Bangladesh has been placed 41 steps behind Uganda in mobile internet speed. The US-based organization Okla publishes a report named Speed-Test Global Index every month highlighting the speed of the Internet in different countries of the world.
However, the Minister of Post and Telecommunication, Mustafa Jabbar, rejected the report of Okla and said, “I don’t believe that report of Okla.” Because Okla has not contacted any of our government authorities. You gave a personal report, which I will accept as standard, it will not be accepted. Okla is not a standard.
While responding to a question from reporters at the secretariat on Monday (November 20), he expressed his doubts about the Okla data. The minister also said that they did not talk to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) during the Okla speed measurement.
At that time, the minister suggested that BTRC should be taken along with someone from BTRC who would set the criteria by referring to it as the guardian of the telecom sector.
“I think a milkman will never say anything bad about his curd,” the Telecom Minister told reporters on his experience of serving as a minister. I will say, if you research the position of 2023 with the telecom sector before 2018, you will see the change. And my work will always be good for me. I will say in one word, I have tried with all my might to fulfill the tasks or progress that did not happen in 2018. Because of that we have been able to make a lot of progress. For example, Bangladesh has 98% 4G network now. It was an almost impossible task. Where the 3G network could not expand. We have been able to provide 4G network across the country by 2023.
Mustafa Jabbar also said, one of the complaints I always get about mobile networks is that out of four telecom operators, they complain about call drops, and no network. The total investment in the fourth operator, Teletalk alone invested Tk. 3,600 crore. The telecom sector is such that if there is no network, the name cannot be traded. Building a network was hard work. Now the investment in Teletalk has increased to close to 15 thousand crore takas. In this, Teletalk has been able to provide network even in the remote disaster-prone areas. Another major initiative is the launch of a domestic roaming service. It is now being tested with Banglalink. Teletalk will be able to use Banglalink’s entire network through this. Again you can use Teletalk’s network Banglalink. In this, investment benefits of lakhs of taka will be available. If you look at the Internet prices like this, you will see that we have rated each country. We have done everything to protect justice and interests of the people.
