5G has landed in Bangladesh! The first commercial 5G network in the country came on-line on 12 December 2021. Rolled out by Teletalk Bangladesh Limited with technical support from Huawei, 5G will expedite Bangladesh’s digital transformation and put within everyone’s reach the panoply of advanced technologies enabled by the upgraded connectivity.
Initially, 5G network will be available in 6 locations around the Bangladesh Secretariat, the National Parliament area, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, the National Monument in Savar, and the mausoleum of the Father of the Nation in Tungipara, Gopalganj. Coverage will gradually expand to more regions of the country.
A program titled ‘New Era with 5G’ was held on Sunday at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden to mark the historic launch. Honorable Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy graced the event as the chief guest.
Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Division Mustafa Jabbar joined the event as a special guest. Alongside, Khalilur Rahman, Posts and Telecommunications Division Secretary Md; Shyam Sunder Sikder, BTRC Chairman; Md Shahab Uddin, Managing Director of Teletalk Bangladesh Limited; Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameephone Limited; and Erik Aas, CEO of Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd, also honoured the ceremony with their presence. Huawei was represented by Simon Lin, President of the Asia Pacific region; Zhang Zhengjun, CEO of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited. Both took part virtually and delivered a congratulatory message to all present at the ceremony as well as Bangladesh as a whole. The Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also shared her inspiring comments through a video message.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser, said, “The key to realizing Digital Bangladesh is connectivity. In the era of connectivity, now everything is going digital. I would like to thank the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and BTRC. They worked hard to implement 5G. I would also like to thank Huawei for their contribution in implementing the 5G service. We believe that we will be able to keep pace with the developed world, and Digital Bangladesh will continue to move forward.”
Mustafa Jabbar, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Division, said, “This is a memorable day for Bangladesh. From only 8 lakh internet users and 4 crore people with mobile connections in 2008, we have been able to bring in drastic changes within 13 years. 2G and 3G are able to satisfy our day-to-day needs, whereas 5G can go much beyond that. It can expand the horizons for industries, businesses, agriculture, healthcare, and much more. Also thanks to our long term digital eco partner Huawei, their continuous effort and advanced technology to accelerate Digital Bangladesh”
Simon Lin, President of the Asia Pacific region of Huawei, said, “Huawei has been providing infrastructural support to many countries throughout the world for their roll out of advanced 5G technology. Bangladesh, I believe, will also benefit from the coverage provided by our state-of-the-art technology. For more than the last 22 years, Huawei has been playing a responsible role as one of the family members of the ICT ecosystem in Bangladesh. We have always been there to support our customer’s needs with a key vision of building a fully connected, intelligent world.”
Zhang Zhengjun, CEO of Huawei Bangladesh, added, “We believe 5G will change society with diversified applications for individuals, homes, and industries. And Huawei will always be there to facilitate Bangladesh with its innovative technology because we are in Bangladesh, for Bangladesh.”
At the event, a temporary 5G site was launched. Members of the audience experienced AR/VR services, learned about innovative 5G use cases, and experienced 969 Mbps speed and 4~10 ms latency first hand. A game-changing wireless mobile technology, 5G can provide, ultra-reliable low latency communications, and support for up to 1 million connected devices per square kilometer,also facilitates the availability of rural broadband via fixed wireless access, thereby reducing the digital divide.
Source: https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2021/12/bangladesh-5g-launch