Ensuring the availability of 4G devices at affordable prices for people is vital to increasing penetration of 4G mobile phone services, said top executives of telecom operators and handset manufacturers at an online discussion.
The discussion was jointly organised by GSM Association, a global body that works to support and promote mobile operators using the GSM standard for cellular networks, and the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh.
On the day, a GSMA report titled ‘Achieving mobile-enabled digital inclusion in Bangladesh’ was also published.
The report mentioned that 95 per cent of the country was presently covered by 4G network.
Against the coverage, only 28 per cent of the country’s mobile phone users used 4G connections while the penetration in India had reached 63 per cent, the report said.
Robi managing director and chief executive officer Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said, ‘The report shows us that there is a significant gap between 4G coverage and usage of 4G services.’
‘The coverage of 4G and data price are not the issues in Bangladesh. The availability and affordability of 4G devices and digital skills are fundamental to ensuring a Digital Bangladesh for all,’ said Mahtab, also the AMTOB president.
He said that the government should allow mobile phone operators to source handsets from abroad or from manufacturers as it would enable the telecos to take steps in making 4G-enabled handsets affordable.
Besides, the government should impose restriction on import of 3G-enabled handsets along with slapping higher taxes and duties on import of such handsets, Mahtab said.
In reply, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission director general Brigadier General Md Nasim Parvez said that the telecom operators were allowed to run cobranded handsets on the market.
The co-branding scope can be used by the telecos to popularise 4G-enabled smartphones, he said, adding that the commission is ready to support the telecom sector with all sorts of logical policy support.
Fair Group chief marketing officer Mohammed Mesbahuddin Ahmed said that 4G-enabled handsets could be made popular if the handsets could be made cheaper than 2G- and 3G-enabled handsets.
Mesbahuddin, however, differed that the imposition of higher taxes or duties on the import of handsets would not work as 85 per cent of the country’s handset demand was now fulfilled by local manufacturers and the applicable taxes on locally manufactured ones were negligible.
The CMO of Fair Group, the manufacturer of Samsung handsets in the country, said that launching low equal monthly instalment-based sales of handsets could help to change the situation.
The GSMA report also mentioned that the country’s unique mobile phone subscribers amounted to nine crore, representing 54 per cent of the country’s 17 crore mobile phone connections.
Internet penetration in the country had reached 28 per cent as 4.71 crore of the subscribers accessed the internet with 10.2 crore mobile internet connections.
The report also mentioned that the country had 16 lakh cellular internet of things or IoT connections as of December 2020.
A2I policy adviser Anir Chowdhury, Grameenphone acting chief executive officer Jean Baker, Teletalk managing director Md Shahabuddin and Banglalink chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer Taimur Rahman, among others, attended the discussion.