Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Syed Marghub Murshed will formally inaugurate the two-day fair at the Ballroom of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel at 10 in the morning.

The fair sponsored by GrameenPhone, the country's leading cellphone operator, will also feature new tariff plans and tips on various packages, organisers said.

"We hope the exposition will create an opportunity for cellphone users to have an idea of the latest innovations in the sector," Mehboob Chowdhury, director, sales and marketing of GrameenPhone, told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said the customers will be able to choose handsets and tariff packages of their own from multiple offers available in the fair.

Some 13 handset vendors including global brand leaders and two accessories vendors will display their latest handsets and accessories in the show.

The participants include Nokia, Siemens, SonyEricsson, Motorolla, Panasonic, Alcatel, Samsung, DBTel, Vtech, Sagem, Rangs Bird, Haier and Limo.

Standard Chartered Bank will open a booth in the fair to facilitate purchase of mobile phone sets, with or without connection, by the visitors.

Trade & Textile Bangladesh.com (TTBC), a mobile content provider, will also have a booth. The company will arrange SMS quiz competition during the show.

German handset maker Siemens will sponsor a fashion parade at the fair venue this evening and also organise an SMS quiz competition for the visitors.

The fair will remain open from 12 noon to 8pm today and 10am to 8pm tomorrow. The entry fee is Tk 10 for each visitor. Proceeds from the entry fees will be donated to children education activities run by Grameen Shikhya.

GrameenPhone, which launched cellphone service in Bangladesh with global system of mobile communications (GSM) technology in 1996, has now over 1.5 million subscribers with operations in 61 districts across the country.