WorldTel Limited was established in January 1995 as part of an

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...

initiative to help mobilize development of the

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

sector in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

. 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, popularly known as Sam Pitroda (Born, November 16, 1942), is an Indian official, telecommunications engineer, and entrepreneur. He was born in Titlagarh, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, into a Gujarati f ...

, 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 List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. In 2004 Swedtel, based in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, 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 ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. In 2010, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission raided the offices of WorldTel Bangladesh and seized

voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

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