Bangladesh lags behind neighbours

Bangladesh advanced slightly in the global mobile connectivity index in 2022 but lags behind every South Asian nation except Pakistan.

Bangladesh advanced by 1.3 points, achieving a score of 51.3 out of 100, according to the GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index published recently.

The GSMA is a global organisation representing mobile operators and organisations across the ecosystem and adjacent industries.

India secured a mobile connectivity score of 61, showcasing the best performance in the region. Sri Lanka followed closely behind with a score of 59.4, indicating substantial connectivity.

Bhutan and the Maldives both obtained scores of 57, reflecting moderately developed mobile services, while Nepal scored 53, indicating room for improvement.

In contrast, Pakistan lagged behind with a score of 45, highlighting the need for significant advancements.

Bangladesh's subpar mobile connectivity performance stems largely from its significant shortcomings in terms of affordability, where it merited a mere 43.2 out of 100.

While Bangladesh is among the top five countries showcasing improvements in South Asia in terms of the mobile connectivity index, its score remains below the region's average of 52.

This illustrates the population's limited capacity to acquire mobile devices, a situation exacerbated by prevailing inflationary pressures, according to industry people.

That in turn inhibits widespread access to digital resources and impedes the nation's ability to bolster citizen's participation in the digital space, they said.

The economic condition of consumers is a hindrance to improved connectivity, said Mustafa Jabbar, telecom minister.

"However, investment in the telecommunication sector is not up to the mark. For example, investment in Teletalk is so far one-tenth of the required investment," he added.

He said private mobile network operators should roll out the spectrums that they took during last year's auction.

Although Bangladesh did better in the network coverage index with a score of 87.4, it fared poorly in network performance, scoring 41.1, handset affordability, scoring 33.3, taxation, scoring 10, and spectrum, scoring 27.9.

Bangladesh predominantly consists of vast, flat terrains with a remarkably high population density, making it easier for network operators to attain efficiency.

Many other nations are devoid of such features, said Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, former CEO of Robi Axiata.

However, taxes -- whether direct or indirect -- are very high in Bangladesh, contributing to the nation's inferior performance in the index. Over 50 percent of mobile bills go to the government, he said.

Ahmed said the licensing system is one of the worst in the world, forcing operators to share around 20 percent of their revenue with different ecosystem players, he added.

Since most operators are not profitable, they are failing to make substantial investments, he said.

The GSMA also published a report titled "The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2023" recently.

The report found that mobile internet adoption continues to increase, with 57 percent of the global population (4.6 billion people) now using mobile internet. But the rate of growth in terms of adopting mobile internet slowed in 2022.

Only 200 million people started using mobile internet in 2022, compared to 300 million in 2021 and 2020. Just over three quarters of the growth in mobile internet adoption in 2022 came from low and middle-income countries, where 95 percent of the unconnected population reside.

In least developed countries (LDCs), almost 30 million additional people started using mobile internet in 2022, meaning one in four people in LDCs are using mobile internet, according to the report.

It said mobile broadband coverage has remained relatively unchanged, with 95 percent of the global population living within the footprint of a mobile broadband network.

"With only marginal growth in coverage in 2022, the coverage gap --those living in areas without mobile broadband coverage -- stands at almost 400 million people (5 percent of the global population). The remaining uncovered communities, which are predominantly rural, poor and sparsely populated, are the most challenging to reach," it added.