Country Presentation Bangladesh
Access to Internet: Bangladesh Perspective
Presented by:
Akber Hossain
Senior Assistant Secretary
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology (MoSICT)
Phone: +880-2-9566571, Fax: +880-2-71619606
E-mail: most@bangla.net Web site: http://www.mosict.gov.bd
Global indicators workshop on community access to ICTs
Mexico City
16-19 November 2004
Country Profile
1. Area
: 144000 Sq.Km
2. Population
: 123.15* Million
3. Population density
: about 880/ sq. Km.
4. Divisions
:6
5. Districts
: 64
6. Sub Districts (Upazila)
: 465
7. Unions (rural)
: 4484
8. Villages (rural)
: 87319
9. Municipalities (urban )
: 223
10. City Corporation
:6
11.Per capita GDP
: About USD 346
* Source: Population Census 2001
Telecom Infrastructure in Bangladesh
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Fixed line Telephone : 0.83 Million, (digital: 0.79 M) (Public Sector)
Digitalized District
: 64
Digitalized Sub district : 165 ( out of 465, 100% Coverage will be
within 2005)
Mobile Telephone
: 3.00 Million (Private Sector
Teledensity
: 2.90 line per 100 people (PSTN & Mobile)
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission established in
2002
Telephone call charge reduced significantly
Recently fixed line phone sector has been opened for private sector
investment.
Mobile telecoverage reaches most of the rural areas
82000 Grameen Phone serving remotest areas
Recently VOIP legalized
Telecom Infrastructure in Bangladesh contd..
1800
KM fibre optic cable under Bangladesh Railway is being utilizad
by the private mobile telephone operator
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Fibre optic link between few districts existing under BTTB
Packet Switching Exchange in
9 big District HQ established for data
communication by BTTB
Etablishment
BTTB’s
of DDN Node in 17 district under progress
1 million mobile phone project is yet to be implemented in
2005
Fibre
optic link between all district is planned by BTTB
Internet
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First introduced in 1996
Number of ISPs
: 159 ( 64 are actively providing services)
80% ISPs are located at capital Dhaka
Government owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB)
has extended ISP services to all 64 district HQ and 165 Sub district HQ out
of 465
ISP Subscriber
: 0.2 Million(10% are broad band
available only at Dhaka and Chittagong City area and rest are dial up)
Number of Internet users
2 Million
Bandwidth range: Dial up-32kbps to 56 kbps, BB-64kbps to 8 mbps
Technology uses:
VSAT
Submarine cable yet to be connected in 2005
PC Penetration rate is very low: 1.5 Sets /1000 Peoples
Internet connection slow and costly, not affordable by general people
Establishment of Internet Exchange is under implementation
Internet in rural areas
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Villages and Unions where 80% of the rural peoples lives are still out of reach
of internet facilities
 In a very few places of these rural areas some NGOs are working for internet
connectivity, such as:
Grameen communication (ISP)
Village e-mail Services
Village internet Program
Village cyber kiosk
www.grameen-info.org/gc
Grameen Shakti (ISP)
Village e-mail Services
Village internet Program
www.gshakti.com
Community e-Centres
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At present Government do not have any Community e-Centres program
Ministry of Science and ICT has taken a program to set up few centres as
pilot basis in cooperation with ADB and Commonwealth Secretariat.
Some NGOs and SDNP of UNDP has setup very few centres where access
to internet by community available
Cyber Cafes are working as Community e- Centres
Approximately 500 Cyber Cafes are in operation, most of them are located
at Dhaka and Chittagong City
Some are in other District HQ
A very few are in the Sub district level
ICT in Bangladesh
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ICT has been declared as the thrust sector by the
Government.
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A National ICT Task Force, headed by the
Honorable Prime Minister herself leads the ICT
initiatives in the country.
National ICT Policy 2002
This Policy aims at building an ICT-driven nation
comprising of knowledge-based society by the
year 2006. In view of this, a country-wide ICTinfrastructure will be developed to ensure access
to information by every citizen to facilitate
empowerment of people and enhance
democratic values and norms for sustainable
economic development by using the
infrastructure for human resources development,
governance, e-commerce, banking, public utility
services and all sorts of on-line ICT-enabled
services.
Policy Statements regarding community
access to the internet
(3.2.16 )The Internet facility will be extended
to all the district headquarters and
subsequently to its adjacent areas upto
Subdistrict levels.
Internet will be provided to the
educational institutions and libraries.To
ensure public access to information, Cyber
Kiosks will be set up in all Post offices,
Union complex and Upzila complex.
Private sector participation will be
encouraged to set up these facilities.
(3.2.17)
Indicators of Community Access
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No authenticated surveys has been done so far to asses the needs of
community to access to the internet.
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As per ITU Digital Access Index 2002 the position of Bangladesh is 0.18
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Major government efforts are in the field of Infrastructure development
and HRD in ICT
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Common peoples, specially the young, are very much enthusiastic to the
access to the internet
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1st Bangladesh Internet Fair in April 2004 conducted by the ISP
Association of Bangladesh proved the interest of the common people
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Number of internet subscribers as well as users of internet cafes are
increasing significantly during recent past.
About Questionnaire
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Indicators used in the questionnaire are not fully appropriate
for a LDC like Bangladesh though the indicators are well
defined
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Necessary/authenticated data are not available in the country
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Questions regarding number of Cyber Cafes, number of
internet connections in Educational Institutions, number of
Community e-Centres and number of users etc may be added
for easy understanding of the questionnaire.
Positive Steps towards Computerization
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Exemption of tax on Computer items
Distribution of computers to schools
Computerization of government offices
Launching of websites of government, (e.g.
www.bangladesh.gov.bd) Ministries/Divisions
Legislature, Judiciary and Local Government
institutions
Abolition of state monopoly in Telecom
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Use of Computers at the sub-district level
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Constrains For Development
Of ICT Sector in Bangladesh
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Low compute penetration
Low teledensity
Internet access show and expensive
Bangla interface lacking
Weak data communication infrastructure
Absence of legal infrastructure
• No law against cyber crime
•No law of electronic authentication
•No electronic certification authority
 Lack of public awareness about ICTs
 Lack of adequate human resource
 Brain Drain
Welcome
Comments,
Questions . . . .
Thanks . . . . .