One of the more positive developments in Bangladesh over the last decade has been the upward trend of internet penetration. The democratization of broadband, and then later mobile internet, has allowed Bangladeshis to enjoy digital services such as digital banking among others.
Of course, the circumstances stand to be a lot better. While internet penetration has slowly increased, internet speed and affordability remain two constant issues which have not scaled as well. To that end, a recent statement made by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission offers some hope, as the regulatory body is planning to review the current fragmented licensing structure of Bangladesh's internet ecosystem, which has implications on ensuring that customers get the highest possible speeds at the most affordable prices.
According to BTRC chairman Emdad Ul Bari, consumers’ access to the internet is funneled through segmented licenses which involve international internet gateways, submarine cables, telecommunications transmission networks, various internet service providers, and other factors. By assessing whether most of these factors and whether the licenses involved offer any value, the end price for internet access could potentially be lowered.
This is exactly what Bangladesh needs at the moment, especially given the harsh lesson we learned during the last government’s enforced internet shutdown about our economy’s current reliance on the internet. Also, by improving the state of the internet’s democratization, Bangladesh also stands to greatly uplift its more marginalized and impoverished communities.
The internet has quickly proven itself inextricable with Bangladesh’s future as an economy, and as such the quality of services offered to Bangladeshis will need to keep up with that of the rest of the world.
