History
In December 2005, Warid Telecom International LLC paid US$ 50 million to obtain a GSM license from the BTRC and became the sixth mobile phone operator in Bangladesh.
In a press conference on August 17, 2006, Warid announced that its network would be activated two months ahead of schedule, in October, 2006. Again in October, 2006 Warid Telecom put off the launch of its cellphone services in Bangladesh until April, 2007 after its major supplier Nokia walked out on an agreement over a payment dispute.
Warid had a soft launch at the end of January 2007. It gave away complimentary subscriptions among a selected group of individuals, whose job was to make 'test calls' and the operator adjusted its network's quality based on their comments.
On May 9, 2007, Warid in an advertisement in some daily newspaper stated that it would be launching publicly on May 10, 2007. However, no call rate nor any package details were revealed. The advertisement included an announcement for the people interested to buy Warid connections to bring the documents like ID Card, etc., to the designated franchise and customer care centres.
On October 1, 2007, Warid Telecom expanded its network to five more districts raising total number of districts under Warid coverage to 56, said a press release. Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Rajbari and Narail towns were covered by Warid network.
On November 10, 2007, 61 districts under Warid network coverage.
On June 10, 2008, Warid Telecom expanded its network to 3 more districts Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rangamati. Now all 64 districts of Bangladesh are under Warid network coverage meaning Warid Telecom now has nationwide coverage.
On December 20, 2010, Warid Telecom was rebranded to airtel.
On December 21, 2011, Airtel Bangladesh launched "Airtel Circle of Friends", the first ever Interactive Commercial in Bangladesh, created and executed by Digimarka.
Read more about this topic: Airtel Bangla
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