The mobile phone operators witnessed a sharp fall in internet users as the number was declined by 2.69% only in June, this year, while the growth of data users found very inconsistent during the last couple of months, according to the statistics of telecom regulatory authority.
After May, total number of mobile internet users stood at 3.74 crore, out of the total 3.89 crore internet users.
However, the statistics of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), which was published yesterday found that the number of mobile internet users also came down at 3.64 crore.
Along with Wi-max and other services, the country’s total internet users now stands on 3.79 crore.
Though all the mobile operators found significant negative growth in a single month, the market leaders are very satisfied with the number of their internet users and the growths as well.
Addressing a press conference held on Tuesday Grameenphone Chief Executive Officer Vivek Sood unveiled their half yearly performance report, which stated that after the month of June, their total internet users stands at 95 lakh with revenue growth on data side more than 57%.
With mobile internet Wi-max growth is also suffering from a negative trend. During the last three months, Wi-max operators are consistently losing their customers. After the month of March, the country’s total Wi-max usersstood at 3.11 lakh and after June it came down to 2.80 lakh.
Market sources informed, though Wi-max technology has been facing challenges before launching fastest data services 3G at the end of last year, Wi-max operators have been flying high from June, this year with 5.04 lakh subscribers while there are only two operators in the market.
According to BTRC statistic, the total internet user numbers of the country dropped five times in between October last year and June, this year.
After October, last year, the numbers of internet users were 3.67 crore. It went down to 3.58 crore after November and at the end of December the total number of internet users stood at 3.57 crore. The internet users were also declined by two lakh more in January, this year.
Internet growth came back in February but in March the industry also lost 10 lakh subscribers. In Aprial and May internet market found new 30 lakh users but in June it again lost anothe 10 lakh users.
“This figure is a major concern to us. We, on behalf of the mobile industry, need to find out the real problem we are facing,” TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The data published yesterday, however, showed that the increase of number of active SIM cards was only three lakhs in June, as proposed budget raised some taxes on the sector, industry insiders also claimed.
The number of active mobile SIM cards in the country stands at 11.65 crore in June from 11.62 crore in May.
In June Robi and Citycell also lost some of their subscribers. After June, country’s total landpone connections stands at 10.7 lakh, according to the statistics.