Aktel, Bay Phones signing agreement

(Bangladesh Independent)
An interconnection agreement between AKTEL and Westec Ltd., with the brand name of Bay Phones, was signed in the city on Monday.
Vijendran Watson, Chief Operating Officer of AKTEL, and MA Hashem, Chairman and CEO of Westec Ltd., signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
Under the agreement, customers of AKTEL and Bay Phones will have inter-operator access to each other's telephonic network.
Director Coordination, Fazlur Rahman; Chief Coordination Manager, QM Rezaur Rahman; Head of Corporate Affairs, Mashuk Rahman, of AKTEL and Manager (Corporate Affairs), Milu Chowdhury of Bay Phones were present on the occasion. Other senior officials of both the organisations also attended the signing ceremony.
http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/news/apr/06/06042005bs.htm#A8

	The Daily Ittefaq, 10th March '05

Two private telecommunication companies Ranks and Bay Phones are almost prepared to provide telephone link facilities to the people of Chittagong Division
Sunday April 03 2005
(The News Today)
Two private telecommunication companies Ranks and Bay Phones are almost prepared to provide telephone link facilities to the people of Chittagong Division in current month. Only within two days’ notice desired connection will be made available.

According to the available sources, the Ranks company with an aim to provide two lakh and Bay Phone to provide one lakh connections, have almost completed relevant work on installing machines.

Meanwhile Ranks Limited has executed argument with the T&T, CityCell, Aktel and at the same time, the processing of contract with the Grameen and Bangla Link is also underway.

Ranks Telecom Limited sources said, necessary arrangements for access of calls of Ranks into all of mobiles of Aktel and CityCell, have been finalised and the facilities and access into the land pone of Ranks from any mobile phone of those two companies can be ensured in the same way.

However, no additional charge would be realised from subscribers like T&T Chittagong Divisional area which include greater Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, three hilly districts, Noakhali, Feni, Lakshmipur, Chandpur, Comilla and Brahmanbaria have been brought under local call jurisdiction of Ranks Telecom Limited. Besides, any call of Ranks, if received in any mobile, concerned mobile subscriber won’t have to pay any charge.

On the other hand, Bay Phone will provide Wireless Local Loop (WLL) or wireless connection to its subscribers. It would also start providing cable connection in phone. In respect of WLL connection and cable connection Tk 15 thousand and Tk 9 thousand respectively are to be provided connection only within 18 hours.

Sources further said Bay Phones is well-equipped with providing broad band internet connection. Besides inter-district and international call, its access into any mobile phone always remains open. Bay Phone would also provide call waiting, call forwarding call hunting and call conference facilities and the subscribers on buying post-paid and pre-paid cards, can easily make payments of bills of this phone easily.

Besides greater Chittagong under Chittagong Division, the subscribers in at Feni, Laksmipur, Noakhali, Laksham, Chandpur, Comilla, Daudkandi, Brahmanbaria and their surrounding areas will be brought under the facilities of Bay Phone network. At the initial stage it would provide fifty thousand and in later, more fifty thousand more connections to the applicants.
http://bangladesh-web.com/news/view.php?hidDate=2005-04-03

Bay Phones Telephone Company Selects Zhone’s MALC and Network Telco’s ISS 6000 Softswitch Solution
(Zhone Technologies, Inc.)
Press releases - 2005

OAKLAND, Calif. and HOUSTON, Texas, June 14, 2005 — Zhone Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZHNE), the first company dedicated to building total-delivery solutions for voice, data and video content services worldwide, and Network Telco, a leading provider of advanced, highly reliable switching platforms, announced today that Bay Phones, Ltd., a leading telephone operator based in Bangladesh has selected Zhone's Multi-Access Line Concentrator (MALC™) Next-Generation Packet Loop Carrier and Network Telco's ISS 6000 Softswitch to deliver voice and data service throughout their serving area.
As a key part of Bay Phone's network, the MALC is deployed using V5.2 signaling to the ISS 6000 Softswitch from Network Telco. The first phase of the deployment is delivering service to 5,000 subscribers. The total project is expected to extend to 50,000 subscribers and will include support for both wireless local loop equipment. Network Telco is also providing the billing, customer service, voice mail, and prepaid systems.
Network Telco's ISS 6000 Softswitch solution is a complete TDM and IP switching solution that supports multiple VoIP and TDM protocols. The Network Telco Softswitch supports SIP, H.323, MGCP, SS7, V 5.2, and GR-303 as well as other IP and TDM protocols.
As part of Zhone's Single Line Multi-Service (SLMS™) architecture, the MALC allows telephone carriers to deliver the triple play of voice, data and video services to their subscribers over a single network. SLMS has proven cost effective for carriers worldwide and encompasses any deployment scenario, whether greenfield networks, migration from old copper plant or an overlay.
"With the Network Telco Softswitch, service providers can provide the latest VoIP services regardless of the protocol required, and meet any legacy telephony requirements such as V5.2 or GR-303," said Bob Pinckney, president of Network Telco.
"Zhone's MALC and Network Telco's ISS 6000 Softswitch allow Bay Phones to elegantly migrate from circuit to packet based services", said Abul Hashem, Executive Director of Westec, Ltd., parent company of Bay Phones. "The result is lower deployment costs while enhancing our subscriber’s experience."
Bay Phones is also using Zhone's Management System (ZMS) - a common flow-through provisioning and management platform that integrates into existing OSS systems. Zhone's ZMS management system has been OSMINE certified.
With approximately 1,000,000 fixed telephone lines installed, Bangladesh's teledensity is still the lowest in South Asia, according to statistics of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Only 1.56 of 100 inhabitants have telecoms access, according to 2003 UN telecoms data.
About Bay Phones Telephone Company (Bay Phones)
Bay Phones is a subsidiary of Westec, Ltd., a telephone and internet service provider in Bangladesh. Bay Phones is one of the first competitive local exchange carriers in the country of Bangladesh and is offering voice and data services to residential and business customers in Bangladesh's second largest city of Chittagong.
About Network Telco
Based in Houston, Texas and with an office in Tokyo, Japan, privately held Network Telco is the technology leader in next generation switching solutions. During six years of profitable growth in a challenging telecom environment, Network Telco has expanded its customer base and product offerings to become a leader in providing unique solutions for carriers worldwide.
Network Telco switches are deployed in tandem VoIP networks, as local service Class 5 switches providing V 5.2 and GR-303 signaling, as internet offload switches for ISPs, and as enhanced services platforms for Prepaid, Voice Mail, One Number Follow-Me and other enhanced Tandem services.
With support for SIP, MGCP, IPDC, H.323, Megaco, and NCS all available, Network Telco has the broadest suite of applications on any one platform spanning the entire spectrum of VoIP and Circuit Switched solutions. For more information please see www.networktelco.com
About Zhone Technologies, Inc. (Zhone)
Zhone (Nasdaq: ZHNE) designs and manufactures network equipment for network operators worldwide. Zhone’s products allow network operators to deliver a rich array of voice, data, video, and entertainment services over their existing networks while simultaneously retooling for converged packet based voice (VoIP) and video (IPTV) over copper or fiber access lines.
Zhone's advanced networking solutions include the Single Line Multi-Service architecture (SLMS™), Multi-Access Line Concentrator (MALC™), Raptor™ ATM/IP DSLAMs, Zhone Residential Gateways (ZRG™), GigaMux™ Optical Transport Systems and Zhone Management System (ZMS™). With deployments at over 300 carriers including among some of the world's largest networks, Zhone has enabled network operators to reinvent their businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.zhone.com
Zhone, the Zhone logo, and all Zhone product names are trademarks of Zhone Technologies, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications, products, and/or product names are all subject to change without notice.
http://www.zhone.com/about/news/press-releases/2005/bay-phones.html

Bay Phones, a joint venture to be launched in Feb
Junyary 1st 2005
(Bangladesh Observer)

Bay Phones, Joint venture of Westec Limited, Bangladesh and Westec Company USA will formally launch land phone ser¬vice in the south east zone of the country at the end of coming February.
Stating this at a signing cere¬mony between phones and the calebrated singer Kumar Bishwajit who has been appointed as brand ambassador of Bay Phones, at Hotel Sheraton on Sunday Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abul Hashem said the telecommunication system can potentially bring the overall uplift in the socio-economic sec¬tors.
Realising the neccessity, the Bay Phones has taken this venture to provide land phone service to the customers with world class service delivery through an extensive im¬proved management, he added.
The CEO informed the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has earmarked the south east zone for Bay Phones which includes the areas of Chittagong hill districts, Patiya, Hathazari, Fatikchhari, Rangamati, Cox's Bazar, Feni, Luxmipur, Noakhali, Laksam, Chandpur, Comilla, Daudkandi, Brahmanbaria covering districts and upazilas.
Abul Hashem remarked that the installation cost of his company's land phones would be less com¬pared to the cost of Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board.
The services to be provided to the customers in Bangladesh by Bay Phones include installation, of connection at houses, business houses, offices, educational estab¬lishments and other places with telephone sets, facilities for inter¬net brand connection extending added facilities for disseminating information globally through the use of computer, facilities for lo¬cal, NWD and ISD, provision of making call from land phones to mobile phones and mobile phones to land phones, provision for incoming and joingout call be¬tween Bay Phones and T&T Grameen, CityCell Aktel, Seba and other organisations, facilities for voice mail through internet, call waiting forwarding hunting facili¬ties.
Besides, one can talk to two to three persons simultaneously through call conference facilities, provision has also been made to settle the complaints lodged by any subscriber of Bay Phones within maximum 12 hours time. Phones can be installed with the jurisdiction of Bay phones with 48 hours . There will be provisions for buying post paid and pre-paid cards and system for both the billings.
The brand ambassador of Bay Phones also addressed the cere¬mony while the Managing Director of Proact Advertising Limited was present on the occasion.
http://www.bangladeshobserveronline.com/new/2005/01/20/economic.htm

First private land phone in Ctg launched
Mon. March 21, 2005
(The Daily Star)
Bay Phones, a joint venture between the US firm Westec.com Inc. and local Westec Limited, yesterday declared the launching of the country's first private fixed phone in the country's southeastern zone bringing an end to the monopoly of state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB).
Post and Telecommunications Minister Barrister Aminul Haq declared the launching of the service at a function in Dhaka also attended by State Minister for Finance Shah Md Abul Hussain, the US Ambassador Harry K Thomas and cultural personality Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed.
The company would invest approximately Tk100 crore in the year 2005 for the network.
Subscription fees have been fixed at Tk15,000 for WLL connection and Tk9,500 for wired ones, he said adding that the charges would be less than that of BTTB by 10 per cent.
http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/03/21/d50321012823.htm