Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL), a state-owned company, has reduced the bandwidth price for end users by 41.67% to spread the internet services to the grassroots, officials said.
From April 1, the price stood at Tk2,800 megabits per second (Mbps) from existing Tk4,800 as approved at the board meeting of the company recently.
BTCL also reduced its dial-up (ADSL) charge to Tk0.10/minute, officials said.
Director of Public Relations Department Mir Mohammed Morshed said the state-owned operator has some special arrangement to help achieve the government vision 2021. “They are trying to expand services and that’s why reduced the bandwidth price.”
Earlier on April 2013, the government has fixed the internet bandwidth price at Tk4,800 per Mbps, after reducing 40% from previous rate of Tk8,000 Mbps.
The government had slashed the bandwidth price for five times after 2009 when it was Tk27,000 per Mbps.
Industry sources said the company has been compelled to cut the price to match the market as six international terrestrial cable (ITC) links has imported bandwidth from India at cheaper prices, offering a tough competition.
Industry insiders said mobile penetration in the country shot up because of its low-cost nature, and also the call charge is much lower. So, the same can be true for internet penetration.
They demanded withdrawal of 15% VAT as maintenance cost and other charges are very high compared to the bandwidth price.
Officials said there are around 36.50 million internet users in the country, which would be increased cumulatively, keeping pace with the boom of mobile users.