Agence France Presse

Dhaka, March 18:

Bangladesh’s first private land phone operator will offer customers 100,000 new connections from Sunday, ending a state monopoly in the sector, officials said on Friday. Bay Phones is one of 12 firms given fixed line licenses by the country’s telecom regulator in February 2004.

The company, the first to start operating, is a joint venture between Westec.com of the United States and its Bangladesh-based counterpart Westec Corporation. Bay Phones will launch services in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, chairman M.A. Hashem told AFP.

Previously, state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) enjoyed a monopoly in land line phone services. The opening up of the sector is expected to result in a big jump in the number of land phone connections. At present BTTB offers around 950,000.

Hashem said his company planned to increase the number of subscribers to half a million within two years.