A report on:

Communication Barriers in
Grameen Phone

Prepared and Submitted by

ZEROGRAVITY

Course Teacher
Dr.Faheem Hasan Shahed
 Acknowledgement

This is our humble attempt to present gratitude in writing this “Report”. We have
truly drawn upon our own experience as student of Business Communication. We have
also received help from number of persons in preparing this report and we would like to
thank them all.

First, we would like to express our gratitude to Shahed, Dr. Faheem Hasan who
let us prepare this report on this topic.

We are also thankful to the authors, whose journals we have consulted in

preparing this dissertation.

Last but not the least; we would like to thank Mr. Stein Naevdal-Larsen,
Chief Marketing Officer of GP Mr. Khalid Hasan, Director Regulatory &
Corporate Affairs & Rubaba Dowla Motin, Head of Brand along with all the persons
who have helped us providing the information related to our topic. We like to express our
heartiest gratitude to all of them. We also like to special thanks the person whom gives us
the data about our project topics. Than we also

Finally, we like to add few more words saying that, this report is prepared by
novice and naturally, there could be unwilling errors and omission which are extremely
belonging to us.
Table Contents:
Forwarding letter
Acknowledgement
Preface
Abstract

CHAPTER

1.0: INTODUCTION

1.1: ORIGIN OF THE REPORT

1.2: OBJECTIVE
1.2.1: GENERAL OBJECTIVE
1.2.2: PROJECT OBJECTIVE

1.3: METHOLOGY
1.3.1: PRIMARY DATA
1.3.2: SECONDARY DATA

1.4: LIMITATION
1.4.1: LACK OF DESIRE TO SURVE THE ACTUAL INFORMATION

2.1: BRIEF HISTORY OF GRAMEENPHONE

2.2: BUSINESS PERFOMENCE
2.3: THE VISION OF GRAMEENPHONE
2.4: MISSION STATEMENT
2.5: THE PERPOSE OF GRAMEENPHONE
2.6: THE STRAIEGY
2.7: THE PEOPLE
2.8: GRAMEENPHONE’S VALUES
2.9: GRAMEENPHONE’S CHALLENGE
2.10: THE OBJECTIVE
2.11: THE RESULT

CONCLUTION
 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 ORIGIN OF THE REPORT

This term paper is prepared for Shahed, Dr. Faheem Hasan course instructor of the
Undergraduate program, School of Business at American International University
Bangladesh (AIUB) as a partial requirement of Business communication. This report is
prepared during the fall, 2008 semester and would be submitted in the same semester.
The standard procedure for the long, formal report is followed here as per the instruction
of the course instructor.

1.2 OBJECTIVES

1.2.1 General Objective:

The primary objective of this project is to enable to learn about organizational behavior,
in practice, and to use the knowledge to offer some evaluation of these activities. The
main objective of the research is the communication barrier and its practices in Grameen
Phone.
1.2.2 Project Objective:

• To give detailed information about the Communication barrier;

• To focus on the major activities of the Communication barrier practice in its
department;
• To show how these activities supports the organization overall strategy, and
how it is linked to other activities within the organization;
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• To focus on the nature of, and triggers for, any changes in the activities over
time;
• To know the manager’s perception of the overall effectiveness of the
activities; and

• To focus on the extent and nature of any formal evaluation of the activity’s
effectiveness.

1.3 METHODOLOGY

1.3.1 Primary Data:

 As it is a project work in a group we collect the data in a group. We use two
methods to collecting the data for our research purpose. We use quantitative (e.g.
survey) and qualitative (e.g. face-to-face interviews; focus groups; site visits)
Case studies both ways for our data collection.

1.3.2 Secondary Data:

Information was also taken from books and journals and also from Internet.
 3

1.4 LIMITATIONS

1.4.1 Lack of desire to serve the actual information:

The major limitation factor for this report was primarily the reluctance and strict
adherence to confidentiality maintenance attitude shown by the officials of Grameen
Phone. Furthermore, some information was withheld to retain confidentiality of the
companies.

1.Bulk of the data was gathered from interviews with officials who withheld some of
the information on grounds of confidentiality.
2.GP has a lot of employee where we cannot access available information about our
selected topics because of the permission of the GP.

3.In every company has official website but they don’t mentioned their employee and
their ratio if others operator in this sector provide the ratio of employee in website or
any other media like journal or any report which is available for us we can compare it
with available information which enrich our research much more better than any
other.

4.Limited knowledge of organizational overview and behavior prevented us from

presenting a more detailed report.

5.Limited time frame is another problem because we have to maintain both class and
others when we work along the report.
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What is Communication Barrier?

Communication Barriers are those factors such as language or sociocultural

relationship, which interfere, in the meaningful interpretation & transmission of ideas
between individuals or groups. It can also be defined as Aspects of or conditions in a
work place that interfere with effective exchange of ideas or thoughts. Such barrier
includes:

• Status differences

• Gender differences

• Cultural differences

• Prejudices

• Organizational Environments.

The Barriers that interfere with effective communication are:

1. Physical Distraction
2. Semantic problems
3. Mixed messages.
4. Cultural differences
5. Absence of feedback
6. Status effects.

When people are under stress, they are more apt to inject communication barriers into
their conversation. These barriers can exist on a daily basis as we may work with people
who have different opinions, values, beliefs, and needs than our own. Our ability to
exchange ideas with others, understand other’s perspectives, solve problems and
successfully utilize the steps and processes presented in this article will depend
significantly on how effectively we are able to communicate with others.

The act of communicating involves verbal, nonverbal, and Para verbal components. The
verbal component refers to the content of our message ‚ the choice and arrangement of
our words. The nonverbal component refers to the message we send through our body
language. The Para verbal component refers to how we say what we say - the tone,
pacing and volume of our voices.

In order to communicate effectively, we must use all three components to do two things:

1. Send clear, concise messages.

2. Hear and correctly understand messages someone is sending to us.

Communication Involves Three Components:

1. Verbal Messages - the words we choose

2. Paraverbal Messages - how we say the words

3. Nonverbal Messages - our body language.

Objective of the report:

The taste of using mobile phone people of Bangladesh has been not that much good got

from before the arrival of Grameen Phone, there is a single company so people have no

choice to use cellular mobile phone service. But after the entrance of Grameen Phone

there is now more than 6 operators provides this service. Our main objective of the report

is about the communication barrier. For this we need to go to the GP office a lot of
time. We try to prepare the best as mentioned by our course instructor he has a high

expectation from us but we don’t know can we or not. For our research we have a good

experience about the corporate world and outsiders. In working the group we easily apply

forming stage than we are in storming stage than we are worming stage than we are

performing stage and adjourning stage.

• Our main objective of the report is to find out:

 What types of Communication Barriers they face?

 What are the steps taken by GP?

 How they avoid it?

 Why they don’t take any legal steps?

 What are the obstacles to proceeding legal steps?

 If situation arise what steps taken by GP?

 What is the responsibility of the employees to cover up the barriers

in effective communications?

2.1 BRIEF HISTORY OF GRAMEENPHONE:

• November 11, 1996: GrameenPhone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh

by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
• March 26, 1997: GrameenPhone launched it’s on the Independence Day of
Bangladesh.
 • 1998 June: Launched mobile to mobile service (Without PSTN access).
• 1999 August: Launched first Prepaid Service in the country.
• 2003 August: Reached One million Subscribers.
7
• 2003 October: Launched prepaid product with PSTN connectivity.
• 2004 August: Reached 2 million Subscribers
• 2005 April:Reached 3 million Subscribers, Launch of “djuice”, a youth brand,
for the first time in Bangladesh
August: Reached 4 million subscribers
September: Launched EDGE and Voice SMS for the first time in Bangladesh
October: Reached 5 million subscribers.
2006 : January: Launch of Business Solutions- segmented offering for the Business
Segment, Reached 6 million subscribers
September: Launch of CIC
November: Celebrated 10million subs in 10 yrs & launched New Logo, Launch of Health
line
December: Launched Smile Prepaid & explore Postpaid, Launch of Bill Pay
2007 February: Business Solution Re-launched
April: Djuice Re-launched

2.2 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE:

Between 1991 and 1996, mobile telephone services in Bangladesh were provided by a
single company, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd. (PBTL) that targeted the country’s
relatively small urban elite. The market expanded significantly when new licenses for
relatively small urban elite. The market expanded significantly when new licenses for
GSM networks were awarded in 1996. However, Grameen Phone’s competitors have
not been able to expand beyond subscriber bases in the tens of thousands.
GrameenPhone, meanwhile, has experienced rapid growth.
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2.3 THE VISION OF GRAMEENPHONE:

“To be leading provider of telecommunication services all over Bangladesh with

satisfied customers and shareholders, and enthusiastic employees.”

2.4 MISSION STATEMENT:

GrameenPhone Ltd. aims at providing reliable, widespread, convenient mobile and

cost effective telephone services to the people in Bangladesh irrespective of where
they live. Such services will also help Bangladesh keep pace with other countries
including those in South Africa region and reducing her existing disparity in telecom
services between urban and rural areas.

2.5 THE PURPOSE OF GRAMEENPHONE:

GrameenPhone has a dual purpose:

• To receive an economic return on its investments.

• To contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where telecommunications

can play a critical role.
2.6 THE STRATEGY:

GrameenPhone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. In

contrast to the “island” strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting
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isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links, Grameen Phone builds
continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from
area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell
coverage is applied throughout Grameen Phone’s network.

2.7 THE PEOPLE:

The people who are making it happen- the employees- are young, dedicated and
energetic. All of them are well educated at home or abroad, with both sexes
(genders) and minority groups in Bangladesh being well represented. They know in
their hearts that Grameen Phone is more than just about phones. This sense of purpose
gives them the dedication and the drive, producing the biggest coverage and subscriber-
base in the country. Grameen Phone knows that the talents and energy of its employees
are critical to its operation and treats them accordingly.

2.8 GRAMEENPHONE’S VALUES:

• Caring for customers

• Integrity
• Sense of Urgency
 • Creativity
• Speedy
• Honesty
• Empowerment
• Courage
1
0
2.9 GRAMEENPHONE’S CHALLENGE:

The famous slogan of Grameen Phone is – “Connectivity is Productivity”.

2.10 THE OBJECTIVES:

Grameen Phone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good
development. Telephone helps people work together, raising their productivity. This gain
in productivity is development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service,
generating a good business. Thus development and business go together.

2.11 THE RESULT:

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, Grameen Phone is

delivering the digital revolution to the doorsteps of the poor and unconnected. By
being able to connect to urban areas or even to foreign countries, a whole new world of
opportunity is opening up for the villagers in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank borrowers who
provide the services are uplifting themselves economically through a new means of
income generation while at the same time providing valuable phone service to their
fellow villagers. The telephone is a weapon against poverty.
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Conclusion:

Grameen Phone is one of the most renowned telecom organizations in the country. It's
true that with in such a short period of time it is not possible to find out all problems what
the authority expects. In spite of shortcomings I tried my level best to make the report
Fruitful. I apologize for making errors in the report.

I wish total success of Grameen Phone ltd, and Special thanks to all
Employees of Banani Branch, Dhaka.

Probable recommendation:

As it’s a big company with high profile official and they are highly trained up we don’t
give any suggestion. From our research we give his suggestion to our audience and the
reader whom are read the report.

• Fell free to talk about any issue in communication.

• Accelerate deregulations of Telecom market.
• Establish industry run telecom consumer agency for complaints.
• Remove common communication barriers between employees & upper level
managements.
• GSM cell phone technology is a high-cost solution for universal access in rural
areas. Limited cellular coverage of rural areas may only be viable under the
current set of cumbersome regulatory practices - once the regulatory
environment improves, cellular phone technology may not be the most viable
and efficient means of providing universal service. GSM cell phone technology
also places much higher tariffs on rural phone users than would be the case for

12
wireless local loop (WLL) technologies. Without regulatory improvements,
cellular technology is a practical solution.
• Cellular phone technology is currently not a viable option for inexpensive
email/Internet/data connectivity. WLL and other options can provide much
better bandwidth and cost of service. It appears that Grameen Communications
and Grameen Telecom will expand their pilot telecentres in rural areas (such as
the pilot Village Computer and Internet Programme launched in June 1999 in
Madhupur village, Tangail). If this programme expands on a large-scale, given
current cellular data capabilities, a non-cellular connectivity solution will clearly
be required. The Madhupur telecentre recently acquired a WLL terminal from
BRTA and is reporting significantly improved Internet connections.
• WLL terminal village phones (similar to cell phone strategy)

• PCO operations - Communication shops including phone, fax, email, Internet,

computer training, photocopying, etc.

• BRTA and Sheba do not appear to be very interested in operating end-user

technologies - during interviews we heard clearly that they prefer the more
technical job of supplying operating service and having a straightforward
method of collecting revenue. This provides a substantial market opportunity
for facilitating the operation of end-user technologies and services, especially
those that provide consistent, high-quality and low-cost services and which
 enable the operator to simply provide technical service without the worries of
revenue collection and rural service at the village level.

• Grameen Telecom's technical staffs express a strong desire to improve their

understanding of available technologies and options for rural universal access
solutions. Technical staff would benefit immensely from a rural telecom-
learning programme that could include study tours, visits with equipment
vendors, and dialogue with independent rural telecom analysts.
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Bibliography:
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Glossary:
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Index:

BRIEF HISTORY OF GRAMEENPHONE (PAGE- 6-7)

BUSINESS PERFOMENCE (PAGE-7)

CONCLUTION (PAGE-11)

GRAMEENPHONE’S VALUES (PAGE-9)

GRAMEENPHONE’S CHALLENGE (PAGE-10)

INTODUCTION (PAGE-1)

LIMITATION (PAGE- 3-6)

METHOLOGY (PAGE-2)
MISSION STATEMENT (PAGE-8)

ORIGIN OF THE REPORT (PAGE-1)

OBJECTIVE (PAGE-1)

PROJECT OBJECTIVE (PAGE-1)

PRIMARY DATA (PAGE-2)

SECONDARY DATA (PAGE-2)

THE OBJECTIVE (PAGE-10)

THE RESULT (PAGE-10)
THE PERPOSE OF GRAMEENPHONE (PAGE-8)
THE STRAIEGY (PAGE-8)
THE PEOPLE (PAGE-9)
THE VISION OF GRAMEENPHONE (PAGE- 8)