Published : 04 Oct 2026, 11:28 PM
Updated : 05 Oct 2026, 01:01 AM
Bangladesh’s telecom sector is still growing, but its revenue growth is hitting a ceiling, Axiata Group CEO Nick Rizal Kamil has said.
He wants taxes, spectrum prices and regulatory charges reconsidered.
Kamil made the remarks in bdnews24.com’s discussion programme “Chinwag with the Chiefs”, broadcast on its YouTube channel and Facebook page.
The interview, recorded on Sept 29 during his visit to Dhaka for Robi’s 30th anniversary, covered Bangladesh’s telecom and technology sectors, artificial intelligence and digital banking.
Axiata operates around 10 telecommunications and technology companies across Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cambodia and the Philippines. Robi is its Bangladesh operation.
Kamil, 53, became Axiata’s chief executive in June. He described Bangladesh’s new BNP-led government as business-friendly.
A More Business-Friendly Climate
“Bangladesh under the new government seems to be very business-friendly, with quite a clear focus and vision going forward. And even in the area of telecommunication that impacts Robi, the removal of, for example, the SIM tax -- I think that’s a really, really good move, because it allows operators to reinvest what they needed to spend on taxes into, for example, spectrum acquisition, better equipment, or basically just expanding sites, putting in more towers and sites that will improve coverage and also the quality of service.
“So tax is definitely one of them. But also in terms of spectrum regulation, I think spectrum pricing is also important. Historically, I think Bangladesh has probably one of the highest spectrum costs globally. That needs to change, right?”
Kamil said he was seeing signs that the government recognised the problem.
“I think some of the indications that we are getting from your government, at least, is that they are also getting to the point where they do realise that, ‘Hey, I can’t continuously charge high prices for spectrum’, right? Because then the telcos would not be able to utilise the spectrum and reinvest in equipment, which is getting very, very expensive. So that in itself will be very, very helpful for telcos.”
Growth, but a Ceiling on Revenue
Kamil sees Bangladesh as a strong growth market for Axiata, particularly compared with more mature markets such as Malaysia.
“We see Bangladesh as really an interesting market. It’s a growth market for us. In some of -- even in my home market in Malaysia, I see revenue for telcos growing at about 1 to 2 percent per annum. When it comes to somewhere like Bangladesh, I’m seeing growth rates of 7, 8, 9 percent, right?”
He said the potential was amplified by Bangladesh’s large population and rising demand for connectivity.
“Because people are still moving up that ladder towards higher technology and higher connectivity needs, etc. So the growth potential is immense.
“And you take your population -- it’s about 180 million in Bangladesh compared to Malaysia, which is 32 million. That’s a 6x. So just simple mathematics alone, you have 6x type of opportunity. Obviously, ARPUs and prices are different because between the two countries, our GDP is roughly about the same in absolute terms, but GDP per capita obviously is a bit higher in Malaysia.”
But that opportunity extends beyond telecommunications, he said.
“But this is where, you know, the opportunity is not just in telco, it’s just in Bangladesh as a country overall, right? How do you then diversify out of your reliance on ready-made goods and stuff like that?
“And this is where I think there’s a lot of very clear blue skies and some smart thinking, some risk-taking obviously needs to happen and stuff like that, but I can’t speak on behalf of the government, really. But yeah, it shows how progressive that you are.”
Kamil also pointed to political and economic stability as important for attracting investment.
“But the political stability, the understanding of what the economic needs are, that will not only attract investors, but will also show to the outside world that, you know, Bangladesh is open. You know, it’s time to do business, and because I know that it hasn’t been easy the last few years, right?”
When the Market Stops Getting Bigger
Despite Bangladesh’s growth potential, Kamil said telecom operators were facing a tougher revenue environment.
“As we all know, the telecommunications industry is very competitive. It is still growing, but I would say that the growth is plateauing in terms of revenue growth.
“Equipment is very expensive, because even Robi and some of the other Axiata operating companies or telcos that operate in all the countries, we operate in local currency. But when it comes to, for example, the purchase of equipment, it’s still denominated in US dollars, for example. So there’s a complete mismatch.”
That pressure is also changing what it means to run a telecommunications company.
“So those are some of the examples of how we transition from just a normal telco where you’re just putting up towers or -- in the sense of Axiata, we also have a tower company -- or how we use towers, put up radio equipment, and then transmit using spectrum. It’s how we do it, how we operationalise it, is becoming more and more important as the growth in the telecommunications sector continues to plateau a little bit.”
From Connectivity to Digital Services
Robi’s evolution mirrors that shift, Kamil said.
“When it comes to Robi and the evolution of the telecommunications sector in Bangladesh, it’s nothing new for Robi. Robi has been in existence for 30 years now -- in fact, this is the 30th year anniversary of Robi.
“So they’ve gone through the full cycle from early days of mobile connectivity to 2G, to 3G, 4G, and now coming up is 5G.”
The shift towards 5G and artificial intelligence is also changing the demands placed on networks.
“And especially in the world of AI, the one dynamic which more and more people are talking about -- previously when it comes to telco, we always talk about download speed, download capacity, because we’re just sucking things from the internet, right?
“But in the world of AI, people are now talking about upload, upload, upload, right? Because the uplink bit now counts quite a bit. So that in itself changes the dynamics of how a telco operates.”
Kamil said Robi was continuing to modernise its network while expanding into areas such as enterprise IT and fixed wireless access.
“Obviously, outside of those, in the NCCD, we are also modernising the network, putting in new equipment or better equipment to improve the coverage and also the capacity for those particular markets. So not sitting still -- it’s all centred around connectivity.
“Obviously, Robi, having been around for 30 years, has got other businesses as well. I think in the areas of IT, and especially in terms of enterprise IT, is something that they will continue to grow.
“There’s also the current trend of utilising 5G and better spectrum for FWA -- what we call Fixed Wireless Access -- that will provide broadband-type connectivity mainly for homes.”
AI Moves into the Network
For Axiata, becoming a technology company is not simply about selling digital services. Kamil said AI was increasingly being built into the way its businesses operate.
“The short answer to that is yes. But the definition of techco is not just provision of digital services, because that will come from the ability to provide better connectivity with better technology, better spectrum, more spectrum, etc, etc. But techco is also how you embrace technology in terms of the runnings and operations of your businesses.”
He said AI was being used to improve operations rather than simply as an investment theme.
“So one of the areas is around AI -- how are we using AI? One example is: by being a techco doesn’t mean Robi Axiata or even Axiata as a whole goes out and invests in AI companies. What it means by being a techco is how do we then use AI to improve our operations and also what we offer to the customers.”
One application is autonomous network management.
“Here, we adopt AI in the use of, you may have heard, autonomous networks. What it does is that AI enables us to monitor our networks, enhance the performance by ensuring that outages are properly managed, maintenance is properly scheduled, and it can even be in a mode whereby it becomes self-healing, i.e., traffic can be redirected.
“Because at the end of the day, if you are able to do that, one, your cost to serve comes down. But secondly, we as customers do not experience any outages in the service. So for us, it’s like we feel that, as mobile phone users, we see continuous service. But a lot of work and investment needs to happen in the back end.”
Cybersecurity Becomes Another Frontier
Axiata is also building its cybersecurity capabilities around its telecom operations.
“At the moment, we do quite a lot of cybersecurity already for our telcos. So for example, like Robi, we have what we call an Axiata Cyber Fusion Centre. It’s more of a Security Operations Centre that is based -- we’ve got a twin kind of operation. One is in Sri Lanka; their main HQ is actually in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
“This was actually carved out from basically our telcos, we amalgamated together. Their main objective initially was to provide cybersecurity services in terms of threat detection and remediation for our telcos.”
Robi and the Digital Bank Question
Asked about reports that Robi could be involved in a digital bank, Kamil declined to comment on speculation.
“Okay, so that’s a very good question and something that I’ve been asked quite a lot since I’ve been here the last couple of days. Again, there have just been news reports at the moment. We’ve not received anything official, so it would not be my place really to make any commentaries until we get something official.”
He said Axiata already had experience in digital financial services through Boost in Malaysia.
“But when you think about fintech or financial services linked to telecommunication services, that’s not new to the Axiata Group per se. Within the Axiata Group, we have Boost Holdings in Malaysia that started off with a wallet-type business, but has now since evolved and they were actually one of the recipients of one of five digital bank licences that the Malaysian Central Bank issued about two to three years ago. So they are now in the foundation phase.”
A digital banking licence, however, would only be the beginning.
“Having the licence alone is actually not enough, because obviously you need the capital, and also the type of regulatory and compliance that you need to put in a bank -- the rigour -- is not that much different from a conventional bank. So when you move into a digital bank space, what we found out in Boost in Malaysia is that a lot of work needs to be done, a lot of evaluation as well.”
