At present, 97.9 percent of families enjoy the benefits of using mobile phones in the country. The mobile phone usage rate at the national level is 90.5 percent. And the rate of people who have their own mobile phone is 63.8 percent. Among them, 63.3 percent are smartphone users. And 0.7 percent of family members use land phones.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Usage Survey-2023 report published on Monday (July 17) has highlighted these facts. According to the report, mobile users have increased by 8.8 percent in the last 10 years. Chittagong is the most advanced in the use of smartphones. In that category, 78.5 percent of the total mobile users have smartphones. In the capital, this rate is 75.3 percent.
Project Director Syeda Marufa Shaki presented the report under the chairmanship of Director General of BBS Matiar Rahman at Statistics Bhawan located in Agargaon of the capital. ICT Department Secretary Samsul Arefin, Statistics and Information Management Department Secretary Shahnaz Arefin and Primary Education Department Additional Director General Uttam Kumar were special guests.
In the chief guest’s speech at the event, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that the number of mobile phone users in the country has increased. However, he questioned the fact that television users have decreased in Sylhet and increased in Rangpur. Although expensive mobile users have increased in Sylhet which is less in Rangpur. He said, the rich are moving towards modern technology.
According to published reports, the rate of mobile users in the country was 81.7 percent in 2013. Which increased to 89.9 percent in 2022 and 90.5 percent in 2023. Khulna division has the highest number of mobile phone users at the household level at 99.2 percent, Sylhet division has the lowest at 92.4 percent.