Bangladesh mobile phones can't ring national anthem

DHAKA: Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Monday banned the use of the national anthem as a ringtone for mobile telephones or for any other commercial purpose.

"The national anthem can't be used as a business tool," the Supreme Court said, upholding a 2010 high court ruling.

The national anthem, Amar Shonar Bangla or My Golden Bengal, is based on the first 10 lines of a 1905 song written by Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for literature.

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The song was adopted as the anthem in 1972.

Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the region, with 124 million mobile phone users.