The number of mobile Internet users has dropped by more than 1m in November, BTRC data showed.
The number fell to 41.51m from 42.59m in October. Bangladesh currently has a total of 44.08m Internet users.
“The drop is huge and a matter of concern for us. We need to find out the real cause behind this,” a senior executive of mobile operator Robi told Dhaka Tribune.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) published the data yesterday, which showed fluctuations in the number of mobile data users for last few months.
Earlier in June, the mobile companies witnessed another bout of drop in data users by another more than 1m.
As of November, the country’s total Internet users including those of other Internet service providers stood at 42.99m.
Not only mobile companies, but the Wi-MAX operators also suffered negative growth in their Internet subscribers.
However, the launch of 3G mobile broadband became as a challenge for the Wi-MAX companies to survive effectively in the market.
Data said the active users of Wi-MAX were 248,000 at the end of November this year, sliding from 258,000 in October and 262,000 in September.
The number of Wi-MAX subscribers, however, has been declining continuously from beginning of the year.
The number of Wi-MAX users stood at 311,000 at the end of March, which came down to 280,000 in June.
Besides, the total number of active subscribers to Internet service providers and PSTN (public switched telephone network) was 1.23m at the end of November.
Data showed the number of the country’s total Internet users slipped five times between October last year and June this year.
As of October 2013, the total Internet users were 36.7m in the country.
The number went down to 35.8m in November and to 35.7m in December the same year. In January this year, the number dropped by 200,000. Then it exceeded 40m in the following months.
In November this year, the number of active SIM cards increased by around 700,000, taking the total figure to 119.36m.
