Summit Tower celebrates the acquisition of 2012 towers
Summit Towers, a subsidiary of Summit Communication, has acquired the ownership of 2012 towers of Banglalink, which was the second largest mobile operator of Bangladesh, last year. Currently, Banglalink has 6 thousand 34 towers, out of which one-third was transferred to Summit Tower in exchange of thousands of crores of taka. As a result, the number of sites under the management of Bangladeshi companies exceeded 4 thousand.
Summit Tower officially celebrated the acquisition on Monday night at the Hotel Intercontinental in the capital city, Dhaka.
Bangladesh has become an ideal destination for investment: Palak
State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that Bangladesh has become an ideal destination for investment by dint of the success of the current government in the past 15 years.
He said, there are 130 million internet users in the country where 170 million people are living. Bangladesh has the eighth largest telecom industry in the world. Due to this huge potential, there is an opportunity to introduce more digital services, smart solutions and digital products. At the same time there is huge potential for internet-based solutions and products for education, health, entertainment and so on.
‘Banglalink and Summit are implementing the Prime Minister’s vision through collaboration rather than competition. Everyone should work together instead of competing. 4,500 unions in the country now have high-speed fiber optic broadband internet. We appreciate the acquisition of more than 2 thousand towers by Summit Communication’ – added Palak.
The state minister also said that under the guidance of the prime minister, we are creating a business friendly environment. We want to make all the commercial institutions profitable which are running under the government through the proper use of public resources. This is how we can build an inclusive smart society for all by 2041 and the Summit will be with us on that journey. The state minister expressed hope that the establishment of smart network through tower sharing will contribute to the development of Smart Bangladesh.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, who was present at the event, urged the CEO of Veon to take Bangladesh as the next investment zone.
Veon Group CEO, Kan Terzioglu, BTRC Chairman Engineer Mohiuddin Ahmed, ICT Division Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin and Summit Group Founder Chairman Mohammad Aziz Khan attended the event as special guests.
Summit Communications Group CEO Md. Arif Al Islam delivered a welcome speech. Among others, Summit Group Chairman Muhammad Farid Khan and Summit Techno Police Limited Director Fadiah Khan were present.
Today we have world-class independent tower companies like Summit Towers
Kan Terzioglu, CEO of Banglalink’s mother company Veon Group, said, “When I came to Dhaka, I felt a special smell in the air. But it was not pollution. It was a futuristic development journey like Padma Bridge, Airports, Flyovers, Nuclear Power Plants and Solar Farms. Bangladesh is really a wonderful and very promising country. So, we have decided to convert Banglalink from a regional to national network. That is why we have taken a very important decision, that is doubling our network coverage. That’s why I told Erik (Banglalink CEO) if you want to increase investment here, we need a world-class independent tower company. Today I can proudly say that today we have got a world class independent tower company like Summit Tower. Hope it will play a helpful role in our next investment. I’m not talking about the future. We have been together for the past four years. We will walk together in the future.
Other operators will also be encouraged: BTRC Chairman
While speaking as the special guest, the BTRC Chairman Engineer Md. Mohiuddin said that tower sharing licenses were given to 4 companies in 2018 to increase the service quality of the network. Service Level Agreement was signed on March 3, 2020 to resolve complications. There are now 44 thousand 115 towers in the country. 22 thousand 157 towers belong to mobile operators. And 21 thousand 958 belong to others. As per the mobile tower sharing agreement, 433 towers have been shared with other operators. 345 sites have been shared through tripartite agreements. Summit now has 4,229 towers. Other operators will also be encouraged. Through this, the limited resources will be used to the maximum. It will contribute to building Smart Bangladesh by establishing smart network through tower sharing.
It is our pride
Aziz Khan, founder chairman of Summit Group, said that under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, every person in the country is now under electricity and telecommunication coverage. They are now moving at lightning speed. Because, Bangladesh is now running at the speed of light. The Prime Minister has placed two ministries in her hands to empower the poor people of Bangladesh and the country. One is the ICT, the other is energy, water and electricity. Summit has played an important role in these two sectors in the last 15 years. Summit Power has created enormous potential in the power sector and Summit Communications in the telecommunication and internet sectors. This is a matter of pride for us.
Banglalink is the country’s first digital and data service provider
Arif Al Islam, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Communications, said in his welcome address, ‘For the last few decades, we have been witnessing the development of telecommunications across the country. In this case we work within this ecosystem. 50 percent of the revenue of Amazon and Microsoft companies is based on such infrastructure that we put in place. Over the past 14 years, we have worked to build that infrastructure. We have this acquisition agreement with Banglalink on tower sharing which has 4 unique features. As such it is a long-term contract and will be renewed on mutual agreement. Banglalink will be able to provide better service than before. There will also be greater opportunities to work together with fiber and towers. Through this, Banglalink is going to emerge as the country’s first digital and data service provider.’
Banglalink CEO Erik Aas, Chief Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Officer Taimur Rahman, BTCL Managing Director Md. Anwar Hossain and others were present in the event.