The government would soon award two more licences of Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) to get total four operators for strengthening the transmission system.
It would also consider awarding licences of NIX – a functional package manager which maintains the local data within the territory of Bangladesh without using international internet bandwidth.
Post, Telecommunication and ICT Minister Abdul Latif Siddique announced the measure in a spontaneous response to concerns that experts raised at a high-level policy dialogue in Dhaka yesterday.
Experts said the transmission system in the country’s telecommunication sector is hardly improved – a sorry state that runs counter to significant improvement in the country’s telecom and ICT industry in last couple of years.
“I am assuring you to award licence,” Siddique told the meeting, inviting proposals. “Try to convince me and educate me about the technology, I will do for the best of the industry and my country, and my people will get the highest priority.”
Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury conducted the dialogue jointly organised by the Asia Foundation and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).
Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, said: “In last seven years, there has been tremendous progress in the telecom sector but infrastructure was the least developed among all.”
He said the government is working to provide more NTTN licences to ensure the competition in telecom transmission.
Presenting a paper, North South University teacher M Rokonnuzzaman said: “The bandwidth which cost Tk400 in Singapore is Tk2,800 in Dhaka at the end user level. If the same bandwidth transmits to other districts of the country, the cost increases substantially.”
LIRNEasia’s senior policy fellow Abu Saeed Khan said the government should allow the foreign bandwidth carriers to enter into Bangladesh to reduce the price.
“The uncertainty of the regulatory regime often discourages foreign investors. The government should be more open about licence and other fees,” he said. BASIS Senior Vice President Syed Almas Kabir said the bandwidth price is one tiny fraction of the entire cost of the internet.
“There is different type of transportation cost in many levels which should be reduced if we want to reduce the price at the user level,” he said.
He said that there are too many middlemen in the transmission side which is increasing the cost.
Fiber@Home Limited’s Chief Strategic Officer Sumon Ahmed Sabir said the government have to either take the market driven pricing policy of internet or they can take the responsibility in its hand.
Immediate past BASIS President Fahim Mashroor said lowering the power cost for the internet transmission will help reduce the cost. Telecom Minister Abdul Latif Siddique said the private operators are aggressive on profit maximisation and wealth centralisation.
He said the mobile telecom companies are involved in illegal VoIP business and there is lack of clarity in their audit reports. “Even the BTRC is not fully fair in many cases.”
He said the private companies oppose the foreign investment for their own vested interest. Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury said time has come to amend and review the ICT policy and upgrade it.