All opinions expressed in the article are the author’s own. DigiBangla has nothing to do with it. This article is published without any policy editing as the reflection of the majority is one of the indicators of the media.
In the middle of last month, the global organization Okla said in a report that Bangladesh is 170th among 180 countries in the world in terms of fixed broadband internet service. It is followed by Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan. But a question in the minds of the users of Bangladesh is while the era of Digital Bangladesh has passed. The government intends to build a Smart Bangladesh by 2041. Then why shall Bangladesh lag behind in broadband internet services?
Why will Bangladesh lag behind?
Bangladesh’s first broadband internet journey started on June 6, 1996. At present the number of internet users in the country is about 13 crores. By ‘internet service’ we mean mobile internet service and high speed broadband internet service. Although the number of broadband internet users in Bangladesh is only 1 crore 12 lakh. Nowadays, broadband fixed internet is very important in business, industrial economy, agriculture, government services, medical and family.
Today, even from the marginal level, freelancers are earning money by using broadband internet. If we look at the statistics, in terms of bandwidth usage, it can be seen that currently around 4,200 Gbps bandwidth is used in the country. Out of this, 1 crore 12 lakh bandwidth users use 3 thousand 300 Gbps. This calculation shows how important broadband internet usage is. Even mobile phone operators are using broadband internet services in their services.
Broadband means nothing but high-speed internet that is always on and at high speed. Broadband is when data flows at a speed of at least one megabit per second (Mbps). Although the internet speed in Bangladesh cannot be called broadband by any means, it does not need Okla’s report. A look at the woes of ordinary customers gives an idea of what the quality of broadband internet service really is.
It is better to call broadband internet in Bangladesh as narrowband instead of broadband. Because in most cases our internet speed is 45 to 350 speed and data transfer is done. And this speed is called narrowband. Again, the government’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and Regulatory Commission BTRC set a speed limit of 5 Mbps during one country one rate. Again, user one: to eight results in a data transfer rate of 625 kbps. This speed cannot be matched by broadband. Globally, the average download speed of fixed broadband internet is 80.12 Mbps. The average speed of Bangladesh there is 35. 96 Mbps as reported by Okla.
There is no end to customer complaints. The customer’s comment is that the connection disconnects every now and then; Just browsing the data, it takes 10 to 15 minutes to download a video; cannot send a file; Talking through apps is annoying; Not getting quality service from service providers. Dominance of service providers, Lack of proper grievance mechanism and so on. 13 years have passed since the declaration of Digital Bangladesh but still around 16 crore people are without broadband internet service. So bringing everyone under internet service by 2041 is a big challenge for the government. However, the government has already tied up with Fiber @Home and Summit Communications to bring broadband internet services to 2,600 unions. As per the agreement, technology service centers have been opened in each union. Stakeholders have mixed reactions to the deal.
The question is, how reasonable is it to give two institutions the 90% of government funding? Because Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) has signed an agreement with Summit Communications and Fiber@Home for maintenance, upgradation, replacement, operation and connection of new broadband internet infrastructure, 90 percent of the revenue earned from broadband connections will go to these two private companies. And the government will get only 10 percent. The Internet service providers at the consumer level are largely likely to be hostage to these two companies. Allegedly, because of them, the spread of Internet services at the grassroots level is being hindered. Then how realistic is the agreement for the country? How reasonable is it to fill the pockets of private organizations with the money of ordinary people? The locus of accountability becomes too uncertain if the two institutions are simply privileged.
Where is the problem?
The first problem of the country is the political change along with the political identity. Some miscreants used that identity to trade with Dish connections earlier. In the same way, broadband internet services are also being dominated by these crooks by holding customers hostage in the name of providing services and looting hundreds of crores of taka. The government is also losing a huge amount of revenue. At present, the number of illegal service providers in the country is more than 30 thousand. According to ISPAB, their registered membership is 2200. Some have the highest dominance because they have cache servers. 99% of fiber cable is overhead. As a result, the cables are cut intentionally. Terrorists cut the POPs. Due to all these reasons, 75 % of customers are deprived of quality. High taxes are one of the deterrents for legitimate operators. Moreover, the muscles are not able to cope with the force.
How to solve?
The solution is the proper application of the law. Adherence to Broadband Definitions and Policies. Also to control illegal traders. And to identify and solve the problems that we discussed and with the opinions of the technicians. If the broadband speed of developed countries can be provided to the users, then it will be easy to build the country’s economic harmony as well as the government’s goal of Smart Bangladesh.
Author: Mohiuddin Ahmed, President, Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association.