Mobile telephone technology revolutionized communication in Bangladesh in the nineties. But the path was not very easy.
In the late eighties, pager devices were introduced, which were worn by many around the waist. At the same time, a walkie-talkie mobile phone was also introduced in Bangladesh.
Hutchinson, Asia's first mobile operator, then expanded its business to Bangladesh.
But even after getting the license at that time, Hutchinson and their Bangladeshi affiliate BTL or 'Bangladesh Telecom Limited' could not come to the market with mobile phones.
In the years 1989-90, in the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, one or two people could see a strange kind of device in their hands, which people would be surprised to see people talking.
In 1979, the then government of Bangladesh issued three new licenses for wireless communication. These are pagers, mobile phones and licenses for wireless communication in river areas.
Later in 1991, the Bangladesh government revoked those licenses. However, when BTL and Hutchinson went to court, the court ruled in their favor.
Hutchinson and BTL, however, later sold their mobile phone licenses after receiving a court ruling.
Citycell, the first mobile phone company in Bangladesh, took the initiative to establish a mobile phone company in Bangladesh, then known as a relatively poor country.
In the beginning, the mobile phone network was only in Dhaka city. A few days later, the network expanded to Chittagong. However, the number of subscribers was relatively low. Because the capacity of the phone company's equipment was also quite low.
In 1997, three companies, Grameen Phone, Actel and Seva, were licensed to provide GSM mobile phone services. This service quickly spread to the villages of Bangladesh.
The number of mobile phone users in Bangladesh, which was launched in 1989 with hundreds of users, has increased to more than 60 million in 2012.
Citycell chief Morshed Khan, current Citycell CEO Mehboob Chowdhury and film hero Masood Parvez Sohail Rana say they have seen the development of mobile technology in Bangladesh.
The program was presented by Russell Mahmud.