Teletalk expects 4 lac new SIM cards by November

Bangladeshi state-owned mobile phone company Teletalk said it would release 400,000 new SIM cards by November 2006. The company has already sold 264,000 cards so far. Teletalk sources said the operator would release a package named 'Rural Package' by June to make mobile phones available and affordable to use by rural people of Khulna, Rajshahi and Chittagong. The programme allows rural customers to pay 900 taka for a SIM card and 300 taka for a card in addition to the SIM. Teletalk's Rural Package is aimed at low-income people across the country, excepting those in the country's capital, Dhaka.