WorldTel Limited was established in January 1995 as part of an
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
initiative to help mobilize development of the
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
sector in
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
.
The primary catalyst for its creation was a McKinsey & Co. report recommending creation of a separate company for this purpose.
Sam Pitroda
Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda also known as Sam Pitrod) is an Indian inventor, telecommunication engineer and entrepreneur. He was born in Titlagarh in the eastern Indian state of Odisha to a Gujarati people, Gujarati family. He is popularly ...
, who developed the telecommunications services in India, became its first chairman in May 1995.
In 1996, $10 million of financing was announced, along with plans for 50 million telephone lines.
WorldTel UK was awarded a 2001 license for services in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.
In 2004 Swedtel, based in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, was purchased by WorldTel UK Limited.
In November 2007, Mohammad Nayeem Mehtab Chowdhury of WorldTel Bangladesh Holdings was arrested for allegedly forging the signature of Pitroda and withdrawing money from banks illegally that was intended for investment.
In April 2008, WorldTel Bangladesh announced that Chowdhury was released and cleared of charges, and it would start service "soon" in
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
.
In 2010, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission raided the offices of WorldTel Bangladesh and seized
voice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of speech, voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms In ...
equipment.
Around 2007 the UK company no longer filed financial statements, and was dissolved in 2011.
The company maintained a web site through about 2010.
References
Telecommunications companies of Bangladesh
{{Telecom-company-stub