Robi, bdnews24.com launch breaking news SMS in Bangla

In another groundbreaking initiative, bdnews24.com has formally launched SMS-based Breaking News service in Bangla by joining forces with top mobile operator Robi.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 4 Nov 2015, 10:20 AM
Updated : 5 Nov 2015, 12:49 PM

Initially, only Robi users can subscribe to this pioneering service to stay updated on latest happenings in Bangladesh and around the world.

bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi and Robi Axiata’s Managing Director Supun Weerasinghe officially flagged off the service at the mobile operator’s Gulshan headquarters on Wednesday.

All Robi customers need to do is text ‘Start BB’ to 22324. Each Breaking News will cost Tk 2 plus government taxes.

The wireless carrier’s clients can get top quotes of the day delivered in Bangla script to their mobile phones by SMSing ‘Start DU’ to 22324.

In addition, Morning News, Business News, Midday Update and Evening News services can be had.

To avail themselves of Breaking News in English, the users need to type ‘Start B’, for Morning News ‘Start M’, for Business News ‘Start BN’, for Midday ‘Start MD’, and for Evening News ‘Start E’ and send SMS to 22324. Writing ‘YES’ in the return SMS will confirm subscription to these services.

Speaking of the breaking news service in Bangla, Robi MD Weerasinghe said: “We are indeed proud to launch a breaking news service in Bangla language for the first time in Bangladesh in partnership with the country’s premiere online news portal bdnews24.com.

“We believe that the service would cater to a greater section of our subscribers with reliable news updates.”

Continued Weerasinghe: “Besides, this service will also complement the national drive to create an information-based society.”

bdnews24.com’s Editor-in-Chief Toufique Khalidi said, “This has been a personal dream for me for a long time. Naturally, I am very excited.” 

“I must thank and congratulate the technical teams of both Robi and bdnews24.com.”

The editor-in-chief of Bangladesh’s largest news publisher added: “A few months ago, at a meeting in my office, I asked a Malaysian friend of mine, who is a top language-computing expert in the world and was also working with Robi, to help us with this Bangla script.

“I hate to see people use Roman letters to converse in Bangla. Now this is a reality (that we use Bangla script). I must thank Muthu Nedumaran.”

Officials of bdnews24.com and Robi Axiata pose after launch of the world’s first SMS-based Breaking News service in Bangla on Wednesday at the mobile operator’s Gulshan headquarters.

Robi’s Chief Corporate and People Officer Matiul Islam Nowshad, Company Secretary and Regulatory Affairs Executive Vice President Mohammed Shahedul Alam, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Business and Market Operation Md Adil Hossain, Business Operation Executive Vice President Jean-Michel Arnaud Chanut, General Manager for value added services (VAS) Mahmood Hassan Faisal and Manager Shahana Parvin Shikha, among others, were present at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Mahmood Hassan Faisal said: "We are proud to be a partner of Bangladesh’s first online newspaper, bdnews24.com.

“Robi always believes in innovation and customer centricity. Breaking news in Bangla is the outcome of this practice."

Mohammed Rashed Ahasan, bdnews24.com’s head of New Media and New Business, said: “A big thank-you to Robi for supporting this initiative. Many in our country cannot read English, and then the meaning often gets changed when Bangla is written in Roman letters.

“It is a matter of real pride that we are the first to offer news SMS in Bangla letters.”

Shahana Parvin Shikha, a manager at Robi’s VAS department, said, "Bangla is the language that we first learned and grew up with. I feel good when I receive news in Bangla on my mobile phone.

“I would like to give my heartiest thanks to Robi and bdnews24.com team for their continuous effort to launch this innovative service."

A view of the signing ceremony ahead of the formal launch of the SMS-based Breaking News service in Bangla at Robi's Gulshan headquarters on Wednesday.

Robi is the second largest mobile operator in Bangladesh by revenue. It is majority-owned by the Malaysia-based Axiata Group, one of the leading telecom companies in Asia. Japan’s NTT DOCOMO has a substantial stake in the company.

Robi says it has invested as much as Tk 155.8 billion in the Bangladesh venture and now boasts a subscriber base of 28 million.

It now provides voice, data and other services through 8,119 sites, including 2,450 3.5G sites.

bdnews24.com has more than 5 million followers on Facebook and is the top news provider among Bangladesh media in terms of readership and content published in both Bangla and English.

According to Google Analytics that tracks and reports website traffic, bdnews24.com hit a record 7.4 million unique readers in December 2013 when news consumption in Bangladesh peaked ahead of a general election the following month.

And between March and July this year, the number shot to nine million when cricketing superpowers India and Pakistan played Bangladesh.

A spokesperson for bdnews24.com said unique readership of a news publisher on the Internet is compared with the circulation of print newspapers.

“That means, if it were a print newspaper, bdnews24.com’s circulation would have reached nine million copies.”