Robi

Company Overview

Robi Axiata Limited is the second largest mobile phone operator of Bangladesh and the first operator to introduce 2G and 3G services in the country. The company commenced operation in 1997 as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh) with the brand name ‘Aktel’. In 2010 the company was rebranded to ‘Robi’ and the company changed its name to Robi Axiata Limited.

In November 2016 mobile carriers Robi Axiata and Airtel Bangladesh completed a merger, initiated as a joint venture between Axiata Group Berhad, of Malaysia, Bharti Airtel Limited, of India and NTT DoCoMo Inc., of Japan. The resulting company emerged as the second largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh with approximately over 32 million active subscribers. The merged company has the widest network coverage to 99% of the population. NTT divested its ownership in Robi in April 2020.

The company operates 2G GSM services over 900 and 1800 MHz bands, and 3G (marketed as 3.5G) on B1 (2100 MHz). Robi has been trialling 4G LTE services over B3 (1800 MHz) and B1 (2100 MHz) however has been improving its fibre backbone before expecting to switch on in late 2017. After receiving being granted a tech neutrality licence for its existing 900 and 1800 MHz spectrum holdings by regulator BTRC, Robi launched 4G LTE over B3 (1800 MHz) in February 2018.

After completing trials with Ericsson in April 2018, Robi activated LTE-A using 2C CA_1A-3A aggregation of two 5 MHz carriers (B1+B3). LTE-A Pro was announced April 2021 with the addition of B8 (900 MHz) and expansion of B1 and B3 channel sizes following the March 2021 spectrum auction which saw the company's total spectrum holdings increase to 2x44 MHz.

Robi 5G

Together with technology partner Huawei, Robi demonstrated 5G technology in July 2018, showcasing its intention to launch a 5G network in Bangladesh. BTRC expects to auction further 5G spectrum in March 2022.