have some threats that will drive the
company to do well and to move ahead with an aim of better position in the market. In this
case Banglalink also has several threats. Competitors coming up with better and favorable
key offers can stand as a big threat to the company. Moreover, nowadays, people are making
their daily phone calls over Viber, whatsapp or skyoe which leaves the companies in great
threat making way less revenue compared to what they used to make before. On the other
hand, due to the increase in tax customers blamed the company for increasing the call rate
rather than blaming the government. This resulted as a threat for the company in losing their
customers faith on the brand.

Recommendation
New Approaches
Long term planning of the organizations is very essential because without a particular aim
of all the departments, it will be very hard to bring positive changes for the organization.
Rather than just competing with the market competitors, Banglalink should set new goals to
chase them in order to set up a new ground in the market.

Making participation open to not only the higher level but also to all the people in the

marketing department because in that case the window of getting new ideas gets narrowed
down. Currently the agency makes and comes up with all the ideas whereas the marketing
department employees should also be encouraged to come up with different ideas or ways
of promoting the brand.
Overcoming a lot of other limitation within the department is also needed to be made so the

scope of improvements does not narrow down. If the limitations narrow down the
improvements, the growth of the company will slowly stop from within and the productivity
will also get lost.
The marketing department can have their own in house graphics development team which

will increase productivity and will be able to get the works swiftly done because the
productivity gets very low when the PR team has to wait to for the agency to develop a
theme or a deign to send back to the PR team. The reason behind this is because there
are limited amount of resource in terms of preparing a design in a short time.
The team has to be more proactive and focused to come up with more innovative and out

of the box ideas to take lead in the current competition in the market. Only the company
that can dominate other companies with their innovation and better planning can only
penetrate the market and take lead in the market. That is something that Banglalink should
also follow to reach the top of the ladder.
Banglalink should also try to maintain a flat organization strategy because in that case

employees will feel more importance and give their best by participating in the
organizations decision making and bring out new and huge changes in the organization
which can separate Banglalink from the rest of the other companies in the industry and
stand in the first in the row.
Banglalink has to identify their archetype and follow all the necessary guidelines and
elements in order to make it clear to their customers about their function as well as their
product types and categories which will result the brand to have a solid image in the market
and boost its reputation in the industry.

Behind Banglalink
ORASCOM TELECOM is one of the most dynamic telecommunications powerhouses in the
world. Orascom is based in Egypt and has operations in 11 countries worldwide. Established in
1998, it is today the largest capitalized company on the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchanges with
over 11 million subscribers worldwide. It has grown to be one of the largest and most diversified
GSM network operator in the Middle East, Africa and Asia

Sales and Marketing

The Sales& Marketing department functions in different categories such as Research &
Product Development, Marketing Communications, Corporate & Direct Sales, Channel

Management, FWT & Backbone Solutions, Logistics & Trade Support, International Roaming
etc.
Sales and marketing is responsible for setting up of the sales channels and mechanisms by
which the services packages are actually sold to the customers. This department also deals
with corporate sales. This department however deals mainly with sales to corporate
customers and maintenance of relations with both current clients as well as counting out
potential new corporate clients, whereas the after sales service and other issues are dealt
with by the customer services operations section of the company. This department also has
the very important job of setting up marketing channels by which packages are distributed
among clients and feedback is obtained from customers. This department is responsible for
the selection of dealers and motivating them to promote banglalink packages to the
customers in their respective areas. Brand Marketing and Research & Product Development
id responsible for all the promotional activities of banglalink products, developing brand image
and also designing new packages.

Customer Care:
Customer Care Department is responsible for coordinating all sorts of customer support
activities. Its primary task is to ensure that challenging goals are set for each sub-department
according to the organizational aims and each employee understands his or her role in
supporting the customer. CCD has a responsibility to ensure smooth coordination between
the activation, servicing and bill collection activities. CCD operated in different sections such
as front office, activation and Verification, collection and retention, call center etc.
Call Center is a 24hours service provided to the customers where a customer can easily call
to the hunting numbers and ask for any sort of queries & clarification. Call Center Agents try
to solve the customers problem instantly if possible or guide them accordingly.
Another functional area under the Customer Care Department is Workshop where faulty
handsets are repaired.
Corporate Affairs & Strategic Planning:
This department has been introduces recently to facilitate the following activities:
Secretarial Activities ensure proper implementation of relevant laws of company acts and
ensures

proper

reporting

to

various

regulatory

bodies.

Tax & Vat Managing and controlling corporate tax and Vat related issues and co-ordinate

with

the

tax

regulatory

boards.

Business activates regularly meets regulatory bodies and different stakeholders to ensure
smooth

running

of

operational

activities

of

the

company.

Revenue Assurance ensures revenue of the company and develops strategy to increase
revenue as well as protection of revenue leakage.
Market Summary
Banglalink posses good information about the market knows a great deal about the common
attributes of the most valued customer. Before launching its experienced and prompt sell and
marketing force observed the market carefully and better understood who is served, what is
their specific needs and the way to communicate with the customers need and demand.
Market Needs:
Banglalink is providing a wide range of services for its valued customers. The company seeks
following benefits that are important for its customers:
Quality Service: Banglalink is providing quality service to the employers. The customers dont
like the network problem and slow networking system. Banglalink recruits high professional
employees and experts to make the network available for the customers. It is the company
which expands its network all over the country within the shortest period of time after starting
its operation. Banglalink is committed to its customer about the quality service.
Customer Service: Banglalink has both online and physical customer care service for its
customers. The valued customer can solve the problems over mobile phone dialing 121. It
has also customer care service all over the country mainly in the city areas. But the centers
are too limited to meet the huge demand. Now at this banglalink is expanding its customer
care centers and upgrading its quality. Banglalink is committed to meet the customer demand
and problem as soon as possible.
Service at Low Price: Before Banglalink starts its operation the tariff was higher than any
other period. At that time the three mobile companies charged tk. 6 for per minute outgoing
calls and tk.2 for per sms. But the company was committed to provide quality service at a
lowest price. As a result Banglalink is the fastest growing telecom company in Bangladesh.
This is because of providing quality service at a lowest price.
Market

Growth

Though the call rate tariff is reducing due to the heavy competition in the telecom market, the
market is widening day by day as the number of mobile users are increasing and there is a lot
of scope to develop this sector. Banglalink is the fastest growing telecom sector in banglalink.
Sheba Phone became Bnglalink in 2005 when ORASCOM graphed the company. At the time
launching as the name of Banglalink there was only a few thousand customers but within the
three years its number of customers has raised more than 4 million. Banglalink is the second
largest

telecom

company

operating

in

Bangladesh.

Product

Life

cycle

The process of developing and maintaining a fit between an organizations goals and the
dynamic

environment

is

the

strategic

planning.

Marketing strategy is the means by which a marketing goal is to be achieved under the
observation

of

the

position

of

the

product.

Today understanding customer is crucial, but it is not enough. Under the marketing concept,
companies gain competitive advantage by satisfying target consumer needs better than
competitors do. Thus, marketing strategies must consider not only the needs of target
consumers,

but

also

the

strategies

of

competitors.

To prepare a marketing strategy it is necessary to know the position of the product in its
Product Life Cycle.
Figure

8:

Product

Life

Cycle

of

banglalik

Comparing the external environment BANGLALINKs product is placed at the growth stage of
its life cycle. Knowing this position will help to determine which strategy is to apply.
Market share of BANGLALINK is growing at a positive rate in total market. That means the
overall growth rate compare to over all market BANGLALINK is in the Growth Stage. From
the

information

provided

that

BANGLALINK

is

in

DOG

situation.

Companys objective must be profitable growth. Since marketing has the main responsibility
to achieve profit and lay down strategies for capturing them, BANGLALINK has followed the
same technique in the operations. The company position dictates the companys growth
strategies.

SWOT ANAYSIS
Strength
Company Image
Existing Channel
Well Management capability
Expert Marketing people
Skilled worker
Capability to Finance Weakness
Lack of experience

Short of sales people

Opportunity
New products Idea
Large Market
Availability of raw materials
Bankable Project
Low price of raw materials Threats
Political unrest
Extortion and rising crimes,
New Competitors
banglalink made a revelation in the telecommunication sector. Citycell was the
first to start telecommunication business in Bangladesh in 1989. GP and Aktel
started their business from 1997 & 1998. The service charge was great but the
facilities was few. Banglalink made the history by inviting varity of services at a
very cheaper rate.
GrameenPhone
AKTEL
Banglalink
Teletalk
Warid Telecom
GrmeenPhone is the leader of the mobile market but banglalink is the second
biggest company in Bangladesh. Banglalink is the main competitor in the mobile
market.
The market research also concludes that although banglalink is not the market
leader in telecommunication market, they are the Market Challenger, as the
following figure shows the market share of banglalink in the telecommunication
market.
The firms that are not in the top most position but quite large, this runner up
firms can challenge the leader and other competitors in an aggressive bid for
more market share, and it is challenging the market. A market challenger first
must define which competitors to challenge and its strategic objective. A
challenger can attack the market leader, a high-risk but potentially high-gain
strategy that makes good sense if the leader is not serving the market well. To
succeed with such an attack, a company must have some sustainable
competitive advantage over the leadera cost advantage leading to lower prices
or the ability to provide better value at a premium price. It could include a
strategy of market challenger.

banglalink s competitor to challenge the market is GRAMEEN PHONE (GP) and

their strategic objective is To receive an economic return on its investment

Marketing Strategy
Mission
To deliver innovative, customer focused products and to be the benchmark for
customer service excellence.
Banglalink mission is to provide clear and smooth telecommunication to the
customers and make the banglalink services available to all part of Bangladesh.
Marketing Objective
o Maintain strong and positive growth.
o Achieve a steady increase in market penetration.
o Hold a strong market position within few years.
Target Market
Organization that sells to consumer and business markets cannot appeal to all
buyers in those markets or at least not to all buyers in the same way. Buyers are
too numerous, too widely scattered, and too varied in their needs and buying
practices.
Incase of BANGLALINK, from teenager to any age group; from lower-middle class
to upper-upper; from Teknuff to Tetulia regardless to race, religion, gender
literacy level, life style or personality any and every single person who is in need
of a telephone line backed with affordability spend the expense of possessing a
mobile phone is their target market.
This indicates that in choosing market segment, segmental marketing is
appropriate for them. That means the company should recognize that buyers
differ in their needs, perceptions, and buying behavior.
For this BANGLALINK have made a various type of customization in phone lines
and phone set along with different prices are charged against each segment of
the target market. Below the various types of mobile phone sets, lines, prices
and the billing system offered by BANGLALINK are discussed related to
geographic, demographic, and psycho-graphic segmentations.
The Customer Satisfaction on Employees
of Banglalink Customer Care 10
Banglalink (An ORASCOM
TELECOM Company.) Date of
inauguration

February 2005

Date of operation

February 2005

Total no of Regions

Total Customers

12.1 Million

Total no. of employee

5000

Manager

12%

Executives

11%

Engineers

8%

Senior Engineers

5%

Zonal Sales Manager

4%

Zonal Customer Care Manager

12%

Others

48%

Male

90%

Female

10%

Website

www.banglalinkgsm.com

Coverage area

64 District

Revenue

US$288 million (2008), 49.2% from 2007

Head Office:

Banglalink Tigers Den Plot 4, SW (H)

Gulshan Avenue Dhaka 1212,
Bangladesh

3.0. Customer Service:

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a
purchase. According to Jamier L. Scott. (2002). Customer service is a series of activities
designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that a
product or service has met the customer expectation."
Customer service is normally an integral part of a companys customer value
proposition.
From the point of view of an overall sales process engineering effort, customer service
plays an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue.
From that perspective, customer service should be included as part of an overall
approach to systematic improvement. Some have argued that the quality and level of
customer service has decreased in recent years, and that this can be attributed to a lack
of support or understanding at the Modern and precise definition of Customer Service:
"Customer Service is a function of how well an organization is able to constantly
and consistently exceed the needs of the customer."

3.1. Customer Care: Customer Care is the processing of meeting (and exceeding)
your customer expectations of service.

Objectives of Customer Care

create a culture of customer focus
creating rapport and building loyalty
achieving customer satisfactionDeveloping Customer Care strategies
The choice of strategy will be dependent on
ensuring general health and survival of the organisation
increasing growth and prosperity
ensuring an approach which is consistent and feasible

3.2. Customer Service Representative Customer service representatives

interact with customers to provide information in response to inquires about products
and services. They also handle and resolve customer's complaints. Some customer
service representatives assist individuals interested in opening accounts for various
utilities such as electricity and gas, or for communication services such as cable
television and telephone. In many cases, they gather information by phone or in person.
They receive orders for services to be installed, turned on, turned off, or changed. They
may look into and resolve complaints about billings and service provided by phone,
cable television, and utility companies. Customer service representatives also may
explain how to use equipment and solve any equipment problems. Others explain to
users how to navigate an Internet site. Self-service Web sites and e-mail are providing
more efficient and targeted customer service.
3.4. Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is the state of mind that
customers have about a company when their expectations have been met or
exceeded over the lifetime of the product or service. The achievement of
customer satisfaction leads to company loyalty and product repurchase. For
example, it can refer to any or all of the following:
Satisfaction with the quality of a particular product or service

Satisfaction with an ongoing business relationship

Satisfaction with the price-performance ratio of a product or service

Satisfaction because a product/service met or exceeded the customer's

expectations

Each industry could add to this list according to the nature of the business and
the specific relationship with the customer. Customer satisfaction measurement
variables will differ depending on what type of satisfaction is being researched.

Types of Communication

Internal-operational communication

1. Internal-operational communication is that type of communication which

consists the communications that directly relates to achieving the
organizations work goal.

2.

It also refers to the communications within the organization and among

the people working inside the organization.

Internal-operational communication goes in 2 ways:

1. Formal Communication
2. Informal Communication

Internal-operational communication
Formal communication occurs in 2 ways:
1. Downward communication
2. Upward communication

Informal communication occurs in 4 ways:

Upward communication

Downward communication

Horizontal communication

Grapevine communication.