82pc of population yet to use internet

Only 18 percent of the population is using the internet in Bangladesh, even though official data shows almost double the number of internet connections currently active, an industry analyst said yesterday. 

More than 44.6 million internet connections are active, but there were just 28 million unique users as of March, Shahed Alam, executive vice president of Robi, said at a programme at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka. 

Internet data consumption stands at 69 gigabits per second (Gbps) as of December 2014, against just 2.33 Gbps usage recorded at the end of 2008, Alam said in his presentation on internet, connectivity and knowledge framework.  

Around 82 percent of the population is yet to experience the internet, and the World Bank ranks Bangladesh at 137 out of 146 countries in its Knowledge Economy Index. 

He was speaking at an event held to mark World Telecommunication Day observed on May 17 every year. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the programme.  

Bangladesh's adaptation to the digital era is quite fast, but policy reforms and regulations need to be more specific and young entrepreneur-centric, analysts said.  

The voice use of bandwidth has grown almost threefold to 15.35 Gbps by the end of last year from 2008, when it was just 4.96 Gbps. 

The telecom industry generates almost $3 billion in annual revenue which is almost 2.5 percent of the GDP, said M Rokonuzzaman, professor of ECE department of North South University.

Once the telecom service was a monopoly of the state-owned BTCL, but even after privatisation some telecoms are operating in a near-monopoly market due to lack of proper government control and suitable regulations, he added. 

Experts also spoke on innovation in the ICT and telecom sector as well as content and application development.