Huge growth in data business awaits mobile operators: survey
Only 11 percent of internet users went for 3G or faster service in 2014, meaning huge growth in data business awaits mobile operators in Bangladesh, a survey found.
Overall, 61 percent of users say they would like to enjoy the high-speed internet service by the first half of the current year, according to the Ericsson ConsumerLab survey, conducted last year by the Swedish telecom equipment giant.
“Twenty-eight percent of them are still unaware of the benefits of 3G,” said Warren Chaisatien, head of marketing for Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, while video conferencing from Australia with reporters in Dhaka last week.
The world's biggest telecom-equipment maker conducted the survey through face-to-face interviews, among 1,000 people in five divisional headquarters: Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal.
As of 2014, 14 percent of users accessed 3G (third generation) services through smartphones and 7 percent with laptops, tablets and desktops.
Around 60 percent smartphone users expressed willingness to move to 3G, while 27 percent in the category were found unaware of the benefits of having a 3G connection.
Nearly half of the internet users who access internet through laptops, tablets and desktops say they would transition to the 3G technology by June this year, while 44 percent in the segment did not know the advantages of using it.
There were 43.42 million internet users in Bangladesh as of February this year, just a little over a third of the total mobile subscribers, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, the industry regulator.
Mobile internet users took the largest share with 41.96 million subscribers, while the rest accessed internet through WiMAX, internet service providers and public switched telephone network (PSTN).
At the end of last year, 35 percent mobile internet users were smartphone-based, with the potential to go up to 55 percent by the first half of 2015, the Ericsson report said.
Also, the 14 percent mobile internet users based on laptops, tablets and desktops could increase to 41 percent by the middle of the year, according to the survey.
The survey found that 30 percent subscribers are using internet through smartphones, while 3 percent are using tablets. Operator-wise, Airtel tops the chart of subscribers using smartphones and tablets.
Forty-one percent subscribers of the fourth-ranked operator are using smartphones while 5 percent use tablets.
Robi, third in the market otherwise, came in second position with 33 percent of its subscribers using smartphones and 2 percent using tablets.
About 30 percent subscribers of Grameenphone, the market leader, are using smartphones and 3 percent are using tablets. About 20 percent subscribers of Banglalink, the second biggest operator, are using smartphones and 2 percent are using tablets, the study found.
The survey found that 35 percent smartphone owners accessed internet through their high-end phones, while 14 percent got access to internet through laptops, tablets and desktops. At 57 percent, Grameenphone has the highest number of subscribers using internet through smartphones, while 45 percent of Airtel subscribers, 34 percent of Robi and 28 percent of Banglalink subscribers use internet through smartphones.
The sample survey is only an estimated representative of 15 million people, which may not give the whole picture, according to Raj J, managing director of Ericsson Bangladesh.
Private operators launched 3G services in late 2013 after a trial with state-owned Teletalk in the previous year.
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