Mobile operators are witnessing their active subscriber bases expand following a nosedive induced by biometric registration that ended on May 31 last year.

The industry started 2016 with a record 13.37 crore connections, but biometric verification cost the operators 1.5 crore connections in total.

But by the end of October 2016, the industry regained 2.52 percent of the lost connections, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said in a report published last week.

The mobile operators are expecting their subscriber bases to pick up over the next few months as they are offering attractive packages that might tempt those with blocked numbers to resume their connections.

A top executive of a mobile operator said the industry has huge scope to grow further as only half of the country's population uses mobile phones.

“Lots of people are using dual or triple SIMs as multiple connections are a reality in our market. So, we have huge scope to grow further and the customer numbers will be big in near future,” he added.

Bangladesh's subscriber penetration stands at 53 percent though the market has more than 12 crore active SIMs, according to London-based GSMA.

In January 2016, Grameenphone, the market leader, had 5.74 crore active connections, which came down to 5.45 core following re-registration.

Between August and October last year, they got back nine lakh customers.

“Customers have overcome their initial reservations regarding the biometric system, and as a result we have started to see increased SIM sales,” said Sayed Talat Kamal, head of external communications at Grameenphone.

Sources said though the market leader got a setback in terms of subscribers last year their revenue was not affected. In fact, its income grew faster than ever before.

Robi got a big dent from the re-registration process as it had to block 15.88 percent of its active numbers: its customer base came down to 2.33 crore. The operator has retrieved 11 lakh customers since.

Airtel's active SIMs stood at 1.01 crore in January 2016, rising from 77.25 lakh in October.

Banglalink, which lost 32 lakh connections during biometric verification, regained 3.46 percent of its lost customers and hit the three-crore landmark again.

State-owned Teletalk has 28.6 lakh active SIMs as of October 2016, down from 41.42 lakh in January 2016.

The operator has won back six lakh active users, State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim said last week.