4cr internet users in Bangladesh: Google

Google yesterday said the number of active internet users in Bangladesh stands at 4 crore with 35 percent using it every day.

However, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission in its monthly report stated that there were 7.92 crore internet users as of September.

Officials of the technology giant disclosed the figures at a ceremony organised to launch Datally, an Android phone-based data saving app, at the Dhaka Westin.

The internet user number will grow to 9 crore within 2020, said Golam Kibria, head of Google for Asia-Pacific, while giving a presentation.

Apart from the 1.4 crore daily users, who make up 8.75 percent of the population, the rest access internet irregularly.

Asked about Google and BTRC having different figures, Hashmi Rafsanjani, marketing consultant of Google for the region, said it was an internal data of Google and they had counted the number of monthly or daily active internet users.

"The figure was based on the use of Youtube, Play Store and Gmail and other social media used by the people," he said. He declined to comment on the BTRC's tally.

According to the BTRC, there were 7.38 crore active mobile internet users while 90,000 accessed it through WiMAX operators and 53.21 lakh through internet service providers and landlines.

A top official of the telecom regulator said their figure, provided by mobile phone operators, represents active mobile phone numbers using the internet. Hence it did not mean that the number of internet users would be the same.

According to BTRC's definition, anyone using the internet just once in 90 days would be counted as an internet user, said the official.

On background data consumption of apps and how Datally saves data, Kibria said it happens so often that it is not possible to keep track of apps doing so.

To save data, people use airplane mode, tethering and scheduled their internet usage, he said.

Datally informs people which apps are consuming data and suggests ways to control it, he said.

Rafsanjani said the app was piloted in the Philippines and Brazil and received a huge response as it managed to save around 30 percent of the data.

The app was made available on Play Store yesterday and the launching was held in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

About 2.5 lakh people worldwide used the app as of yesterday, according to Rafsanjani.