Robi (company)

Robi Axiata (d/b/a Robi) is the second largest mobile network operator in Bangladesh.[7] Axiata of Malaysia holds a major controlling stake of 61.82% in the company, while Bharti Airtel of India holds 28.18% and investors in DSE and CSE hold 10%.[8] Robi first commenced operation in 1997 as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh) with the brand name ‘AKTEL’ and was a joint venture of Axiata and NTT Docomo. In 2010, the company was re-branded to ‘Robi’ and the company changed its name to Robi Axiata Limited. As per government rule, the name changed to Robi Axiata PLC in 2024 as Robi is listed in Stock Market and a Public Limited Company. Robi Axiata has FDD spectrum on 900, 1800 & 2100 and TDD spectrum on 2600 MHz bands. On 16 November 2016, Airtel Bangladesh was merged into Robi as a product brand of Robi, where Robi Axiata PLC is the licensee of Airtel brand only in Bangladesh. Having successfully completed the merger process, Robi has emerged as the second largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh.[9] Currently Robi has commercially live 2G, 4G and 5G network.

History

Robi Axiata PLC started as a joint venture company between Telekom Malaysia and AK Khan and Company. It was formerly known as Telekom Malaysia International Bangladesh Limited which commenced operations in Bangladesh in 1997 with the brand name 'AKTEL'.[10] In 2007, AK Khan and Company exited the business by selling its 30% stake to Japan's NTT Docomo for US$350 million.[11]

In 2009, then AKTEL, now Robi Axiata, was the first operator to introduce GPRS and 3.5G services in the country.[12]

On 28 March 2010, 'AKTEL' was rebranded as 'Robi' which means "sun" in Bengali. It also took the logo of parent company Axiata Group which itself also went through a major rebranding in 2009.[13] In 2013, after five years of presence, Docomo reduced its ownership to 8% for Axiata to take 92%.[14]

On 28 January 2016, it was announced that Robi Axiata and Airtel Bangladesh will merge in Q1 2016. The combined entity will be called Robi, to serve about 40 million subscribers combined by both networks. Axiata Group will own 68.3% share, while Bharti Group will own 25%, and NTT Docomo held 6.31% shares.[15][16] Finally Robi and Airtel were merged on 16 November 2016 and Robi set sail as the merged company.[17] Later on, in 2020, after a decade with Robi, NTT Docomo decided to leave Bangladesh by selling its remaining stake in Robi Axiata PLC to Bharti International.

In August 2021, CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed stepped down as Robi CEO.[18] Company CFO M Riyaaz Rasheed stepped in as acting CEO in addition to his current duties.[19][20]

Mobile network operator Robi Axiata PLC has appointed Rajeev Sethi as the company's chief executive officer from October 2022. He will be replacing M Riyaaz Rasheed, who has been serving as Robi's acting chief executive officer since August 2021.[21]

Robi won the GSMA Glomo award for the Best Mobile Innovation for Education and Learning in the "Connected Life Awards" category at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017, is highly noteworthy.[22]

On 1 September 2025, Robi became the first telecom operator to launch 5G in Bangladesh, with initial rollouts in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. This was soon followed by Grameenphone, which became the second operator to do so.[23][24]

Numbering scheme

Robi uses the following numbering scheme for its subscribers:

For General Subscribers

+880 18 NNNNNNNN

+880 16 NNNNNNNN

For IoT Subscribers

+880 63 NNNNNNNN

Where, +880 is the International subscriber dialing code for Bangladesh.

16, 18 & 63 is the access code for Robi as assigned by the Government of Bangladesh. Omitting +88 will require to use 0 in place of it instead to represent local call, hence 016, 018 and 063 is the general access code.

N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8 is the subscriber number.

After the merger with Airtel, Robi owns the 016 number series as well.

In 2018, when Mobile number portability was introduced, users can port to any operator without changing number.[25][26]

Network

Robi is currently the second largest mobile operator in Bangladesh in terms of total number of mobile towers or BTS. As of August 2024, Robi has a total of 18,473 Mobile Network Tower or BTS across the country. On 1 September 2025, Robi also launched 5G for the first time in Bangladesh.[27]

Spectrums

The Robi/Airtel network is also GPRS/EDGE/4G-enabled, with a growing 5G network, allowing internet access within its coverage area. its Total spectrum volume is 124.00 MHz, 104.00 MHz is currently being used by Robi/Airtel, the remaining 20 MHz will be added from June 2025.

Frequencies used on ROBI/AIRTEL Network in Bangladesh:

Band: 8/900 MHz, Total Frequency: 09 MHz, Width: EDGE/LTE/LTE-A, Protocol: 2CC,3CC,4CC,5CC,6CC

Band: 3/ 1800 MHz, Total Frequency: 20 MHz, Width: EDGE/LTE/LTE-A, Protocol: 2CC,3CC,4CC,5CC,6CC

Services

See also

• Telecommunications in Bangladesh
• List of companies of Bangladesh
• Grameenphone
• Banglalink
• Airtel Bangladesh
• Internet in Bangladesh
• List of telecommunications companies of Bangladesh
• List of media companies of Bangladesh
• Mass media in Bangladesh
• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Bangladesh)

External links

• Binge (Streaming Service)