Citycell Back Ground

1.0 CityCell back ground

In October 1990, Hutchison Bangladesh Telecom Limited (HBTL) was formed as a joint venture

between Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL) and Hutchison Whampoa Limited of Hong Kong.

In March of that year BTL had been issued a license by Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone

Board (BTTB) for operating cellular, paging and other wireless communication networks.

However, soon there was legal dispute between BTTB and BTL regarding the refusal of BTTB

to provide Public Switch Telecommunication Network (PSTN) channels for connectivity to the

BTTB network. The Supreme Court then ruled in April 1993 that BTTB would have to provide

PSTN connections to HBTL, and that BTL would have to transfer the cellular portion to the

license of HBTL. BTTB gave HBTL the PSTN connections in August 1993 and HBTL began

commercial operation of the first cellular telephone service in Bangladesh in the same month.

The owners of HBTL decided to sell their stakes in the company due to the legal war. HBTL’s

shares were divided into two parts: Type A, which was held by BTL and Type B, held by

Hutchison. Each type of share represented 50% title of HBTL. Pacific Motors Limited bought

the type A shares while Hong Kong based financial investors Far East Telecom Limited bought

the Type B shares.

CityCell is the brand name of the product of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL). This is a

concern of Pacific Group, which is involved in the business of banking, automobiles,

pharmaceuticals, fisheries, healthcare, and tea. On June 2, 2005, PBTL created a milestone

through strategic partnership with SingTel, Asia’s leading communications solution provider.

This has opened up a whole lot of opportunities for CityCell to make its position stronger in the

market. With the financial and technical expertise from SingTel, PBTL is in a position to bring a

host of innovative products and services for the customers at affordable prices. PBTL start its

journey in 1993 as the forerunner in the mobile telecom industry, introducing postpaid packages

for the high-end-users. It obtained its business license