The number of broadband and mobile internet subscribers in Bangladesh stood at 11 million and 113.9 million respectively in March this year, surpassing February's total of 122.8 million.
The number of mobile internet users increased by 1.21 million in March, with the number of broadband internet connections rising by 0.89 million after being stuck at 10 million users for more than a year.
In addition to the growth of internet subscribers in March, the country’s mobile phone subscriptions also increased by 1.4 million at the end of the month to 182.9 million from 181.5 million in the previous month.
Market leader Grameenphone gained the highest connections of 0.69 million during the month among the operators, growing its connection base to 83.9 million in March from 83.2 million in February.
On the other hand, the third-largest operator, Banglalink, gained 0.39 million connections, taking its connection base to 38.1 million in March from 37.7 million in February.
Meanwhile, Robi, the second-largest operator added 0.29 million connections in March, reaching 54.1 million from 53.8 million in February.
The number of connections of state-owned telecommunication operator Teletalk remained almost the same at 6.89 million as it added only 10,000 connections during the same period.
However, although the number of internet users hit the 125 million mark, almost 75% of the country’s population, the unique internet penetration in Bangladesh still lacks behind.
According to a report released recently by the GSM Association, an organization that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, the unique mobile internet penetration in Bangladesh is only 31 %.
This is lower than the average in South Asia, the report concluded.
Among the South Asian countries, the penetration of unique mobile phone internet users in India and Nepal is 38% and the penetration is 52% in Sri Lanka.
However, the GSMA report also said that the unique mobile phone penetration in Bangladesh was higher than the South Asian average of 54%, which for Bangladesh is 55%.
Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2022/05/08/internet-users-hit-125m-mark-in-march