The Finnish Ambassador to Bangladesh expressed the interest of her country to cooperate in the development of digital infrastructure including digital security in Bangladesh. The Finnish Ambassador Ritva Koukku Ronde expressed this interest during a courtesy call with the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Mostafa Jabbar at the Bangladesh Secretariat today.
During the meeting, both sides discussed bilateral cooperation and issues of mutual interests besides digital connectivity, 5G and digital security issues.
Referring to the existing relations between Bangladesh and Finland, the minister said that Finland is a tested friend of Bangladesh. He informed the Ambassador of Finland about the stable socio-economic development of Bangladesh in continuation of the success of Digital Bangladesh program under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the last 14 years. He detailed the implementation of the Digital Bangladesh program adopted in 2008 and said that digital connectivity is the main basis of the Digital Bangladesh program.
He said, in 2008, only seven and a half Gbps internet bandwidth was used in Bangladesh, currently it has increased to 4100 Gbps. At that time the number of internet users was only 8 lakh. Currently, 13 crore people are using the internet. The minister mentioned that the demand for internet bandwidth in the country will be 30 thousand Gbps in 2030.
He said, currently bandwidth is being exported to India’s Tripura after meeting the country’s demand. The minister also mentioned the issue of bandwidth export to Saudi Arabia, France and Malaysia.
India’s Assam and Meghalaya and Bhutan have also expressed interest in taking up the bandwidth. Mentioning that work is underway to connect the third submarine to meet the increased demand of the future, this pioneer of digital technology development said that 98 percent of the country’s area has been brought under the 4G mobile network.
Every union of the country has come under broadband internet connectivity even remote hilly areas, char, islands and haor regions have been brought under digital connectivity. The minister mentioned that the government has taken initiatives to extend digital connectivity to villages. Highlighting the program taken in the field of digital security, he said that porn sites and gambling sites have been closed in the country. We need effective technical support to block content that does not support Community Standards on social media. The minister expects Finland’s technical cooperation in this regard. The Minister outlined the policy program adopted by the Government for the commercial expansion of 5G technology. In the meeting, the non-resident ambassador of Finland appreciated the success achieved in the digital infrastructure sector including digital connectivity of Bangladesh.
She mentioned that Finland is trying to gain experience on how Bangladesh has succeeded in its digitization program. She mentioned that Bangladesh’s digital program is an exemplary instance worldwide. Ambassador Riva Kaukku expressed hope that the cooperation between Bangladesh and the Finnish multimedia telecommunication company Nokia will increase further.