1. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
1 Group II
BRAC University
BUS 101
Introduction to Business
Submitted to:
Mrs. Mahtab Faruqi
Senior Lecturer
B.B.S
Term Paper on:
Marketing strategies of
Grameen Phone

2. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
2 Group II
Done by Group II:
Sl.
No. Name I.D. Depart.
1. Nikita Nandini 11304029 BBS
2. Golam Asfia 11304057 BBS
3. Samiya Yesmin 11304043 BBS
4. Kazi Nikita Nur 10105008 ESS
Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank all mighty Allah, Mrs. Mahtab Faruqi for all
the help and guidance she has given us, and Grameen Phone for being so
accommodating and cooperative.
Summary:
This term paper is about the marketing sector of Grameen
Phone, on how, what, when and why they propose and offer their
products and services to the market.

3. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
3 Group II
Table of Contents:
Sl.
No.
Content Page no.
1. Introduction 4
2. A. Background of Company 6
3. B. Report on Grameen Phone’s Marketing system 9
4. Market Response 19
5. Conclusion 19
6. Glossary 20
7. Bibliography and reference 20

4. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
4 Group II
Introduction:
Background of report:
Here we have compiled a brief report on how Grameen Phone puts
together its extensive products and markets them.
Objectives:
To find out how, what, when and why Grameen Phone makes and
markets its products.
Scope:
Through researching for this we report we have found out how the book
described marketing strategies are actually put to use in real life, a source of
great enlighten for us.
Contact Person: Grameen phone employees
Limitations:
-Due to frequent political strikes we were put in a time restrain which disabled us
from researching more for our report.
-As marketing strategy does help a company beat its competition, thus the exact
methods/ instruments used for it is kept a secret, due to this privacy issue we
were unable to do more in-depth research.
- Because of Grameen Phone’ s long protocols, we are unable to provide
reference of our interviewee, as following GP’s protocol would entail getting
approval from GP’s human resource department and other head entities, this
would have take a very long time which we do not have.

5. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
5 Group II
Methodology:
We have used the primary research which entails taking up-
front personal interview.
And we have divided the entire assignment in the following
way, as you can see each and every one of us has played a
special part to complete and bring together our term paper.
Name of Group
Member Contribution
Nikita Nadini
Wrote Part A-1, 2,3,4,5, kept the group together and helped
with the slide.
Golam Asfia
Wrote Part A-6, B-1, 2 and the glossary, and helped with the
slide.
Samiya Yesmin
Designed and edited the entire assignment, wrote Q/A of the
interview, Part-B3 and rest of the assignment, and helped with
the slide.
Nikita Nadini
Wrote Part B-4, 5, 6, 7, got interview appointment, and
designed the slide.

6. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
6 Group II
A. Background of the
Company:
1. Name of the company: “Grameen Phone” is
extensively documented as GP. Their logo 
2. Nature of business: With more than 27 million subscribers, Grameen phone is
the largest cellular operator in the country. It is a joint venture enterprise between
Telenor and Grameen Telecom Corporation, a non-profit sister concern of the
internationally acclaimed microfinance organization and community development
bank Grameen Bank. Telenor, the largest telecommunications company in Norway,
owns 55.8% shares of Grameen phone, Grameen Telecom owns 34.2% and the
remaining 10% is publicly held.
3. Brief history:
The idea of providing wider mobile phone access was at first conceived by Iqbal
Quadir, who is currently the founder and director of the Legatum Center for
Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT. He was inspired by the Grameen
Bank microcredit model. He imagined a business model where a cell phone can serve as
a source of income. After leaving his job as an investment banker in the United States,
he traveled back to Bangladesh, after meeting and successfully raising money from New
York based investor and philanthropist Joshua Mailman, and worked for three years
gaining support from various organizations including Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank and the Norwegian telephone
company, Telenor. He was finally successful in forming a group with Telenor and

7. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
7 Group II
Grameen Bank to establish Grameen phone. Quadir remained a shareholder of Grameen
phone until 2004.
Grameen phone received a license for cellular phone operation in Bangladesh
from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. Grameen
phone started operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day in Bangladesh.
Grameen phone originally offered a mobile-to-mobile connectivity (widely
known as GP-GP connection), which created a lot of enthusiasm among the users. It
became the first operator to reach the million subscriber milestone as well as ten million
subscriber milestones in Bangladesh.
4. Number of employees: Grameen Phone has a total of 4000 employees along
with many student and other interns who work at GP’s call centers.
5. Geographic locations: A Grameen phone center (GPC) provides as a 'one stop
solution' for customers, with all telecommunications products and services, under a
single roof. A grameen phone center also sells phones from dealers like
Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sagem and Benq. EDGE/GPRS modems and accessories
such chargers and headphones are also sold at GPCs.
There are 76 GPCs and they are strategically located at all major locations of the
country is operated by Grameen Phone. Most of the newly opened GPC's are franchised
with GP controlling all management. Most of these franchised outlets are in non-
metropolitan areas.
The GPCs also provide the flexi load service without charging extra for small
denominations unlike many retailers in the country. Thus making the gpc's and ideal
place for many for such a service.
Every once a while, the GPCs tie up with handset manufactures and start a
nationwide marketing scheme by selling the specific vendors products at a price lower
than the market's or in bundle with a Grameen Phone connection loaded with free
minutes.

8. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
8 Group II
6. Financial performance:
This company's debt to total capital ratio, at 9.46%, is in-line with the Wireless
Telecommunication Services industry's norm. Additionally, even though there are not
enough liquid assets to satisfy current obligations, Operating Profits are more than
adequate to service the debt. Accounts Receivable is among the industry's worst with
24.29 days worth of sales outstanding. This implies that revenues are not being collected
in an efficient manner. Last, inventories seem to be well managed as the Inventory
Processing Period is typical for the industry, at 11.17 days.
Balance Sheet:
Currency in
Millions of Bangladesh Taka
As of:
Dec 31
2007
Restated
BDT
Dec 31
2008
Reclassified
BDT
Dec 31
2009
Restated
BDT
Dec 31
2010
BDT
TOTAL CASH AND SHORT TERM INVESTMENTS 804.6 7,020.7 14,601.3 21,685.2
TOTAL RECEIVABLES 3,249.5 4,892.6 5,459.4 6,176.0
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 6,851.1 14,429.8 22,181.7 30,802.0
NET PROPERTY PLANT AND EQUIPMENT 80,318.2 85,553.9 79,288.0 71,696.1
Long-Term Investments 4.5 4.5 -- --
Other Intangibles 1,275.7 8,193.6 7,681.1 6,991.4
Other Long-Term Assets 11.6 12.7 11.6 12.6
TOTAL ASSETS 88,461.0 108,194.5 109,162.5 109,502.1
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 36,444.7 50,231.0 38,952.1 44,641.9
TOTAL LIABILITIES 62,349.9 80,606.3 59,008.2 61,470.3
TOTAL COMMON EQUITY 26,111.1 27,588.2 50,154.3 48,031.8
TOTAL EQUITY 26,111.1 27,588.2 50,154.3 48,031.8
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 88,461.0 108,194.5 109,162.5 109,502.1

9. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
9 Group II
B. Report on Grameen Phone’s
Marketing System:
1. Marketing Department: Grameen Phone regularly evaluates the performance
of its products portfolio which provides its management information regarding strategies
of new products or product modification and elimination.
For tracking product performance management first of all establishes criteria and
performance level to gauge product performance. The motive of this system is to review a
product that will help to spot out the problem products or features. Grameen phone
management uses this diagnosis to decide a strategy for eliminating the fault. Steps may
include cost reduction, new product addition, product improvement market strategy
alteration or product elimination.
a. Products life cycle analysis: Length of a products life is shorter in telecommunication
sector. So, within a short period of time Grammen Phone's product changes phase from
the introductory to growth to its present maturity stage.
At the end of the cycle there arises the necessity to alter the cycle by introducing
new products or features.
b. Products portfolio analysis: Grameen Phones products portfolio analysis ensures
whether each product fulfils managements minimum performance criteria, and access
the strength and weakness of the product relative to other products in the portfolio.
c. Cost reduction: Grameen Phone’s products quality gives this company major advantage
over its competitors. Grameen Phone’s technological innovation, marketing productivity
and mass consumer helps to maintain this lower cost.

10. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
10 Group II
d. Product alteration: Products are often improved by changing their features and quality.
These features provide a way of differentiating a brand against competition. Grameen
Phone renamed its products as Easy to Smile; Regular to Explore. A number of new
features also have been added with these products in that time. But consumer’s
preferences suggest that quality is more important than features. So quality
improvements are also considered as an important strategy for increasing competitive
advantage.
e. Product Elimination: In deciding to drop a product from product line, Grameen
Phone’s management considers variety of performance criteria in addition to the
product’s sales and priorities. But product elimination is a key decision that is
thoroughly evaluated by Grameen Phone’s management. Because Grameen Phone’s
core value is to “Make it easy”.
Grameen Phone and Banglalink have joined forces to share network
infrastructure to take services at low costs to the untapped rural market. The partnership
will help Banglalink expand its outreach via GP's infrastructure. Network-sharing
between the two big players that occupy a combined 70 percent share of the six-operator
market will help both minimise infrastructure costs by utilising resources together. This
will equally benefit both operators in providing faster and cost effective services.
2. Product Mix:
As being in a service oriented business Grameen Phone relies more on coverage
and quality than the number of services or products offered. It has divided its product
into two types: Standardized and customized product.
a. Standardised product is further divided into two categories i.e. Prepaid and Post-paid.
-Smile(Standard)
-Smile prepaid STD.
-Shohoj package
-Apon Package
-Bondhu package
-Badhon package

11. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
11 Group II
Smile standard allows subscribers to make and receive NWD and ISD call in all other
operators whereas Xplore is the branded post paid service which usually comes in two
types: Xplore package 1 and xplore package 2.Both of them has BTTB connectivity,
Flexible credit policy and a wide range of value added services (SMS, EDGE, Voice
mail, Voice SMS) and International roaming.
b. Customized Product: Business Solutions are provided as a customized service to
different medium and large organization and Professionals. This customization allows
interesting call and sms charge among the member of the organization, fax and internet
service within the organization branch. The customized service of one organization is
never told to other or disclosed.
c. Value Added Services (VAS): With VAS customers can use their phones for numerous
other activities other than voice calls. Such as sending and receiving text, picture and
voice SMS, download ringtones, wallpapers and logos, receive news and Sports update,
health line service, participate and vote for polls.
d. Branding: It distinguishes a product from its competitors; as a result a strong brand
identity encourages repeated buying. Grameen Phone has been successful in this context
and more or else everyone is concerned about its Packages. Such an image is helped by
superior quality and high promotional activities. Grameen Phone is a corporate entity in
the telecommunication sector and their branding i.e. Corporate Branding is used in
advertising and promotion to support the overall product line.
3. Marketing Strategy:
Setting Price: Grameen phone sets its products prices by closely evaluating the
following factors:
i. per sim acquisition: depending upon the investment GP has put into the
product and how much they want in return, this depends on the rate at which they
want/ need to pay back their loans.

12. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
12 Group II
ii. Market demand: as GP’s products have competitive advantage in the
market, it is therefore at very high demand thus this allows GP to rule the market
as monopolistic competitor.
iii. Competitor’s price: As GP is a part of a very vast competition, they do have
to price their products by regarding their competitor’s prices so as to please
their customers more.
iv. Economic condition: Product pricing depends a lot on the country’s
economic condition as without a stable economy their products will not sell as
expected thus prices will then have to be reduced.
v. Seasonal Fluctuations: GP offers some products and services depending on
the season. This consideration of seasonal fluctuations helps GP offer discounts
and other offers during festivals which would please their customers further.
vi. Desired image: GP has the image of Bangladesh’s most high end
telecommunication service provider. This is because they have maintained higher
price which is contributed to their very strong vast network service and unique
products which only GP provides or are the first to provide.
 Market needs: GP dominates the market by providing the best network service in
all of Bangladesh, something no other service provider has. This is GP’s strongest
selling point. Being a service based product, GP has to introduced, altered, changed
etc their products according to the market’s needs, this not only helps them to be
ahead of their competitors but also gain market preference.
 Product development:
a. Opportunity: As we all know Bangladesh has a very high population,
before GP there were no wireless telecommunication service in our country.
Seeing such vast untouched market, GP took up the opportunity and set base
here. They knew soon a vast strong network would be required to provide
service for such mass population, thus they set working towards it. And today

13. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
13 Group II
GP has used these opportunities, which are not being provided by their
competitors, to their advantage to appease thousands of their customers. Now
after completely saturating urban area markets, GP is working towards
appeasing and taking over the rural areas of Bangladesh too.
b. Research: Initially when GP started, they used their foreign experience to
provide goods and services for Bangladeshis. But now over the years GP has
developed special features and offers to satisfy Bangladeshi market by using
their customer usage records, surveys etc. to extensively research on the
markets’ ever changing needs. This helps fulfill the special needs of our
country.
c. Target market: GP’s telecommunication service targets the entire
population of Bangladesh. Initially their market consisted of urbanities only, as
during those times urbanities were the only ones to use wireless
telecommunication system. But now with the expansion of education and
technology everyone is ready to use GP’s services. Their present target market
is the rural area people who form the almost untouched market a huge number
of potential clients in this sector.
d. Designing product: GP’s services and products are technology based,
thus are frequently subjected to change. With time market needs changes and
GP strives to provide for every change in demand. Like they have this special
priority based offer for their loyal customers which gives them special
advantages over other users due to their loyalty to GP. This special “Star
Subscribers” offer helps them retain their customers in this heavily competitive
market. This was just one e.g. of the many special services designed by GP
which is based upon their market’s needs.

14. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
14 Group II
e. Test: Before launching any product in the market, they have to be tested for
success. GP does this by setting up expected criterions which they form from
their research on the product’s market demand. For e.g. GP had expected a
special new sim to sell about 2000 pieces in Bandorbon, but in the test run it
was found to have been sold less than 2000 pieces, thus this new product had
to be discontinued. If the criterions were met then product would have been
launched in the entire market. Hence we can see that GP does extensive
research and testing of its products which has made them a great success.
f. Name/design/price: GP names, designs and prices its products to
entice and win more customers. Although it is a part of a foreign company,
GP’s products mostly have Bangladesh oriented names which enables them to
connect more with their customers. For e.g. ekota, shojon, bondhu, Apon,
Baadhon etc are names of some GP products. They are specially designed to
fulfill all kinds of needs based on customer stratification. This stratification
provides the best call rates and other services depending upon the customer
type.
g. Distribution: Although GP’s head quarters are in Boshundhora, they have
still managed to gain and keep customers’ satisfied with their 76 strategically
placed customer care centers all over Bangladesh, along with their innumerous
flexi/credit load centers. This vast network of GP provides very easy access to
GP’s services, helping them maintain proper care of their customers.

15. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
15 Group II
h. Promotion: GP promotes their products through all media systems; let that
be television, radio, billboard, internet, or print. Due to such extensive and
strategically timed advertisement, GP is capable of reaching and informing
anyone and everyone, in and outside Bangladesh about its products. Thus
forming a really good communication and relationship with all their present
and potential customers.
i. Consumer relationship: GP maintains very good relationship with their
customers by prioritizing their customer needs. The latest service GP offers
called “My Zone”, helps fulfill each and every individual customer’s needs but
providing them discounts based on the area’s in which they have their highest
talk times. This most used area of any customer is set as their home zone in
which customers’ can enjoy special and high discounts on their service usage
rates which are based on their usage. No other telecommunication service
provider gives such individual attention and offer to their customers. GP also
rewards their loyal customers by giving them the new priority based “Star”
subscription. This “Star” status gives GP’s most loyal customers’ a huge
variety of offers, keeping them happy and in return making GP happy.
4. Competitors:
Nowadays, there are quite a number of telecommunication companies in the
market; as a result competition has increased. Though Grameen Phone has the
strongest and the widest ranged networks but on the other hand they do have higher
call rates than any other companies. Using this as a fact and weapon other companies
have followed the strategy of keeping their call rates lower and also by offering
bonuses, cash back offers etc. to attract more and more customers. Companies not
only tried to get hold of the customers but also to get more of the market shares. Some
of the major competitors of Grameen phone are, Airtel, City Cell, Banglalink, and
Robi. There are not only telecommunication competitions but also in the field of
internet services, companies like Banglalion which is a part of Banglalink, Zoom of
City Cell and then Qubee are giving tough competitions to Grameen Phone.

16. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
16 Group II
Overall Grameen Phone is on a battle field with the competitors, fighting to keep
the position as they have always done.
5. Strategy to Beat Competition:
Every company follows certain strategies to beat market competition, in the same way
Grameen Phone applies some of its very new and interesting strategies. Their first and
foremost strategy is their strong network which is accessible in almost all the places of
our country, this is the primary reason which has given a huge rise in the power of
Grameen Phone. They have also launched some new products which are not provided by
anyone else in the market. Such as Grameen Phone’s handset with a built-in sim card
bundle, it is to satisfy all of their customers whom they have divided in three categories:
the rich, the middle class and the rural people. As Grameen Phone has captured the
urban market, they have now started their journey to capture the rural market. This is
their new strategy to stay on top, by moving onto the rural side of their country, they are
doing this not only by launching handsets but also providing the lowest call rates for the
rural people, because they want to make them feel that Grameen Phone not only serves
the rich but they also have a place for the poor. This goes on with the strategy of handset
for the rural people. Grameen Phone has not stopped thinking about urban people; they
have launched products like internet modems and data cables to satisfy all. Launching
internet modems for people have made life easier for every class of people starting from
the corporate to students, as it is not only portable and fast but can be used anywhere in
Bangladesh, not just in the city! Thus, now there is no need to have a wired permanent
connection to get connected to the world, people can get access to the internet from
anywhere and at anytime. Grameen Phone has not only launched new products but has
also given people a way to save money from call rates by offering them “my zone”,
where people get discount on every calls they make and they also get the highest amount
of discount from their home networks which is the place they have the maximum talk
time from. Grameen Phone has set up customer care centers in every possible location,
in order to help their customers whenever they need help.

17. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
17 Group II
6. Grameen Phone’s Selling Point:
Grameen Phone is trying every possible way to make them unique from other
companies. The first thing they have is obviously their network, because this is what
every customer wants. People use cell phones to stay connected to close ones, and for
that they need a very good network with which they can get to anyone from anywhere.
Then comes on their own handsets, every people cannot afford to buy handsets which
we know costs a lot and nowadays with the increasing amount of stealing they do not
want to lose their very expensive handsets. So, taking care of these facts Grameen Phone
has launched their own handsets which look good and costs less. Then comes on the fact
of the helping hand of the rural people, they have given a serious thought and engaged
themselves in helping the rural people by providing them with lower cost handsets,
cheapest call rates and the never ending network. Thus mixtures of all these factors
make Grameen Phone unique in every manner.
7. Marketing environments:
a. Social:
Grameen Phone does not only think about capturing the market but it also thinks
about people. Grameen Phone has encouraged employees about doing social
work, i.e. doing something for the underprivileged. They have arranged social
service programs in which they send their own employees to work for the
betterment of the people of our country. In this way they are not only doing
social work but they are also promoting Grameen Phone.
b. Global:
If we think of the global market, then we will see how far Grameen phone has
gone. As we know they come from a Norwegian company Telenor, but now they
are not only in Norway and Bangladesh, they are serving different countries and
recently one of them is India, where it is named as Uninor, overall there are a

18. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
18 Group II
total 13 markets under this Norwegian company. Grameen Phone offers roaming
for 170 countries, so now it’s huge.
c. Technology:
Grameen Phone is not only launching products and giving offers but they are
also thinking about the betterment of the technology. They are planning to bring
on 3G, which is not only good but it’s great.

19. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
19 Group II
Market Response:
As Grameen Phone regards market’s needs on deciding about any product or service, for which
they perform extensive researches. This brings GP closer to its subscriber resulting in a very
positive market response for its products as they are specially designed to fulfill customer
needs.
Conclusion
Grameen Phone was the first telecommunication service provider to reach a million subscribers
milestone in Bangladesh, which is still increasing. With their vast strong network, niche market
services, loyalty based offers and new unique products; GP has gained its customers complete
devotion hence they are able to stay as the best telecommunication service provider in
Bangladesh while commanding the most premium charges.

20. Term Paper
August 2, 2011
20 Group II
Glossary
- EDGE: Enhanced data rate for Global Evolution deployed at GSM networks,
considerably a pre 3G concept.
- 3G: 3rd generation mobile telecommunications, Application services include wide-area
wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet access, video calls and mobile TV, all in a
mobile environment.
- ISD: International Subscriber Dialing (ISD) is the term used to describe an international
telephone call dialled by the caller rather than going via an operator.
- BTTB: The Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone (T&T) Department was created under
the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications after the independence of Bangladesh in
1971 to run the telecommunication services on a commercial basis.
- GPRS: General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service on
the 2G and 3G cellular communication systems global system for mobile
communications (GSM).
Bibliography and References
- http://www.Grameen Phone.com/
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/24455104/MKT-GP
- http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/40481911/Financial-Statement-Analysis-of-Grameen Phone
- http://investor-relations.Grameen Phone.com/annualreport/
- http://www.slideshare.net/rubayatppt/organizational-environment-of-Grameen Phone
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grameen Phone
- Interview and Class notes
- Understanding Business, (8th
Edition), William G. Nickels, James M. McHugh & Susan
M. McHugh, McGraw-Hill, 2008.