The commercial demand for 5G is yet to grow. Therefore, despite the experimental launch of 5G in 2021, the commercial launch is yet to wait, said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Spectrum Division Commissioner Engineer Sheikh Riaz Ahmed. He said, the commercial launch of the awaited 5G will be done once the commercial demand letter is received.
This is what he expressed about the launch of 5G operation in the country while speaking as the chief guest at a session of the third annual conference of Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum at BTRC conference center on Friday.
Commenting that BTRC is playing the role of regulator and not facilitator in the implementation of BTRC’s initiatives to bring order to the internet package, he also said that BTRC is delivering internet to the grass-roots and marginal levels by providing bandwidth through satellite and Vsat. One country one rate has been implemented in broadband. Prices should be a little lower in villages. But it cannot be increased in the city. If you increase it, people will hook you.
‘There was no loss due to the exclusion of 3GB’, said Sheikh Riaz Ahmed. ‘In mobile data, we have reduced 95 packages from 300 packages to 40 packages in the next step. But even here the school package should not be inconvenient than the previous package’, he added.
To provide meaningful internet services, he said, we are moving from 4G to 5G. Now smartphones are being produced in our country which fulfill more than 60% of our domestic demand. Now, we are implementing IPv6. Now anyone from rural area can use internet for many essential services like passport, admission, money transfer etc. The sustainability and development of the Internet requires the collective efforts of all. In this case, we do not get expected results in the public hearing. Though, we see them writing against Public institutions, but not much against private institutions.
The session was conducted by Md. Mizanur Rahman, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) DGM Khan Mohammad Qaiser and ADN Telecom Limited Chief Operating Officer Azhar H Chowdhury were present as panel discussants. Khan Mohammad Qaiser suggested setting up a commission under the leadership of BTRC to look into the matter, mentioning that the cost of internet is higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
On the other hand, Azhar H Chowdhury said that NTTN has brought the challenge of providing internet services to one country at the marginal level of cost. Because while giving 500 taka internet in villages, 40 percent of it has to be paid to NTTN. He offered them easy financing to increase network capacity to provide good quality internet services.
The Director General of Engineering and Operations Department of BTRC, Brigadier Md. Ehsanul Kabir assured to review the One Country One Rate initiative while speaking as the special guest. He said, to make Internet browsing fast and comfortable, we have put a lot of pressure on Google and Facebook to store their data in Bangladesh. We have made a lot of progress in this regard. They have already set up 2700 cache servers in Bangladesh. We hope, they will make data center in Bangladesh within a year or two.