Bangladesh's Banglalink tops 10 mln mobile users

DHAKA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Egyptian Orascom Telecom's ORTE.CA Banglalink, the No. 2 Bangladesh mobile phone carrier, said on Wednesday its subscriber numbers had passed 10 million after rising 41 percent since January.

Bangladesh's mobile phone sector has been growing rapidly, with total subscribers reaching 44.8 million million at the end of July from only 200,000 in 2001, helped by competitive tariffs and cheap handsets.

Banglalink, which started Bangladesh operations in 2005 with 30,000 users, has invested more than 56 billion taka ($817 million) expanding its business, the company said.

Banglalink's competitors include Grameenphone, majority owned-by Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), AKtel, majority owned-by Telekom Malaysia (TLMM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) International, Gulf-based Warid Telecom, CityCell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom and Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and state-run Teletalk.

Grameenphone, which is gearing up for a $300 million public offer, is still the main player in Bangladesh's mobile phone market with more than 20.8 million users. (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Lincoln Feast)