Grameenphone Ltd has recently reported a total of Tk 14,370 crore revenue in 2019 registering a 8.1 percent annual growth.

During the year, data revenue grew by 17 percent while voice revenue grew by 8.5 percent, said a press release of GP.

Grameenphone acquired 0.07crore new subscribers in the fourth quarter, reporting a total of 7.65 crore subscribers at the end of 2019 and a 5.1 percent growth year over year.

A total of 4.06crore or 53.1 percent of the subscribers of Grameenphone Ltd are using the internet services.

“2019 was a particularly tough year for Grameenphone on the regulatory front, it is facing many challenges that impacted our day to day operations. However, through excellent execution in the market and maintaining our network leadership position, we have delivered a solid business performance.”, said Michael Patrick Foley, CEO of Grameenphone Ltd.
 
“We want to reiterate our commitment towards meaningful consultations between our industry and the government that can enrich our service propositions and facilitate the current growth momentum of the country,” he added.

The Board of Directors of Grameenphone Ltd. have recommended 13.00 BDT dividend per share for the full year 2019 based on the decision taken at the board meeting held on January 27.

The Shareholders as of the record date of 17 February 2020 will be entitled for this final dividend, which is subject to the Shareholders’ approval at the 23rd AGM to be held on April 21.

In the fourth quarter, Grameenphone Ltd. invested Tk 390 crore for network coverage and added 715 new 4G sites along with network modernization.

The company also paid out Tk 8,510crore equaling 59.2 percent of its total revenues, to the national exchequer in the form of taxes, VAT, duties, fees, 4G license and spectrum assignment.

Further detail financial statements are available at: https://www.grameenphone.com/about/investor-relations/ir-financial-report

Grameenphone has announced the appointment of Sajjad Hasib as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), to be effective from February 01, 2020.

Sajjad will be the successor of Yasir Azman and second Bengali CMO after Azman, who will be undertaking the role of CEO as announced earlier this month.

As the CMO, Sajjad will lead Grameenphone’s integrated marketing, which includes brand strategy, market communications, digital marketing, business intelligence and customer service excellence efforts.

He will also continue to manage five business circle sales & marketing operations to lead Grameenphone’s growth and drive customer success through its digital products and solutions.

Before joining in Grameenphone, Sajjad had worked in the banking and FMCG sector along with other telecom companies at home and abroad.

He is a BBA graduate from North South University and has completed his MBA from the University of Bedfordshire, UK.

Grameenphone’s outgoing CMO Yasir Azman said “I’m happy to hand over my role to a strong man. We’re delighted that Sajjad has agreed to take on this challenging task.’

Sajjad said “I’m grateful to the management for entrusting me with this leadership responsibility and also to my entire organisation for the love, respect, and cooperation I have received in the last 14 years.”

Before this new assignment, Sajjad held the position of Senior Director & Head of Operations.

Mobile phone operator Grameenphone on Sunday filed a review petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking permission to pay Tk 575 crore in 12 instalments as an ‘adjustable deposit’ to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) over an audit dispute, almost triple the amount it offered to pay earlier.

The review petition was filed with the Appellate Division, said Hossain Sadat, Director and Head of Regulatory Affairs, Grameenphone.
 
“We are seeking consideration of the court to allow GP to deposit Tk 575 crore, which is 25 percent of the basic money demanded in the audit, through 12 equal monthly instalments,” Sadat said.

Earlier on November 24, the Supreme Court asked GP to pay Tk 2,000 crore of the Tk 12,579.95 crore dues claimed by BTRC as an adjustable deposit within 3 months.

The SC passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the telecom regulator against a High Court order.

It also said the two-month injunction on realisation of the dues slapped by the HC will be vacated if Grameenphone fails to pay the amount.

On October 24, the apex court wanted to know from GP how much of the amount claimed by BTRC it would be willing to cough up as adjustable deposit, to which the mobile phone company responded with an offer of Tk 200 crore.

China's software and information technology (IT) sector is increasingly driven by technology innovation, an industrial survey showed.

The index tracking the sector's overall development has continued to rise in recent years, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The 2019 index rose by 8.6 points over one year ago, with technology innovation as one of the sub-indice posting the fastest growth.

The tech innovation sub-index contributed 52.6 percent to the rise of the sector's overall development.

The total revenue of the software sector amounted to 6.46 trillion yuan (about 931.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2019, up 15.5 percent from a year earlier, MIIT data showed.

Google's chief executive called Monday for a balanced approach to regulating artificial intelligence, telling a European audience that the technology brings benefits but also "negative consequences."

Sundar Pichai's comments come as lawmakers and governments seriously consider putting limits on how artificial intelligence is used.

"There is no question in my mind that artificial intelligence needs to be regulated. The question is how best to approach this," Pichai said, according to a transcript of his speech at a Brussel-based think tank.

He noted that there's an important role for governments to play and that as the European Union and the U.S. start drawing up their own approaches to regulation, "international alignment" of any eventual rules will be critical. He did not provide specific proposals.

Pichai spoke on the same day he was scheduled to meet the EU's powerful competition regulator, Margrethe Vestager. She's also due to meet Microsoft President Brad Smith separately on Monday.

Vestager has in previous years hit the Silicon Valley giant with multibillion-dollar fines for allegedly abusing its market dominance to choke off competition. After being reappointed for a second term last autumn with expanded powers over digital technology policies, Vestager has now set her sights on artificial intelligence, and is drawing up rules on its ethical use.

Pichai's comments suggest the company may be hoping to head off a broad-based crackdown by the EU on the technology. Vestager and the EU have been the among the more aggressive regulators of big tech firms, an approach U.S. authorities have picked up with investigations into the dominance of companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

"Sensible regulation must also take a proportionate approach, balancing potential harms with social opportunities," he said, adding that it could incorporate existing standards like Europe's tough General Data Protection Regulation rather than starting from scratch.

While it promises big benefits, he raised concerns about potential downsides of artificial intelligence, citing as one example its role in facial recognition technology, which can be used to find missing people but also for "nefarious reasons" which he didn't specify.

In 2018, Google pledged not to use AI in applications related to weapons, surveillance that violates international norms, or that works in ways that go against human rights.

Pichai was also due on Monday to meet Frans Timmermans, the EU commissioner overseeing the European Green Deal, the bloc's plan to fight climate change by making the continent carbon neutral by 2050, including through technology. He's then scheduled to head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.