Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009

A three-day long Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009 began yesterday at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city.

It has been organized by Maker Communication.

Citycell is the title sponsor for this year’s fair. Acer, Asus, Hasee, and Toshiba are the four co-sponsors of while Intel is the technology sponsor, Radio Foorti is the radio partner and bdjobs.com is the online partner.

Lt Col (Retd) Faruq Khan, Minister, Ministry of Commerce, was present as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony.

Michael Seymour, Chief Executive Officer of Citycell attended the program as special guest.

Advocate Md Qamrul Islam, State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and Mostafa Jabbar, President, Bangladesh Computer Samity were also present as special guests.

Speaking on the occasion, Michael Seymour said “It is my pleasure to be here today at the inauguration ceremony of the Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009. In this day and age, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that information is power. When we started the first cellular operations of South Asia, our objective was to empower our customers with access to information through instant mobile communication. After almost one and a half decade of operations, our goal has not changed. As a logical evolution to voice communications, we have extended the horizon of our services by making internet available to people all over Bangladesh through our Zoom™ wireless internet service. We all know how mobiles have revolutionized telecommunications in Bangladesh. Laptops and mobile phones are similar in many ways. They are personal, they are mobile & convenient, and they offer more privacy and security. We see a clear synergy in bringing Zoom together with laptops, because a simple laptop can now be converted into a portable powerhouse of information and communication by simply connecting to the worldwide web through our Zoom service. While PC penetration has increased over the last decade, there has been significant growth in the past 2 years alone, spurred by the advent of affordable laptops and the favorable tax environment. Moreover, this was followed by the reduction in the domestic bandwidth lease cost. We look forward to such public initiatives to ensure a business environment conducive to sustainable public-private ventures that develop the ICT sector as a whole. Only then will we be able to spread the benefits of a knowledge-based society to the people of Bangladesh. We all dream of a Bangladesh which is economically robust and integrated by a knowledge-based society. This dream leads to the concept of Digital Bangladesh. Citycell is proud to be a part of this dream by helping to bridge the digital divide: We already have the infrastructure in place to spread internet to more than 500 thanas though our nationwide network.

We are hopeful that by truly harnessing the power of internet and ICT-based services, we can go a long way in achieving great results in mass communication, health, agriculture, commerce, education and good governance. We pledge our support for education and community development through data connectivity and the access to internet that will generate a win-win situation for the government, the business community and the people of Bangladesh. I congratulate the organizers, sponsors, partners and participants of this event and I wish the Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009 every success.

Customers will avail special offers of Zoom™ at Citycell’s pavilion No.1 by showing the proof of purchase of any laptop from the fair.

These include attractive start-up prices for Zoom™ connections bundled with devices, together with exclusive monthly data plans and voice tariff for these packages.

Specific Zoom™-enabled handsets, USB Modems or PCMCIA Data Cards will also be available at unbeatable discounted prices.

Visitors will be able to enjoy free internet browsing using Zoom™ at the Pavilion. Other features of Zoom™ service will be displayed at the Pavilion using innovative touch-screen computers.

World renowned brands like HP, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Hasee, Gigabyte, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, Great Wall, BenQ, Apple are participating in this fair and bringing brand new laptops with attractive prices on the occasion of the fair.

The fair will be open for visitors everyday from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. There will be 10 pavilions and 06 stalls in the fair.

The entry fee will be Tk. 20 but only students (up to regular post graduate) can avail free entry by showing their ID card.

Participating organizations and Maker Communication will also jointly arrange raffle draw, quiz program etc.