Report on Grameenphone Ltd

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Rationale for Selecting the Report

Grameenphone is a well-repudiated and one of the largest mobile operator company in Bangladesh. I amvery lucky that I got internship opportunity here and I believe these will be very helpful for my futurecareer. As an intern. I will be acquiring practical knowledge and experiences about the mobile company’sactivities.

I am working in TAXATION AND FISCAL DEPARTMENT OF Grameenphone. I am going to learn lot of thingabout tax and vat which will be helpful for me if I wil l do job in any sector. I think this is an interestingand impotent department for any local and multinational company. Through the department they aregiving tax to the government and also contribute to the society.as a business student choosing this topi cwill help me in several ways. Also I will have a clear understand vat system and its present system inBangladesh.

Background of Company

Grameenphone widely known as GP is the leading telecommunications service provider inBangladesh .With more than 37. 7 million subscribers (as of April 2012), Grameenphone is the largestcellular operator in the country. It is a joint venture enterprise between Telenor and Grameentelecom corporation, a non-profit sister concern of the internationally acclaimed microfina nceorganization and community development bank Grameen Bank. Telenor, the largesttelecommunications company in Norway, owns 55.8% shares of Grameenphone, Grameen Telecomowns 34.2% and the remaining 10% is publicly held.

Grameenphone was the first compa ny to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh. It alsoestablished the first 24-hour Call center to support its subscribers. With the slogan Stay Close andalso stay green, stated goal of Grameenphone is to provide affordable telephony to the entirepopulation of Bangladesh.

Before Grameenphone’s inception, the phone was for a selected urbanized few. The cell phone wasa luxury: a flouting accessory for the select elite.The mass could not contemplate mobile telephonyas being part of their lives.

Grameenphone started its journey with the Village Phone program: a pioneering initiative toempower rural women of Bangladesh. The name Grameenphone translates to “Rural phone”.

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Starting its operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh, Gramee nphone hascome a long way. Grameenphone pioneered the then breakthrough initiative of mobile to mobiletelephony and became the first and only operator to cover 98% of the country’s people withnetwork

Since its inception. Presently, nearly 99 percent of the country's population is within the coveragearea of the Grameenphone network. Grameenphone has always been a pioneer in introducing newproducts and services in the local telecom market. GP was the first company to introduce GSMtechnology in Bangladesh when it launched its services in March 1997.

Grameenphone was also the first telecommunication operator in Bangladesh to introduce the pre -paid service in September 1999. It established the first 24 -hour Call Center, introduced value -addedservices such as VMS, SMS, fax and data transmission services, international roaming service, WAP,SMS-based push-pull services, EDGE, personal ring back tone and many other products and services.The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing acce ss to high-speedInternet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently nearly 5.8million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network.

Today, Grameenphone is the leading and largest telecommunications service provider in Ba ngladeshwith more than 40.1 million subscribers as of October 2012.

Corporate governance

In the fast-paced world of telecommunications, vibrant and dynamic Corporate Governancepractices are an essential ingredient to success. Grameenphone believes in the continuedimprovement of corporate governance. This in turn has led the Company to commit considerableresources and implement internationally accepted Corporate Standards in its day -to-day operations.

Being a public limited company, the Board of Director s of Grameenphone have a pivotal role to playin meeting all stakeholders’ interests. The Board of Directors and the Management Team ofGrameenphone are committed to maintaining effective Corporate Governance through a culture ofaccountability, transparency, well-understood policies and procedures. The Board of Directors andthe Management Team also persevere to maintain compliance of all laws of Bangladesh and allinternally documented regulations, policies and procedures. Grameenphone is a truly transpar entcompany that operates at the highest levels of integrity and accountability on a global standard.

Ownership structure

He shareholders of Grameenphone contribute their unique, in -depth experience in bothtelecommunications and development.

It is a joint venture enterprise between Telenor (55.8%), the largest telecommunications serviceprovider in Norway with mobile phone operations in 12 other countries, and Grameen TelecomCorporation (34.2% ), a non-profit sister concern of the internationally accla imed micro-creditpioneer Grameen Bank. The other 10% shares belong to general retail and institutional investors.

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The technological know-how and managerial expertise of Telenor has been instrumental in settingup such an international standard mobile pho ne operation in Bangladesh. Being one of the pioneersin developing the GSM service in Europe, Telenor has also helped to transfer this knowledge to thelocal employees over the years

The international shareholder brings technological and business manageme nt expertise while thelocal shareholder provides a presence throughout Bangladesh and a deep understanding of itseconomy. Both are dedicated to Bangladesh and its struggle for economic progress and have a deepcommitment to Grameenphone and its mission t o provide affordable telephony to the entirepopulation of Bangladesh.

Our Mission

Leading the industry and exceed customer expectations by providing the best wireless services,making life and business easier

Our Vision

We exist to help our customers get the full benefit of communications services in their daily lives.We want to make it easy for customers to get what they want, when they want it. We're here tohelp

Our Values

Make It Easy

Keep Promises

Be Inspiring

Be Respectful

Our Brand Promise

“Stay Close”

Sponsorship

Grameenphone engages in sponsorship to deliver its brand promise and to create mutual benefitsfor its partners. Grameenphone has been relentlessly supporting different organizations throughsponsorships to preserve and glorify our nationa l heritage and patronize the potential developingsectors of Bangladesh.

The basic drive of our sponsorship decision comes from patriotism and the understanding of societaldevelopment in different potential sectors. We believe that there is still a large scope to worktogether and stay close.

Sponsorship focus areas

Sports

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Art-Culture

Social Welfare

National Days

ICT Development Partner

Sponsorship Activities

Partnered with Bangladesh Cricket Board and sponsored National team from 2003 to 2011

Grameenphone- the proud partner of Sports, Art -culture, social welfare national days

Sponsored National Cricket Academy from 2007 to 2012

Sponsor of National Football Team

Golf

Tennis

Weight Lifting

National Art Exhibition

Zainul-Quamrul International Children's Painting Competition

Rabindro Utshob

National Poet's Birth Anniversary

Tree Plantation Movement

Police Week

Anti-Drug Movement

Major events in Independence D ay & Victory Day

International Mother Language Day

Bengali New Year etc.

Products and Services

Packages

Xplore

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Xplore is a postpaid connection and is available with Mobile to Mobile with BTCL connectivity. BTCLincoming is absolutely free in Xplore.

Shohoj

Grameenphone prepaid connection comes with this pre -activated package where you will be able totalk to any operator number at a low, flat rate of Tk 0.79.

Spondon

“Spondon” is the new attractive price plan from Grameenphone which gives you the opportunity to“Pay only as much as you will talk”

Apon

You can talk to over 37 million Grameenphone numbers at a very low rate of 13 Paisa per 10 second.

Smile

The Grameenphone Smile prepaid connection now gives you more freedom, more opportunities andmore reasons to smile!!

djuice

New djuice price plan from Grameenphone Ltd. is designed w ith the Youth in mind!

Other services

Internet: Grameenphone provides internet service in its coverage area. As it has EDGE/GPRS enablednetwork, any subscriber can access to internet through this network. Grameenphone was the firstmobile operator in Bangladesh to offer EDGE services to its subscribers.

Bill Pay: A service to enable users to pay their utility bills Electricity/Gas through mobil e

Cellbazar: A service to enable users sells or buys products through mobile or internet.

Various other services l ike stock Information, Instant Messaging, SMS Based Alerts/Services, Voice -based Services, Download ,cricket music ,Updates, Web SMS, Mobile Backup etc.

International roaming, Handsets and mobile services.

Objectives:

Broad objectives

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The broad objective of doing this study is to gain knowledge, information and experience aboutvalue added tax of Grameenphone .

Specific objectives

Another objective of the report is to p rove my experience through internship program.

To find out the procedure and practices of tax department of Grameenphone .

To be familiar with the practical job environment .

To know about how much vat are charged on wh ich product and which services .

To identify How they entry their invoice and bill.

Also to know about the formate of” Mushok 11”.

Taxation activities in Grameenphone

A value added tax (VAT) is a form of consumption tax .From the perspective of the buyer, it is a taxon the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the value added to a product,material, or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its manufacture ordistribution. The manufacturer remits to the government the difference between these tw oamounts, and retains the rest for themselves to offset the taxes they had previously paid on theinputs.

The value added to a product by or with a business is the sale price charged to its customer, minusthe cost of materials and other taxable inputs. A VAT is like a sales tax .in that ultimately only theend consumer is taxed. It differs from the sales tax in that, with the latter, the tax is collected andremitted to the government only once, at the point of purchase by the end consumer. With the VAT,collections, remittances to the government, and credits for taxes already paid occur each time abusiness in the supply chain purchases products .

3.1 Work Related

The taxation and fiscal team of grameen phone are work on three terms .these are corporate tax,value added tax and Foreign Remittance, BTRC payment, Customs Tribunal .In these three sectionthere are also many sub section . these subsection are given below:

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• CORPORATE TAX

• Tax Accounting, provisioning, reconciliation

• Tax Planning

• Tax Compliance

• Tax Reporting for Group & Statutory purpose

• Income Tax Return Preparation & Submission

• Income Tax Payment

• Tax Assessment

• Income Tax Appeal

• Agreement Vetting

• Tax Vetting on Process creation/ Development/B usiness case

• Withholding Tax Deduction

• Withholding Tax Deposit & certification to vendor

• SOX compliance

• Stakeholder relation

• VALUE ADDED TAX (VAT)

• VAT Planning

• VAT Accounting

• VAT Compliance

• VAT Return Preparation & Submissi on

• VAT Payment

• VAT Audit

• Agreement Vetting

• Vetting on Process creation/ Development/Business case

• Price Declaration

• SOX compliance

• Withholding VAT Deduction

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• Withholding VAT Deposit & certification to vendor

• VAT Challan receiving at OTC & Input VAT rebate accounting Stakeholder relation

• Foreign Remittance, BTRC payment, Customs Tribunal

• Obtain Approval Letter

• Project approval from BOI

• Foreign Loan approval from BOI.

• Calculation of BTRC payable & reconciliati on

• Payment to BTRC

• Report total Govt. Payment position.

• Prepare & filling of case to Customs Tribunal

Receiving the invoice

Receiving all of the invoices which are came from different parts of the country . All vats 11 must bedelivered to Finance and fiscal compliance department to the following schedule:

If the vat 11 issue date is 1st to 20th date of any month then collect and send original copies of vat11 by 25th day of the same month.

If vat 11 issue date 21st to 30th or 31th date of any mo nth then collect and send original copies ofvat11 by 5 working days of the following month.

Entry the invoice in the excel

I had entry those invoices in excel and also findout the vat percentage of each product which wasGrameenphone bought .But I did not entry the credit note and GP IT invoices. I entry company’s vatregistration no. Company name, doc no. Invoice no, receive date,vat doc date ,vat base , vat ,vattotal, positioning date and also vat rate.

Photo copy the Invoices

Photocopy all the invoices .these photo copies were taken to the BTRC .

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Seal on the photocopies of invoices :

Then I also seal on the photocopies invoices .These is command from BTRC.

Correction the invoices:

I had also correction the invoices on the basis of the the Mshok 11 format. In the invoices there musthave two type of information Grameenphone information and supplier information .Name ,address,date and vat registration number is the most important for all invo ices and also for both parties.

Give the track number

I had also give the track number on these invoice .t hese are the necessary for rechecking theinvoice.

Data Entry

I had also work on boe (bill of entry) these mainly base on import goods for gp which come fromchittagoang port.gp have to give duty to go vernment on the basis of the total price of import goods .Then port authority give these slip to gp. From these copy of bill I had to prepare bill of ent ry sheeton excel sheet .for the vat rebate these sheet is very important .

3.2 Organization Wide

In recent times management has brought a change in the organizational structure in view of need oftime. Currently Grameenphone has 11 divisions and 5 departments to run its operations smoothly.The divisions are:

Customer Management Division

Finance Division

Information Technology Division

Sales and Distribution Division

People and Organization Division

Fiber Optic Network Division

Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Division

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Technical Division

Projects Division

New Business Division

Marketing Division

The departments are independent from any divisions. The names of 5 departments are:

Administration Department

Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management Department

Information Department

Internal Audit Department

Legal and Compliance Department

There are also two projects running under observation of Deputy Managing Director. The projectsare independent of Projects division. These are, CHQ Project and Efficiency Project. Among them therespective directors head ten divisions. Marketing division is leaded by a deputy di rector. A GeneralManager leads Information Department. He has to report direct to the Managing Director. Head ofsupply chain management has to report directly to the director of Finance Division. Thisresponsibility is added recently to the Director, Fin ance Division.

Technology Division

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Fig: Divisional Organogram (Technology Division

Corporate Portfolio Management - Office technology (CPMO)

Enable prioritization & alignment

Secure implementation of GP cross functional projects

Maintain GP project management methodology, guideline and templates

Develop project managers

Partner Management

Consolidated view of partner

Better Cost Control, Partner Rationalization and Partner Quality

Contract administration and negotiation

Information Technology

Strategic alignment with Company Goals

Develop Service platforms, solution design

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Partner Management







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Partner Management







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Configure, Integrate Service & BSS Platforms, In house Software development and Applicationcustomization

Day to day operation management for BSS and all IT applications.

Back office Operation management, IS/IT network and Service & support office management, Datacenter & DR Operation, UNIX Systems and Central storage management, Database Operation mgt

IT service mgt and Regional support

Assurance

Integrated reporting - one truth to all

End to End view of Network & Services Quality

Proactive measures on Revenue Leakages and Frauds

Focus on Improvement – Business, Process, Technical

Implementation

Manage Capex

Ensure rollout as planned

Interfacing between technology & wholesale on infra sharing issue

Acquisition of new sites

Design and drawing of all sites and Network Installations Construction of infrastructure .

Telecom installation & commissioning of base stations

Planning, Design & Dimensioning

Manage Capex

Integrated Planning for Technology

Resource Pool Optimization – Effort based deployment

Product, Forecast and Cost Management

Define Capex

Integrated inputs

One unit defining & tracking time, effort & cost estimates

Focused on operational strategy

Focused responsibility on product & services feasibility

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Innovation culture with greater market focus

Operations

Manage Opex

Single team for End-to-End problem handling and management

24/7 Network & Service Surveillance and Alarm dispatch

Environment & Power maintenance of core sites

Coordinate & follow-up with vendors on escalated issues

Long Term Strategy & Broadband

Driving technology direction

Single responsibility and control of defining and incubating high impact l ong term technologyinitiatives

Communication Division

Technology division comprises 06 core departments. Divisional chart and department wiseresponsibilities are given below.

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Operations

Manage Opex










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Operations

Manage Opex










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Fig: Divisional Organogram (Communication Division )

Brands

Ensure GP branded entities are aligned with Brand architecture and Brand strategy

Manage GP brand, Brand equity and associated brands as applicable

Formulation of Brand strategy and Brand architecture

Design and implementation of Annual Brand Communication Plan

Ensure campaigns are aligned with GP Brand Strategy

Market Communications

Ensure GP’s market presence and enhance appreciation among different stakeholders

Manage effective campaigns for Mother Brand a nd related segments in alignment with BrandStrategy and Brand architecture

Ensure commercial campaign rollout aligned with commercial strategy

Design and execute Brand specific activities driven by the market dynamics

Design & facilitate creative contents contributing internal and external trade marketing, campaign &media engagement.

Ensure follow up, archiving & documentation of campaigns

Communication Channels

Activation strategy development aligned with the overall company and brand strategies

Develop media events from laid down global, regional and local activation platforms through theinsight activator process

Develop and roll-out new activation projects

Develop efficient and holistic multimedia communication channel plans for all the brands of GP.

Efficient media buying and planning

Media Intelligence for identifying the changes and emerging trends.

Corporate Responsibility

Formulate and periodic revisit of the CR Strategy in line with overall company strategy.

Develop processes and guidelines t o undertake new projects and partners

Study, analysis, evaluation and reporting of CR projects

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Identify and drive business integrated CR projects.

Develop and implement CR Governance model

Ensure alignment with Group CR activities

Corporate Communications

Corporate communication strategy management.

Proactive media and stakeholder management

Proactive media and stakeholder management

Timely & accurate dissemination of relevant information to external and internal audience

Manage favorable and positive image of Grameenphone

Drive, maintain, and/or enhance company reputation through public relation initiatives

Lead to define and/or reinforce stakeholder perception through proactive corporate engagement

Oversee development of corporate content and ensure information for ready references

Monitor, supervise and ensure full compliance of GPI guidelines relating to Financial InformationDisclosure

Service Delivery & Performance Management

Excel operational excellence throughout the organization.

Propel development strategy to attain higher efficiency by managing performance managementstrategy for division.

Managing divisional projects, people & process management framework.

Manage divisional KPI & goals with effective measures to attain business target.

Lead in company level service delivery strategy & smoothen business operation.

Managing go to market lead time during campaign or project roll out.

Ensure service delivery on stipulated time as per divisional requirement.

Finance Division

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Fig: Divisional Organogram (Finance Division )

Governance & Control

Internal Control: Assist organization to compl y with Sarbanes Oxley Controls

Revenue Assurance & Fraud Management Ensure robust controls on revenue flow and manage fraudeffectively

Governance: Ensure Implementation of companywide Policies & Procedures and other mandatorydocs

Process & Efficiency: Develop & align ERP, SCM & Credit Control processes

Risk Management: Plan and coordinate companywide risks and align with group

Treasury Operations

Manage transaction outflow for accounts payable

Compliance to all Foreign Exchange Rules and Regulations

Develop and maintain treasury policy

Maintain treasury operation of regions including support to network sub centers.

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Treasury Operations





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Treasury Operations





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Fund Management & Collection

Ensure due compliance, efficiency and oversight over the country wide collection network

Ensure required funding solutions with objectives of optimum capital structure and minimized risks

Develop and implement financial strategy and cash flow forecasting of the Company

Provide support and advise to distribution network in the area of commission management

Financial Strategy & Information Management

Financial Planning: Steer and manage the process of Business Planning & forecasting.

Accounting : Ensure accounting compliance in line with standard principles & group policies;Manage Fixed Assets and Revenue Accountin g

Reporting: Own & deliver the process of Financials reporting both Group and local.

Business Finance

Investment Management: Appraise all company investments and ensure right prioritization

Business Managers: Support the organization on financial planning, analysis & reporting; Ensurefinancial control.

Taxation & Fiscal Compliance: Secure compliance with the taxation and other fiscal laws of the land;Relationship with related authorities.

Supply Chain Management

Support procurement function of the compan y with compliance and transparency.

Vendor sourcing, Relationship and strategy building.

Logistics and Warehousing support mainly to technical and other divisions (except sales )

Corporate Affairs Division

Technology division comprises 04 core departments

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Divisional Organogram (Corporate Affairs Division )

Regulatory Affairs

Ensure Complete Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory support to Commercial & Operational delivery

Align the internal value chain & with BTRC

Constantly liaise with Regulatory auth ority & contribute in bringing positive changes in theframework

Manage all License related issues for GP

Manage all Inter-operator ( ANS / PSTN /ICX / IGW) issues including revenue and cost efficiency

Stakeholder Relations

Steer Stakeholder Management / Relationship process in GP

Establish Meaningful & Respectful Stakeholder rapport including effective Stakeholder mapping

Constant endeavor for Stakeholder satisfaction & building right image of GP

Manage Stakeholder events

Facilitate public

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Regulatory Affairs












Facilitate public

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Regulatory Affairs












Facilitate public

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Private partnership (P3) projects

Corporate Affairs Strategy & Planning

Steer the Total Compliance process in GP

Guide & support the organization doing compliant business

Manage litigation to safeguard the company

Drive Compliance awareness across the company

Legal & Compliance

Steer the Total Compliance process in GP

Guide & support the organization doing compliant business

Manage litigation to safeguard the company

Drive Compliance awareness across the company

People & Organization Division


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Fig: Divisional Organogram (People & Organization Division)

Employee Services

Ensure ethical culture in Grameenphone and address non-compliance

Identify need to formulate policy/guidelines

Oversee quality and on time service delivery

Oversee payroll & pension fund management

Contract management of expatriates and con sultants, Travel arrangements and guest/visitorrelations

Oversee Employee Information management

Recruitment & Development

People planning

Talent sourcing

Talent selection

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Employee Services








People planning

Talent sourcing

Talent selection

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Employee Services








People planning

Talent sourcing

Talent selection

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Assessment Center

Performance Management

Talent Development

Values & Culture

Internal Value Creation (IVC)

Employer-employee relations

Strategic and operational contribution to manage different personnel policies that affect people atwork

Employee communication

Health Safety Security Environment & Business Assurance (HSSE & BA)

Create, Execute & retain HSSE culture in Grameenphone & value chain

OHS&S assurance, Local HSSE policy & procedures, ABC & SCP implement/follow -up

Non-financial report to GP Board, Telenor Group and stakes

Safety risk, accident/incident assessment, investi gation & mitigation plan, HSSE Audit/ Inspection

Employee awareness & HSSE training programs, Emergency medical protocol and In -House medicalconsultancy

International standard Day-care operations for GP employees

Bridging with Board & Management, establi sh GP HSSE as a role model among Telenor OpCos

Strategic roles in Crisis Management

Contract management of expatriates and consultants, Travel arrangements and guest/visitorrelations


Property & Facility Services

New P&FS is will provide a single-source solution for facility management & business supportservices

Property Management-Legal, SCM, Finance, Contract management, Insurance, SLA

All technical operation & maintenance except NW/IT/Mobile equipments/systems.

All agreed facility services, i.e. reception, post, stationeries, cafeteria, cleaning & housekeeping,workplace, events, etc. for all offices including regions

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Transport Services

Security-for all technical infrastructure, office buildings, systems

Projects & expert support on property issues

Compensation & Benefit

Implement and administer new Compensation and Benefit (C&B) system

Plan C&B strategy, individual salary setting, review and ensure business alignment

Design and implement new policy and processes for promotions, alternative career path

Review and roll out compensation surveys

Job evaluation and role matrix exercises

Design, implement and administer annual performance incentive program (s)

Compensation & benefit Budget and variance analysis

Administer pension rule and Organize Trustee meeting

Prepare cost benefit analysis

Create Awareness about Compensation & benefit among the employees

Strategy Process

Facilitate & bridge strategy processes, key strategic initiatives and actions

Drive on process and policy framework, documentation, simplification, re -engineering and audit

Align Telenor Group initiatives, policy, procedures and its localization

Project management and Program Office functions

Build measurement, analysis and reporting structure Contribute to development, communicationand enabling

Contribute to development, communication and enabling all P&O functions

Commercial Division

Technology division comprises 06 core departments. Divisional chart an d department wiseresponsibilities are given below.

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Fig: Divisional Organogram (Commercial Division)

Product Voice

Profit & Loss voice

Voice management

VAS management

Forecasting voice

Target setting- Commercial Division

Product development- Voice

Channel management

Pricing voice

Consumer Segments

One-to-many

Campaign management

Activity control

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Product Voice

Profit & Loss voice

Voice management

VAS management

Forecasting voice



Channel management

Pricing voice

Consumer Segments

One-to-many

Campaign management

Activity control

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Product Voice

Profit & Loss voice

Voice management

VAS management

Forecasting voice



Channel management

Pricing voice

Consumer Segments

One-to-many

Campaign management

Activity control

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Campaign execution

Consumer insight

Business Segments

One-to-many

Campaign management

Activity control

Campaign execution

Consumer insight

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

One-to-One

Loyalty program

Crystal

B-node

Campaign management

Activity control

Campaign execution

Consumer insight

Strategic Management & Analysis

Process mgt Reporting

Commercial projects CEX

Business Intelligence

Strategy

Internet & Broadband

Profit & Loss I&BB

I&BB management

Content management

Forecasting I&BB

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Target setting

Product development I&BB

Channel management

Pricing I&BB

Sales

Distribution and Retail Channel Management on region specific market.

Distribution network management by ensuring optimal availability of core physical and electronicproducts and.

Establish, develop and manage different retail channels and channel specific profitability models.

Grameenphone Centre management.

Maintain proactive and regular on site customer management.

Influence customer purchase intention & usage habits of mobile devices, Support Customeracquisition, retention, increase of ARPU & Channel Partner Profitability.

Develop and manage overall POS materials and trade engagement programs .

Target ‘Best Customer Experience’ and the ‘Operational excellence’ objectives.

10.6.1. Customer Services

Serve the valued GP customers round -the-clock, 365 days a year.

Bridge the customers through advanced teleph ony and written interactions.

Provide reactive and proactive after sales service, information and greater sales focus.

Customer service is the department in which I have been involved during my internship. I worked inContact Center as a Customer Manager. Organogram and section wise description of my departmentis discussed in next section.

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Fig: Departmental Organogram (Customer Service Department)

Resource Management

Manage human and systems resources in a flexible and efficient way

Resource Planning, Monitoring, Reporting, and System Support

Ensure Service Level & Customer Satisfaction

Complaint Management

Professionalize complaint management in the whole company

Handling complaints as a 2nd line to all GP customer contact points

Handling written queries, requests and 1st line complaints

People Management

Customer Service recruitment

Training for Customer Managers and Leaders

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Resource Management








People Management



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Resource Management








People Management



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Employee Recognition and Talent Management

Ensure alignment between Projects/ Campaigns and Customer Service strategy

Information Management

Understand employee pulse and follow -up

Telesales

Develop strategies for the Telesales department to establish Customer Service as a major saleschannel

Planning, facilitating and follow up the telesales in Inbound & Outbound Contact Cen ter

10.6.1.1. Contact Center

Provide one-stop after sale service to subscribers round -the-clock, 365 days a year.

Provocative information sharing with customers

Capture customer insights

Escalate complaints and crit ical issues

Sale value added services through inbound and outbound contact

This is the section in which I pursued my internship. Reporting hierarchy, responsibility and jobdescription of each member in the hierarchy is discussed in the next section.

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Fig: Operational Chart (Contact Center)

Head of Customer Service

Monitor and control the strategically/ tactical initiatives and activities within Customer Servicesfunctions.

Ensure that departmental activities are aligned with and supports the realization of the company'sbusiness objectives.

Shall direct the company's overall Customer Services activities; facilitate state of art customerexperiences through Quality Services in order to meet company targets for growth and profitability.

Ensure coordination, business alignment and adaptation of best -practices.

Service Operations Manager

Floor wise implementation of departmental strategy

Ensuring the service quality and performance of the teams

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Planning, facilitating and follow up of Inbound & Outbound Contact s

Communication of different service related issues within the department

Strategy development to improve employee performance and service quality

Team Leader

Team Leaders are Deputy Manager by designation. They are responsible for running their respectiv eteam. Team leaders are assigned with a particular skill and work under a Service Operation Manager.They are responsible for-

Handling inbound contacts with the team for relevant customer segments (through voice, onlinechat, email etc.)

1st level complaint handling and resolution

Communicate newly occurred problems to relevant functional teams

Manage Team operations of 24X7 Contact Center and Employee performance in the Team

Maintain targeted Team KPI on a regular basis

Team Member

Team members are the first line agents in the Contact Center. All the team members in a team havesame skill which is the team skill. A team member can be a permanent or contractual officer or acontractual part-timer.

Full-time members work on nine hour shifts and part -time members work on six hour shifts. Shiftsare distributed over the whole day to ensure 24 hour continuous service. For the convenience of theemployees of the Contact Center Grameenphone provides extensive transportation service over 24hours. Team members are responsible for-

Provide one-stop quality Customer Service over phone to ensure positive customer experience.

Proactively aware/inform customers regarding our products/service

Sale through inbound and outbound contacts.

Capture customer insights and escalate critical issues / complaints and provide timely feedback

Maintain targeted KPI on a regular basis

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Serve customers with helping attitude and thus play a significant role in customer satisfaction,retention, and acquisition. In this way enhan ce Grameenphone’s brand image

3.3 Other relevant activities

Corporate social responsibility

At Grameenphone, we live by the statement "Development is a journey, not a destination." Ourwork is not just about ensuring connectivity; it is about connecting w ith people and buildingrelationships, based on trust, with our subscribers, business partners, employees, shareholders, aswell as the wider community. We have always believed that good development is good business.While we maintain our business focus, t aking the nation forward remains our top priority. Thus ourrelationship with Bangladesh is built on a partnership which strives to achieve common economicand social goals.

Corporate social responsibility, as we see it, is a 'complementary' combination of ethical andresponsible corporate behavior, as well as a commitment towards generating greater good for thesociety by addressing the development needs of the country.

CR vision:

To be recognized as the most socially responsible mobile operator in Banglad esh and in thecorporate sector.

CR goals

Create shared value for Grameenphone and society through our mobile technology Integrateresponsible business practices in all operations

Integrate responsible business practices in all operations

Our Corporate responsibility initiatives focus on creating shared value through:

Max Promote safer products and services

Minimize our carbon footprint

Our CR initiatives is based on 3 main focus areas:

Health

Education

Environment

Some of our Key CR initiatives:

Safe Motherhood & Infant Care Project- More than 1.7 million free primary healthcare services to underprivileged pregnant mothers &their infants

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Free eye care support for around 28,780 people- 3,458 eye sights restored so far

Awareness building on varied nation al issues- AIDS, National Immunization Day

Information boats with digitized livelihood contents and internal access for remote riverinecommunities

Economic freedom for more than 400,000 Village Phone Operators

More than 500 Community Information Centers - connecting life and learning

Proud sponsor of Bangladesh Special Olympics team

Employment opportunity to acid survivors

Scholarship for underprivileged meritorious students

Blood donation camps for underprivileged Thalassaemia patients

Establishment of Blood Bank at Bogra for underprivileged patients

Emergency relief effort in natural calamities

minimize the enabling effect of mobile telecommunications

Some of Social Initiatives

Community Information Center

The Grameenphone Community Information Center is a shared premise where rural people mayaccess a wide-range of state of art services such as Internet, voice communications, videoconferencing and other information services. This initiative by Grameenphone is in line with thecompany's objective to serve local community needs by:

Bridging the "digital divide" by providing information access to rural people

Alleviating poverty

Educating the underserved and underprivileged on information -based services

- Building local entrepreneurships and improving capacity

- Creating employment opportunities for the unemployed youth

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CICs are a unique business model that has won appreciation from the International community, suchas from the Washington Post, from UNDP, as well as the blessings of several Internation al bodies likeKatalyst and the GSMA.

The pilot project started in February 2006 with 16 CICs; today the project has become a massiveoperation with over 500 CICs operational in nearly 450 Upzilla's.

The short-term plan of this initiative is to establish a t least one CIC in each of the 462 Upazilla's. Inthe long-run Grameenphone plans to increase the number of CICs substantially so that very CIC cansupport the information needs of four adjacent villages.

Steps on Climate Change (Green Footprint with Green Business)

Our Climate is changing very fast and affecting the earth with its adverse consequences. As aresponsible business, GP launched its ‘Climate Change Program’ back in 2008 to gain sustainabilityand as well as to help people and community. GP has an environmental roadmap which aims topromote a low-carbon society, and GP's first priority is to take responsibility for the excess CO2emissions generated by its own operations. GP has set a target of reducing 40% carbon emission(CO2) within 2015 from the business as usual situation considering 2008 as the baseline.

Climate Change Initiatives

Renewable Energy

We initiated renewable energy project back in 2007 to operateour off-grid sites with green energy in a business viab le mode. Atpresent we have 50 BTS sites running on solar. Work is inprogress for installing solar in another 110 sites. Deployment of50 Solar BTSs from 2007 to 2011 saved approximately 598Thousand Litres of fuel which measures to over 1.5 ThousandTons of CO2 reduction.

Network Modernization Project through BTS Swapping and CoreSites Consolidation & Optimization.

GP took two projects, one is network modernization project which is to reduce its Network energyconsumption by swapping of 7,272 BTSs with energy efficient modern equipments and another is toconsolidate and optimize Core nodes from 40 to 20 along wi th to reduce locations from 22 to 9throughout the country with an ai m to reduce energy consumption and increase work efficiency.With these two initiatives, GP has saved till now approximately 48 GWh (Gigawatt hours) electricityand 83 thousand liters of fuel which is over 27 thousand ton s of CO2 reduction. 50% energyconsumption reduction in network sites has been possible from network modernization project.

Deployment of DC Ventilation by dismantling of AC’s

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Dismantling of existing cooling systems (AC’s) is to reduce energy costs and energy consumptionsand to install energy efficient free cooling System which is DC Ventilation Systems (DVS) by which anacceptable level temperature can be maintained in BTS room. Deploying of DC Ventillation Systemappears extremely viable with prospects of saving 40% -50% of total site’s energy. So far, 6500 AC(s)have been dismantled and 6,670 DVS(s) have been installed and approximately 77 GWh electricityhas been saved which is over 43 thousand tons of CO2 reduction .

Community Power Project

Grameenphone partnered with University of Oslo to develop an advanced Community PowerProject. GP piloted this project in a remote village named Pa harpur, under Hob igonj district in SylhetDivision, at the northeast of Bangladesh. A mini -grid has been developed and around 136households are connected to this grid and getting power from 5 pm till midnight. The ultimate goalof the initiative is to develop business models that would promote a self -sustaining communitypower infrastructure. This also enables the roll -out of Community Information Center (CIC) in areasthat would otherwise be inaccessible.

GPHouse - A Green Workplace

GPHouse has opened new doors to a new way of working.Space efficiency, energy efficiency, optimal usage of naturallighting, water treatment, and internal air treatment aresome of the common terms associated with this building .Grameenphone has again pioneered its way in successfullydeploying the first cogeneration system here at GP House.The system allows generation of own electricity and the useof by-product heat in absorption chiller for internal coolingof the building. The building is saving approx. 60% energycomparing to the traditional building system. The buildinghas a waste water treatment plant which is saving up to31% of the regular water consumption. Water savings hasreached now 12 million Liters/Yr and the energy savings isapprox. 11 GWh/Yr means over 6.1 thousand tons of CO2reduction.

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4.0: Constraints & Challenges

Grameen phone is the largest telecome company in our country. And the Basundhara corporatehead office from where I did my internship is also a very good place as well as co mfortable so thereis nothing much to say about the workplace environment, employee skills and organizationalbehavior, culture as well as the obliged rule. Though I am a student of marketing department, it washard for me to do work in vat section . If I would be a student of accounting and financedepartment, I think it would be a bit easier for me. This is just a little observation during theinternship program that educational background is very important in job place.

4.1: Academic Preparation

I faced some problems during preparing the affiliation report and most of them were my personalproblems. Those are –

Lack of time as it is a small semester and the internship duration is only three months.

I am a marketing student that’s why it takes me a lot of time to understand taxation activities andtheir roles.

When I was preparing the affiliation I didn’t found any marketing activities related in taxationdepartment.

4.2: Missing knowledge and skills that need to be learned in the university

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There are some knowledge and skills that need to be learned in the university which is relevant tothe company or to oneself as future professional. Those are –

1. The university could start a workshop/seminar on internship program. So, interns canunderstand what kind of challenges they have to face and how to handle these challenges smoothly.

2. The University should give lectures on organizational culture and values and other importantissues.

3. The University should call different corporate Employee s of some recognized companies so thatthey can share their experience which will be helpful for the students in near future.

4. Besides bookish knowledge university should give practical example to their students and go forfiled visit also after a certa in period of time during different semester time period.

5:0: Lessons Learned from the Internship Program

5.1: Implication to Organization – Based Affiliation

As there is also some mobile company in Bangladesh, it is a really competitive market to do wel l inthe telecom sector. Grameen phone is doing well in the telecom sector. They have a goodmanagement team, controlling board and governing body, differentiated customer offerings fordifferent customers, operation outside Bangladesh and a bunch of skill ed employees which makethe company a leading telecom company in Bangladesh.

5.2: Implications to University’s Internship Program

As I did internship in Grameenphone , there is a possibility that other students will also be interestedto do internship here too. And the more students will be there as interns, the more the relationbetween AIUB and Grameenphone will be strong. Grameenphone can also recruit and select skilledand meritorious students from AIUB and offer job opportunity.

5.3: Others

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Though I just worked as an Intern in Grameenphone I have learned so many things in this shortperiod of time. The activities I have learned were related with organization culture, manner, andetiquette. Besides that I also learned how to handle pressure and how the company face and reactwhen they face some unavoidable and uncertainty avoidance issues. Also I have learnt about vat andMUSHOK11 format. This will be helpful in my job lif e later for the rest of my life.

6.0: Concluding Statements

6.1 Summary

It is already discussed that GrameenPhone is the leading company in the mobile telecommunicationindustry in Bangladesh. This has been possible because it has a created a superior image incomparison to the other operators. In other words, GP has a clear advantag e over competitors.

GrameenPhone has some additional advantageous features in comparisons to its competitors. Thereis easier access to person to person contract. Another important thing is that GP users are mostlysatisfied with the initial price of GP co nnections and handsets. Before GP’s introduction to themarket, mobile phones were virtually out of reach to the major part of the current market.Moreover, GrameenPhone subscribers are happy with the country wide network. The “Info Centers”of GP are very important for some after sales services. But, there is shortage of capacity of thisservice, In Dhaka “Info Centers” are located at Gulshan, Dhanmondhi, Mothijheel, Uttara, these fourcenters cannot cope with the demand of vastly populated Dhaka city. The GP helpline is also animportant customer care tool. But it is also in shortage of capacity. Subscribers need to spendsignificant amount of time to reach the helpline. Behavior of the helpline CM is also sometimesunmanageable. They are to handle continu ous queries. So it may so happen at times the CMs cannotkeep up smiling voice and amenable behavior.

Most of the subscribers are not happy with the billing rate of GP. They think it is too high in thecontext of Bangladesh, But they are still using the s ervice as GP is still more easily accessible. Manynewer companies are coming up with the lower price; it is thus a great challenge to GP to face,Another significant dissatisfaction of the GP users is that most of the GP connections are mobile tomobile. Access to BTTB is rare. Wider access with BTTB will boast the subscribers. Most alarmingthing is that most of the GrameenPhone users are not loyal towards the company. If BTTB or anyother company comes up with same sort of services, the GP subscribers mi ght switch to thatcompany.

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6.2: Recommendations

In my short span of internship program, I have gained practical experiences about value added taxactivities from starting a deal to preparation of monthly report about it. I had discovered few thingsfrom day to day operations. In light of that I make following recommendations:

I think Taxation and Fiscal compliance Department has to be decentralized to make the decision withmore responsibility.

Paper works have to be reduced. Information has to be upgr aded electronically.

Regular performance appraisal and assurance of promotion/reward should depend on that they willresist the employee’s switching tendency.

Yearly financial report has to be published only on the taxation.

GP has to clearly inform to the ir customers about their call rates and also vat on that call rates.Because people have misperception about that .

Gp has to inform to their customers about all the upgrade tax and vat information.

Many of the customers are dissatisfied about Grameenphone’ s value added services. They mostcomplain about its complexity and non -user friendly interface.

To retain customers and to keep them happy for a long time GP should show alertness on their tariffplans. They should reduce it in a reasonable way so that cu stomer may not switch to competitors .

Bill payments made directly to banks are often updated irregularly in the system. Owing to thisreason, subscribers sometimes fall into false positions. GP’s collection and banking unit shouldalways try to focus and be regular in this regard. It may reduce customer dissatisfaction to a greatextent.

Growing customer dissatisfaction is another main problem of Grameenphone. Previously it was saidthat GP has got the best network connectivity all over the Bangladesh. Rece ntly, they are losing thispositive attitude due to certain technical constraints. Therefore GP should put much emphasis tothese lickings and should cover it up in a very quick manner.

To make the internet service better and cost effective.

Reference

www.grameenphone.com

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www.finance.departments/grameenphone.com

www.ask.com

www.grameenphone.com

www.finance.departments/grameenphone.com

www.ask.com