Bangladeshi telco Grameenphone is looking to obtain a US$355m loan from a foreign bank to finance upcoming 2G renewal and 3G auction payments.
The company wishes to borrow from overseas following approval from the Bangladesh Central Bank, according to…
Bangladeshi telco Grameenphone is looking to obtain a US$355m loan from a foreign bank to finance upcoming 2G renewal and 3G auction payments.
The company wishes to borrow from overseas following approval from the Bangladesh Central Bank, according to media reports today.
As TelecomFinance reported last month, Grameenphone recently secured a syndicated term loan of BDT8.46bn (US$104.2m) from local banks to finance its network expansion. Standard Chartered Bank was mandated lead arranger and agent and The Infrastructure Development Company acted as co-arranger.
However, high interest rates from the domestic market have prompted the telco to look abroad for its next loan, according to Khandakar Safwan Saad, analyst at Bangladeshi brokerage BRAC EPL.
“The local interest rate is 15.5% which is pretty high, so they wanted a foreign loan,” Saad told TelecomFinance.
Grameenphone will have to pay the next instalment of its 2G spectrum renewal fee at the end of the year and is looking to buy a 3G licence at next year’s auction.
The company is the largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh with a market share of 42%. It is majority owned by Norwegian telco group Telenor and posted revenues of NOK6,730m (US$1,169.9m) in 2011.
