Internet service is at the center of discussion in the 2nd EC meeting of Smart Bangladesh Task Force

Internet is the driving force of Smart Bangladesh. All activities and services will run smartly through this vehicle of high-speed digital connectivity. The Cabinet Secretary Md. Mahbub Hossain has sought an explanation from the Board of Revenue as to why internet service providers have not been declared as ITES. Also, the a2i Policy Advisor Anir Chowdhury urged the formation of National Broadband National Committee to deploy IPv6. At the same time, the FBCCI director Syed Almas Kabir proposed to hold regular coordination meetings with the chief engineers to stop harmful initiatives such as arbitrary fiber cutting, even though NTTN is responsible for laying underground cables. However, the Dhaka South City Corporation has claimed that fiber cutting is an isolated incident. And to strengthen the public-private joint partnership in such matters, BASIS president expects a meeting of the Prime Minister's office with the leaders of 5 organizations of the technology sector.

In the second meeting of the Smart Bangladesh Task Force Executive Committee held at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday, various discussions and suggestions came up, sources said.

The source said that two smart traffic systems for Dhaka city were presented in the meeting. Smart district initiatives for smart government, cashless society, cyber security and smart health services were also discussed.

The Chief Secretary of Prime Minister Md. Tofazzal Hossain Mia presided over the meeting while the Director General of Information and Communication Technology Directorate Md. Mostafa Kamal, Director General of Digital Security Agency Abu Saeed Md. Kamruzzaman, BRTA Chairman Noor Mohammad Majumdar, BTCL Managing Director Asaduzzaman Chowdhury, BCS President Subrata Sarkar, ISPAB General Secretary Nazmul Karim Bhuiyan and others were present in the meeting.