August 31, 1999 Web posted at: 9:04 a.m. EDT (1304 GMT) by Kelvin Goh

From...

(IDG) -- International Web portal company Orientation.com has launched Orientation Bangladesh, a portal that gives the developing country a presence on the global Internet.

In partnership with Drik Picture Library, a photographic resource company that provides ISP services in the country, Orientation Bangladesh delivers up-to-the-minute news; historical and cultural information; economic, commerce and weather data, as well provide an extensive database of Bangla (the nation’s national language) Web sites.

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The reason Orientation.com invested in Bangladesh is because it wants to empower the people of Bangladesh, said Amer Farid, director of sales at Orientation.com and a key player in the project. The company wants to give the Bangladeshis a voice of their own online, he added. New York-based Orientation.com, which first started in 1998, claims to be the world’s first global network of local and regional Internet portals. Its vision is to internationalize the Internet which up to now has been very U.S.-centric, Farid said.

Orientation Bangladesh, which is available in two languages, English and Bangla, will offer free e-mail services and provide regular breaking news through the nation’s independent news agency, United News of Bangladesh (UNB).

A commercial organization, Orientation.com will be generating revenues via a sponsorship model of advertising, said Farid. The company will not be pursuing "click-through banner" advertising but will rely on its delivery platform with country-specific content to generate income by attracting foreign companies that wish to break into the local market, Farid said.

By setting up a portal service in a country and working closely with local media houses or ISPs, Orientation.com will have a better understanding of the local culture and market that will be useful for multinationals that want to invest in the market, Farid said.

A native of Bangladesh, Farid said that the poor telecommunications infrastructure will improve in the country, and he believes that the number of Internet users will grow along with the eventual decreases in the cost of connectivity. There are about 50,000 Internet users in this country of almost 120 million. Farid also believes that the role of mobile communications will be important in the future as developing countries, struggling with the challenges of building telecommunications infrastructure, will invest more in VSATs (very small aperture terminal) satellite networks. Orientation.com, which recently launched portals in Haiti, South Africa and India, will soon do the same in Pakistan.

Kelvin Goh writes for the IDG News Service in Boston.