The country lags behind in internet speed compared to neighbouring countries. Although it is expected that 5G will be introduced within this year, many district-level people allege that they are yet to get proper internet speed
Recently, Speedtest, a popular website that tracks online internet speeds, has given this information in its Global Index.
Post and telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar told the Bangladesh Post, “One of the main reasons of slow internet in the country is that the mobile service providers are not using as much spectrum as they need. Recently, they have purchased a new spectrum but it is not yet sufficient to meet the requirement. We are continuously asking them to increase investment in the spectrum”.
“Our main focus is now spectrum. Besides solving other issues, we are continuously working to develop it. Despite stagnation due to pandemic, we have upgraded our entire 2G/ 3G mobile tower to 4G and this has helped us tackle the doubled use of the internet during the pandemic,” added the minister.
The minister further said, “We expect to introduce 5G within this year, and one thing in this regard I must highlight that 5G is not the replacement of 4G. 5G will be introduced for cities like Dhaka, industrial areas, special economic zones, high-tech parks, and others. We will provide 5G to even farmers if they use IoT (internet of things), AI (artificial intelligence), and other such technology”.
While talking to a private mobile phone operator Banglalink, it was learnt that they had also upgraded 93 percent of their mobile tower to 4G. They are working to provide better service to their subscribers.
Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) Secretary General Md. Emdadul Hoque told Bangladesh Post, “One of the main reasons of slow internet is inadequate infrastructure. If we want better services, the authorities concerned must have to provide more licenses in Nationwide Telecommunications Transmission Network (NTTN) level. At present there are only two NTTN working.”
"If the government provides more licenses in NTTN level for all districts, people will reap the benefits of Digital Bangladesh," he added.
Bangladesh Muthophone Grahok Association president Mohiuddin Ahmed told Bangladesh Post, "One thing we must have to see how much spectrum the telcos has against huge subscribers. If we see our neighbouring India, Telenor used 100 megahertz (MHz) against its one crore users, but in our country, telcos used 1MHz for 20 lakh users".
"It's true that we have updated our mobile network to 4G but if there is lack of spectrum, we will not be able to provide smooth services that we expect," he added.
To provide better telecom and internet services, he urged the government to allot sufficient spectrum to the telecom companies. The government should focus more on this. The government can earn more, if it can bring 100 percent (54 percent still out of telcos service) population under the telecommunication service. It will also help to grow the country's GDP".
Another thing Mohiuddin highlighted that the mobile phones that are used how much capable to use 4G services. He said, "Till now there are only 27 percent 4G devices users in the country. The mobile handset that are said 4G enabled are really matter of inspection".
Regarding the headset issues when connected Symphony Mobile Director (Sales) M. A. Hanif told Bangladesh Post, "Actually the network issues do not depends on mobile handsets, if such cases found its 1 percent to 2 percent of the total fault. We are working to increase the sales volume of 4G handset and will urge the government to set experience booth, from where locals can really know what 4Gbreally is".
To know more when contacted to a leading mobile operator representative, he refused to make any comments.
However, while talking to a mobile user, it was learnt that, when he stays in Dhaka, sometimes he doesn’t have the mobile network on his phone. For this, he has to switch over to another mobile operator. However, when he goes to his village home at Madaripur, it becomes too hard to have the internet to conduct some of his official or personal work, he alleged.
Meanwhile, The Bangladesh Tele-communication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is conducting a comprehensive QoS (Quality of Service) drive to improve the service qualities of mobile operators.
In a recent QoS drive by the BTRC, it was found that among the three private mobile phone operators —Grameenphone, Robi, and Banglalink, Banglalink’s 4G data download speed was 4.94 megabits per second, while GP and Robi — was 5.72Mbps in the capital.
Teletalk’s average 4G data download speed in Dhaka was the lowest— 2.82 megabits per second.
In this regard, the post and telecommunications minister said, “Compared to any previous period the overall present situation is much better. And we are now satisfied with this.”
However, the regulatory authority is set to introduce new technologies through which it can increase its capacity to monitor its QoS drive as it received around 6,00,000 complaints last year.
