Robi (company)

Robi Axiata Limited, DBA Robi (Bengali: রবি), is the second largest mobile network operator in Bangladesh. It is a joint venture between Axiata Group Berhad of Malaysia, Bharti Airtel Limited of India. Axiata holds 68.7% controlling stake in the entity, Bharti holds the remaining 31.3%[4]

Robi Axiata Limited
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTelecommunications
Predecessor
Founded1997
HeadquartersRobi Corporate Office, 53 Gulshan South Avenue, Gulshan-1, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Area served
Bangladesh
Key people
  • Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, (MD & CEO)
ProductsMobile Telephony, EDGE, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, FDD-LTE, LTE-A, VoLTE, ViLTE
Revenue ৳74.81 billion (US$890 million) (2019)
৳170 million (US$2.0 million) (2019)
Members49.004 million
( December 2019)
ParentAxiata Group (68.7%)
Bharti Airtel (31.3%)
WebsiteOfficial Websitebd airtel
Footnotes / references
[2][3]

The first merger of Bangladesh's telecom sector has come into effect with the beginning of the operation of Robi Axiata Limited as the merged company on November 16, 2016. Following the merger of Robi and airtel, the merged company is now known as Robi Axiata Limited. Having successfully completed the merger process, Robi has emerged as the second largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh. The merged company has nationwide network coverage.

Robi first commenced operation in 1997 as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh) with the brand name ‘AKTEL’. In 2010 the company was re-branded to ‘Robi’ and the company changed its name to Robi Axiata Limited. As of November 2016, Robi Axiata uses two brands 'robi' and 'airtel' for its mobile services. ‘airtel’ is an independent product brand of Robi Axiata.[5] Robi Axiata has spectrum on GSM 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands.

History
Robi Axiata Limited Corporate Headquarters

Robi Axiata Limited started as a joint venture company between Telekom Malaysia and AK Khan and Company. It was formerly known as Telekom Malaysia International Bangladesh Limited which commenced operations in Bangladesh in 1997 with the brand name 'AKTEL'. In 2008, AK Khan and Company exited the business by selling its 30% stake to Japan's NTT Docomo for US$350 million.[6]

On March 28, 2010, 'AKTEL' was rebranded as 'Robi' which means Sun in Bengali. It also took the logo of parent company Axiata Group which itself also went through a major rebranding in 2009.[7] In 2013, after five years of presence, Docomo reduced its ownership to 8% for Axiata to take 92%.[8]

On January 28, 2016, it was announced that Robi Axiata and Airtel Bangladesh will merge in Q1 2016. The combined entity will be called Robi, to serve about 40 million subscribers combined by both networks. Axiata Group will own 68.3% share, while Bharti Group will own 25%, and NTT Docomo held 6.31% shares.[9][10] Finally Robi and Airtel were merged on November 16, 2016 and Robi set sail as the merged company.[11] Later on, in 2020, after a decade with Robi, NTT Docomo decided to leave Bangladesh by selling its remaining stake in Robi Axiata Limited to Bharti International. Since 2020, Axiata now holds 68.7% controlling stake in the entity, while Bharti holds the remaining 31.3% shares.

Achievements

In 2005, then AKTEL, now Robi, was the first operator to introduce GPRS and 3.5G services in the country.[12] It is the first company to launch 4.5G service in all the 64 districts of the country. Robi also claims to have the widest international roaming coverage with 398 operators across 182 countries with widest 4G roaming footprint in 29 countries with 40 operators. Robi has clearly pioneered in the domain of mEducation with the creation of the largest online school of the country, Robi-10 Minute School, which is providing quality educational content to millions of students across the country for free of cost. Among many awards it has won nationally and internationally, the prestigious GSMA Glomo award for the Best Mobile Innovation for Education and Learning in the “Connected Life Awards” category at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017, is highly noteworthy.[13]

Numbering scheme
Robi 4G SIM card, Both sides of the SIM card are presented together.

Robi uses the following numbering scheme for its subscribers:

+880 18 N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8

Where, +880 is the International subscriber dialing code for Bangladesh.

18 and 16 is the access code for Robi as assigned by the Government of Bangladesh. Omitting +88 will require to use 0 in place of it instead to represent local call, hence 018 and 016 is the general access code.

N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8 is the subscriber number.

After merger with airtel, besides '018', Robi owns '016' number series too.

New system and regulations that: Any operator of (017-3)(019-4)(015) can change his operators by MNP.....

Products offered

Robi offers an array of different packages. In addition to offering the fundamental pre-paid and post-paid mobile services, it offers a wide range of value-added products and services such as, SMS, GPRS, EDGE, 3.5G HSPA+, 4.5G, LTE-A, Fixed Broadband, international roaming, Mobile Banking, SMS banking, Caller Ring Back Tone, MMS, Voice Greetings, Welcome Tunes etc. Robi has got the widest international roaming coverage among all the operators in Bangladesh.Vo-LTE (tesing mode).....

Customer care

Robi serves customers from a wide range of customer service channels. The list of channels is given below:

Self-service channels
  • My Robi App: Robi has their own mobile app for Android users and iOS users.
  • Messenger Chatbot: Robi has a Chatbot in Messenger named Aura.
  • WhatsApp Chatbot: Robi has the Chatbot Aura in WhatsApp.
  • Smart 1216: Smart 1216 is an innovative IVR channel introduced for the first time in Bangladesh where customers can manage their account through a simple audio-visual experience.
  • Single Digit USSD Codes: Robi customers can get some of the most essential services by dialing a 1-digit code.

Assisted service channels
  • Official Facebook Page
  • Viber [Robi e-Sheba]
  • E-Mail
  • Door Step Service
  • SMS Service
  • Complaint Helpline
  • Call Center
  • 69 Walk-In-Centers

References
  1. "Robi-Airtel". 29 January 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  2. "Robi makes Tk 170m profit in 2019". Prothom Alo English. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  3. "Press Release on Telecom Subscription Data as on December, 2019". Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  4. "Robi Press Release".
  5. "Robi".
  6. "NTT DoCoMo to buy 30pc stake in AKTEL for $350m". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  7. "Aktel turns into Robi, takes a new logo". Dhaka Mirror. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  8. "Japan's Docomo shrinks stake in Robi". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  9. "Malaysia's Axiata and India's Bharti to merge subsidiaries". Reuters. 2016-01-28. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  10. "Axiata and Bharti Airtel Agree to Merge Operations in Bangladesh". Axiata. 2016-01-28. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  11. "Robi sets sail as the Merged Company". Robi.
  12. "Aktel launches GPRS". Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  13. "Robi-10 Minute School wins prestigious Glomo Awards 2017 at the Mobile World Congress". Retrieved 2 October 2020.

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