Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar yesterday said Bangladesh will get 5G network in 2021.
Speaking as chief guest at the inauguration of Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) trial run at the Robi corporate office, the minister said: “Bangladesh in many ways is ahead of the world in adopting technology and among operators Robi has always been ahead in paving the way for adoption of digital technology.”
Most next-generation or 4G wireless networks use Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Voice over LTE is a standards-basetechnology that is required to support voice calls over an LTE network.
The technocrat minister however warned all mobile operators to stop call-dropping and to maintain a standard of service.
Robi has successfully conducted the non-commercial trial of the VoLTE technology for the first time in Bangladesh. This makes Robi the first operator to be completely ready to offer voice service on its 4.5G network.
Jabbar congratulated Robi on the tremendous expansion of 4.5G network across the country. “Now, I urge them to take 4.5G to every village. Going forward, we need Robi’s support to digitalize our education system so that we can prepare our nation for the 4th industrial revolution,” added Jabbar.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman Md Jahurul Haque was present as the special guest. Mustafa Jabbar made a voice call over Robi’s 4.5G network to the chairman of BTRC in the first ever trial of the VoLTE service at the event.
Robi’s Managing Director and CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said: “We believe this is yet another significant milestone in implementing the vision of Digital Bangladesh. Following this successful trial of VoLTE on our 4.5G network, we are very confident that we will be able to offer the service to our subscribers across the country as soon as the rest of the eco-system is ready for offering commercial VoLTE service.”
BTRC’s Commissioner, Engineering and Operations, Md Rezaul Quader, Commissioner, Spectrum Management, Md Aminul Hasan were also present on the occasion, along with
Robi’s Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Shahed Alam and other senior management of Robi.