Advertising Effect of Grameen Phone

CHAPTER-01

INTRODUCTION

1.1  INTRODUCTION:

Grameenphone LTD, the largest telecommunication service provider in Bangladesh, received its operating license in November 1996 and started its operation from March 26, 1997, the independence day of Bangladesh. Now, after 14 years of successful operations, Grameenphone is the largest mobile phone service provider in Bangladesh, with about 36 million subscribers as of December 2011. The company was successfully listed on the stock exchange in November 2009 after the completion of the largest IPO in the history of Bangladesh. Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with over 13,000 base stations in more than 7000 locations. Presently, nearly 99 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network. Grameenphone has always been a pioneer in introducing new products and services in the local market. GP was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh when it launched its services in March 1997. Grameenphone was also the first operator to introduce the pre-paid service in September 1999. It established the first 24-hour Call Center (121), introduced value-added services such as VMS, SMS, fax and data transmission services, international roaming service, WAP, SMS-based push-pull services, EDGE, personal ring back tone and many other products and services. The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to high-speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently nearly 2.6 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network.

Radio commercials play significant role in influencing listeners on products and services. It has been revealed by previous studies reveal that the brand recall as well as the message from 30 seconds commercials is significantly higher than other modes of electronic media advertisements (Allan, 2007). Radio broadcast services are important for social...