Dhaka, Oct 2 (UNB)- Robi and Travel booking Bangladesh Limited offered 50% discounts on their roaming package while traveling abroad. 

This is the first time such discount has been offered on international roaming usage bills in the country.

This is the first time in Bangladesh that a telecommunication company has partnered with a travel agency to make traveling easy for travelers. Under this offer, travelers who are availing services from Travel Booking BD, will be eligible for getting a complimentary Robi connection with international roaming facility.

These international roaming facilities offer different roaming bundle for voice calls, SMS and unlimited internet in 54 countries that include the top destinations such as: India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Thailand, UK, China, Hong Kong etc. 

With this offer, travelers will be able to use their Robi SIM cards in a foreign land avoiding the hassle of purchasing a local SIM card, thereby, allowing the traveler to stay connected and roam worry-free wherever they go. 
Commenting on this first ever offer in the country, Robi’s Vice President, Customer Life-cycle Management and International Business, Biplav Majumdar said “Our intention is to create convenience for our customers by ensuring connectivity even outside of the country- where our international roaming service adds value by giving them freedom to use the same number abroad.”

Founder and CEO of Travel Booking BD, Kashef Rahman said, “One of the major difficulties that travelers face abroad is the hassle of purchasing SIM card to stay connected. Offering this service to our customers will enhance their experience and they will be able to get a seamless connectivity, no matter if it’s a pleasure trip or a business travel.”

Other details will available on Robi website (www.robi.com.bd) or Travel Booking BD website (www.travelbookingbd.com).
 

Dhaka, Oct 2 (UNB) - A recently released research report shows that by late 2017 only 13 percent of Bangladeshis aged 15-65 used the Internet and social media. This is despite 45 percent of the same age group owning an Internet-friendly device.

The findings are part of AfterAccess, an international-award-winning effort to collect reliable data on access to and use of mobile phones and the Internet in the Global South.

The Bangladesh-specific results of the AfterAccess surveys were released by a regional ICT-policy think-tank, LIRNEasia, in a city hotel on Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Mustafa Kamal, DG (Engineering & Operation) BTRC, Michael Foley, CEO, Grameenphone, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, CEO, Robi, Taimur Rahman, Chief Corporate & Regulatory Affairs of Banglalink, Abu Saeed Khan, Senior Policy Fellow, LIRNEasia were present, among others.

“Mobile phones and the Internet are becoming ubiquitous, and information on access to and use of mobile phone and the Internet are of prime importance to governments and other decision-makers,” said lead researcher for the Asia component, Helani Galpaya, CEO of LIRNEasia.

“The available information is insufficient, in that it is either supply-side provided, or not representative of national populations. The only meaningful way to understand the real level of access and use is by talking to users (and non-users) directly. This is what we have done with the AfterAccess surveys.”

In Bangladesh, 2,000 households and individuals were surveyed from 100 wards and villages in 40 districts. The sampling methodology was designed to ensure representation of the target group (population aged 15-65) at a national level with 95% confidence interval and a +/-3.3% margin of error.

The methodology used in Bangladesh is comparable across all 18 survey countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  

“This report highlights key issues in our telecommunications sector and provides deep insights on disparity in use of mobile phones, Internet, social media and platforms,” said Abu Saeed Khan, Senior Policy Fellow of LIRNEasia. “It also underscores the potential for growth of a Digital Bangladesh, and we must use this data to inform future policy, regulatory and industry decisions.”

Sixty-seven percent of Bangladeshis aged 15-65 who do not use the Internet said the main reason for not using the Internet is that they do not know what it is. This finding highlights the importance of creating awareness on the Internet and its uses among the population.

This research was conducted with financial support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Ford Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Washington, Oct 1 (AP/UNB) — It won't be an easy job.

Whoever becomes the new chairman of Tesla Motors will face the formidable task of reining in Elon Musk, the charismatic, visionary chief executive with an impulsive streak, while also helping Musk achieve his dream of turning Tesla into a profitable, mass-market producer of environmentally-friendly electric cars.

Musk is giving up the chairman's role under a settlement announced Saturday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Besides a new chairman, Tesla was also ordered to appoint two new, independent members to its board. A more assertive board could provide the kind of tighter oversight that many legal experts, and Tesla investors, say is overdue for a company of Tesla's market value.

The settlement stemmed from a lawsuit the SEC filed charging Musk with misleading investors in August with a tweet that said he had "funding secured" for taking the company private.

Yet a more forceful board, coupled with a domineering CEO like Musk, could create conflicts at a risky time for the company. Visionary CEOs such as Apple's Steve Jobs and Twitter's Jack Dorsey have been forced out by strong boards of directors, though both eventually returned to their companies.

Even with the settlement, Tesla faces a daunting array of challenges.

The Justice Department has opened its own investigation into Musk's Aug. 7 tweet, in which he said he would take the company private at $420 a share. The SEC's lawsuit charged that the tweet, which caused Tesla's shares to jump, was misleading because he did not actually have the funding lined up for such a move.

Tesla is also under heavy pressure to turn a profit because it is burning through $1 billion in cash every three months and, as of the end of June, had just $2.2 billion in the bank.

Musk has said the company needs to produce 7,000 cars a week to make money, a target he aimed to reach in the July-September quarter. The company is likely to report production numbers this week and financial results from that quarter in early November.

Another concern: About $1.3 billion in Tesla debt is due to be repaid by March, including $230 million in November.

Some investors might want more than a new chairman. Tesla has no chief operating officer, a critical No. 2 executive in most companies. That's a stark contrast to other startups, such as Facebook, where Mark Zuckerberg hired Sheryl Sandberg as a highly influential COO.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday by the SEC, the agency said it was seeking to remove Musk from Tesla management altogether. Many investors have argued that keeping Musk as CEO is critical at such a time.

"I do not doubt the value of Musk to Tesla," John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor and corporate governance expert, said. "Without him, they are just a struggling start up that is burning cash at a hopeless rate and is facing a debt refunding crisis in the near future.

"Musk is an iconic entrepreneur but he needs adult supervision," Coffee added.

That's where the new board members come in. The current board, which includes Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, is widely seen as subservient to Musk. They have publicly expressed support for many recent moves, such as his rejection last week of an early SEC settlement offer.

"The board is truly the alpha chapter of the Elon Musk fan club," said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

Teresa Goody, a former SEC attorney and founder of The Goody Group, a consulting firm, said that many startups begin with a powerful CEO who typically puts "friendlies" on the board.

As a company grows and becomes more sophisticated, Goody said, more independent directors are typically brought on board to provide better oversight.

"That's happening a little later in the life cycle of the company in the case of Tesla," she said.

Still, Elon Musk is different than many CEOs because he owns roughly 20 percent of the company's stock. That gives him more influence.

"In a typical case, the CEO is a high-priced employee" of the board, Gordon said. "Musk will still be more powerful than the board chair."

There will be other constraints on Musk's behavior: As part of the SEC settlement, his tweets and other comments will have to be vetted by the company before they can be released to the public.

"This humiliation — that Elon can't go outside unless he's on a leash — that will bother him the most," Gordon said. He called it an "extraordinary measure."

Gordon thinks the SEC should have gone further and sought to add as many as four new board members and remove some old ones.

Still, Gordon said, "I think this experience has shown him that however  smart he is, or however powerful he thinks he is, the government is also powerful too."

Musk may want to keep a close eye on the new chairman, however. Musk himself was the chair of the board, after investing in the company, before firing the chief executive and taking over as CEO.

Dhaka, Sept 30 (UNB) - Grameenphone is launching an exclusive offer for its STAR customers in partnership with Go Zayaan, an IATA registered online travel agency which provides one-stop travel solution online.
 
This offer will be valid for six months effective from October 1. GP STAR customers can avail up to Tk 22,000 discount in total within the offer period while purchasing international air tickets from Go Zayaan. 

The discount amount will increase for every repeat purchase within this period. This offer can only be availed from www.gozayaan.com/gpstar.
 
A signing ceremony was held between Grameenphone and Go Zayaan on September 27, 2018 at GP House in this regard. 

AEM Saidur Rahman, Head of Customer Value Management under Marketing Department of Grameenphone Ltd, and Ridwan Hafiz, founder and CEO of Go Zayaan, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. 

Other high officials of both companies were also present on the occasion.
 

 
Dhaka, Sep 30 (UNB)- Robi and Airtel- both the brands of Robi Axiata Ltd, were ready to offer Mobile Number Portability Service (MNP) in Bangladesh from Monday, as stipulated by the government. 

MNP would allow the customers to switch to different operators without changing their existing mobile numbers. 

Robi’s Vice President of Media, Communications and Sustainability, Ekram Kabir said “We have completed all preparation to offer the MNP service. We are confident that the customers from other operators will find the largest 4.5G network, the much expanded coverage of 3.5G service through use of U900 spectrum to be the ideal recipe for enjoying the best quality video and data service.” 

As soon as customers switch to Robi, the customers will enjoy the country’s best call rate- 50 paisa per minute to any operator’s number, round the clock. Customers will also get six months validity on purchasing any voice bundle pack. 

Once a customer successfully switches to Robi, he/ she can visit the MNP portal by dialing *5000# from where they will be able to purchase any product or service bundle.  

Customers of other operators can also dial 018866112233 or 01644112233 to enquire about the MNP process for switching to Robi or Airtel.

In order to switch to Robi or Airtel from other operators, the customers need to visit Robi or Airtel’s customer care centres or any biometric registration points with their NID information. The customers will need to place their requests from any of these points. 

Within one hour of placing the request, the customer will be provided confirmation on whether he/ she can avail the MNP service. 

Once the customer qualifies to avail the MNP service, he/ she will be provided with a new Robi or Airtel SIM.