Country ProfileBrief History of Internet in

BangladeshBroadband Policy Present Scenario National Broadband Plan International ConnectivityChallenges to Increase Broadband

Usage

Government: Unitary and parliamentary republic

Identified as a Next Eleven economy

Country divided into• 7 divisions• 64 districts• 488 upazillas • 4546 unions

Population: One hundred and sixty million

Area: 147,570 sq. km Population growth rate:

1.37 percent Literacy rate: 57 percent Life expectancy: 70.36

years Urbanization rate: 3.5%

Internet users: 39353.142 thousands• Mobile Internet: 37846.096• WiMAX: 276.046• ISP + PSTN: 1231.00

Telephone subscriber• Mobile: 116.871 millions• PSTN: 1.1 millions

ccTLD: .bd International dial code: 880 PSTN operator: 4 Satellite Earth Station: 2

Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) Service Providers: 3

3G Cellular Mobile Phone Services Operator: 5

International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) Operator: 6

International Internet Gateway(IIG) operator:36

Submarine Cable connection:1 WiMAX Operators:2 CDMA Mobile Phone Operator:1

Internet came to Bangladesh in June, 1996

It was a dial up connectivity Government permitted VSAT

operation for Internet operation Initially there were BBS and e-

mail services Internet service started a few

months later There were only two ISPs in

1996 Less than a thousand

subscribers

Liberal policy of the government in the preceding years led to the rapid expansion of the industry

Number of Internet subscription was 186,000 in 2000

By 2005, there were 180 registered ISPs

In 2006, Bangladesh got connected to submarine optic fiber as part of the 16 country consortium SEA-ME-WE 4 project

The present government in its last tenure declared Vision:2021

The main theme of the Vision was to make ‘Digital Bangladesh’

The first ever broadband policy was declare in 2009

The policy defined bandwidth above or equal to 128kbps as the broadband

In 2013, minimum bandwidth 1Mbps was declared to be the broadband

This policy aimed at supplementing the attainment of MDG, PRS and goals of WSIS

Ensuring affordable, dependable and state-of-the-art broadband service to the consumers

Improving the access networksEnsuring interconnection among various

networksEncouraging the private sector and public-

private partnershipEncouraging development of local contents

including Bangla contents

The policy envisage following long term goals • All the 86,000 villages under broadband coverage• All the educational institutions up to primary level

under broadband coverage• All the union parishad (the lowest tier of local

government) building under broadband connectivity

• All the agricultural markets under broadband coverage

• All the post offices and cultural centers under the connectivity

• 2015 is the deadline

Bangladesh is striving to provide broadband connectivity up to the grassroots

Currently, all the 64 district headquarters are connected either with radio or with optical fiber

There are seven district headquarters have fiber optic connectivity

All the 488 upazilla headquarters are connected

There are 4546 Union Information Service Centers (UISC) to provide Internet services to the village people

Around sixty percent of them are 3G connected

Rest of the UISCs are 2.5G connected

Scenario after completion of planned projects

• 100 thousands wifi all over the country• Six of the remaining seven district

headquarters will have fiber optic connectivity

• The lone isolated district headquarter will be upgraded to STM-1 radio link

• All the union parishad buildings will have fiber optic link

• All government offices up to upzilla will have fiber optic link

• The whole country will be under blanket coverage of broadband wireless network through 4G LTE technology

Bangladesh has all three types of international connectivity• International terrestrial connectivity• Submarine cable connectivity• Satellite connectivity

Terrestrial link has a connection of 80 Gbps Submarine cable has a connection of 30 Gbps Satellite connection 24/8 Mbps

The only submarine cable system SEA-ME-WE-4

Linking 16 companies of 14 countries

It has a total length of 20,000 km with 1.28 Terabit/Sec capacity

Bangladesh has a share of 200 Gbps

Operator BSCCL Agreement signed on

March 7,2014 Landing station at

Kuakata of Patuakhali District

Connection within first quarter of 2016

Additional bandwidth of 1.4 Tbps

Contract signing with consulting Co.

The first orbital satellite of thecountry named after the fatherof the nation will be launchedby June, 2017

It will have 40 transponders It will provide both telecom

and broadcast services It will have two ground stations

Despite increasing broadband coverage,government identified and trying to overcomethe following challenges to increase its usage

• Making end terminals affordable to common mass• Content development in local language• Building training infrastructures all over the country• Reforming policies for enhancing eCommerce• Developing contents useful for different professions• Introducing various types of online services• Awareness building through various marketing

activities

Any question please?

Thank you very much for patient hearing