Analysis of the m-commerce function at Airtel Bangladesh Limited

Abstract

This year, it had been found that there are at least one-hundred million active cell phone users in Bangladesh (Chowdhury, 2013). Simultaneously, statistics show that sixty-percent of the population does not have access to financial services (Islam, 2013). The existence of these two facts gives mobile banking a huge opportunity to bring its services to the masses. Airtel Bangladesh, one of the leading telecommunication companies in Bangladesh, has partnered with Dutch Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) and is now providing mobile-banking facilities to its subscribers. At present, Airtel Bangladesh has over 6 million subscribers (Airtel Bangladesh, 2013), and is working towards building a strong foundation in its m-commerce function, to promote m-banking. In this report, I have first given details on the job responsibilities I have held during my Internship tenure. There are various tasks that I had, and how they have contributed to Airtel Bangladesh is also mentioned. Then, I have analyzed the processes of the m-commerce function and have brought to light the different scopes for improvement in the processes itself, which come under two sections: from the point of view of the job, and from my own research. The research part is more extensive, mainly covering a comparison analysis between the features in m-banking in Airtel-Bangladesh against that of Airtel –India, Airtel-Kenya and Airtel-Sierra Leone. Data has been taken from the websites of these countries, where Airtel operates. Completing my internship at Airtel Bangladesh has contributed to my learning also, which I have explained briefly. Finally, I have concluded that because Airtel Bangladesh does not have the best network coverage in Bangladesh, it should try to gain edge in its m-commerce activities. M-banking is has still not fully settled into Bangladesh, therefore, there is plenty Airtel can do in accordance with DBBL to win more of the market share.