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Telecom sector sees vigorous development in 2012
Published : Sunday, 30 December 2012
The telecom sector of the country went through a vigorous development in 2012, says a press statement.
Launching of 3G (third generation) mobile phone service, establishing a backup submarine cable, introducing identical pulse for all cell phone operators and post activation of SIM, reducing bandwidth price, forming a special body to combat cyber crime and initiating the process of launching country's first ever satellite were the major development and regulatory measures for this sector in 2012.
The development measures made the latest services more convenient and affordable when the regulatory measures aimed at ensuring consumers' rights and checking unlawful activities in this sector.
The state-owned cellular phone operator Teletalk launched the much awaited 3G phone services in the country on October 14. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the services through video calling with President M Zillur Rahman, which has promoted the country in a new era of telecommunication.
Initially, the services are being offered in the capital city, but it will cover the entire country in phases. For this expansion, the open auction for 3G spectrum will take place in early next year.
Bangladesh had recently been connected with the global telecommunication network through International Terrestrial Links, which will act as the backup for uninterrupted internet access. NovoCom, a local private ITC (international terrestrial cable) firm, established the terrestrial optical fibre network in association with Indian telecom giant TATA and Airtel that will supplement the country's lone submarine cable. Five more ITC companies are waiting to connect with the international backup links.
In addition, capacity of the country's lone submarine cable has been raised to 85 gigabytes per second from 40 gigabytes, helping expansion of Internet across the country. The country is now using a total of 26 gigabytes of bandwidth.
The ITC system and services will enable content providers like Google, Yahoo to set up their content delivery platforms in Bangladesh offering people faster access to these globally popular sites.
January 5 this year, the telecom regulator - Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) - issued International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) licences. Besides, the government issued three categories of gateway licences to 78 companies to ease the country's telecommunications and Internet services
Some 22 organisations got licences for International Gateway (IGW) while 22 received Interconnection Exchanges (ICX) licences and 34 organisations International Internet Gateways (IIG) licences.
On the other hand, the BTRC reduced the monthly rental bandwidth price for leased internet access through submarine cable by Tk 2000 from Tk 10,000 to expand the communication services at the grassroots.
All the cell phone operators in the country have introduced '10 seconds pulse' from August 15 following a directive of the BTRC. This directive ensures that people only pay for the airtime they use. For instance, if users who talks one minute and 10 seconds pay for one minute and 10 seconds, not for two minutes like before.
The BTRC has stopped the selling of pre-activated SIM (subscriber identification module) card for cell phone from October 12 to reduce criminal activities and illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) business. The mobile phone operators are now activating the SIM only after verifying the identity of its users.
Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
Published : Sunday, 30 December 2012
The telecom sector of the country went through a vigorous development in 2012, says a press statement.
Launching of 3G (third generation) mobile phone service, establishing a backup submarine cable, introducing identical pulse for all cell phone operators and post activation of SIM, reducing bandwidth price, forming a special body to combat cyber crime and initiating the process of launching country's first ever satellite were the major development and regulatory measures for this sector in 2012.
The development measures made the latest services more convenient and affordable when the regulatory measures aimed at ensuring consumers' rights and checking unlawful activities in this sector.
The state-owned cellular phone operator Teletalk launched the much awaited 3G phone services in the country on October 14. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the services through video calling with President M Zillur Rahman, which has promoted the country in a new era of telecommunication.
Initially, the services are being offered in the capital city, but it will cover the entire country in phases. For this expansion, the open auction for 3G spectrum will take place in early next year.
Bangladesh had recently been connected with the global telecommunication network through International Terrestrial Links, which will act as the backup for uninterrupted internet access. NovoCom, a local private ITC (international terrestrial cable) firm, established the terrestrial optical fibre network in association with Indian telecom giant TATA and Airtel that will supplement the country's lone submarine cable. Five more ITC companies are waiting to connect with the international backup links.
In addition, capacity of the country's lone submarine cable has been raised to 85 gigabytes per second from 40 gigabytes, helping expansion of Internet across the country. The country is now using a total of 26 gigabytes of bandwidth.
The ITC system and services will enable content providers like Google, Yahoo to set up their content delivery platforms in Bangladesh offering people faster access to these globally popular sites.
January 5 this year, the telecom regulator - Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) - issued International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) licences. Besides, the government issued three categories of gateway licences to 78 companies to ease the country's telecommunications and Internet services
Some 22 organisations got licences for International Gateway (IGW) while 22 received Interconnection Exchanges (ICX) licences and 34 organisations International Internet Gateways (IIG) licences.
On the other hand, the BTRC reduced the monthly rental bandwidth price for leased internet access through submarine cable by Tk 2000 from Tk 10,000 to expand the communication services at the grassroots.
All the cell phone operators in the country have introduced '10 seconds pulse' from August 15 following a directive of the BTRC. This directive ensures that people only pay for the airtime they use. For instance, if users who talks one minute and 10 seconds pay for one minute and 10 seconds, not for two minutes like before.
The BTRC has stopped the selling of pre-activated SIM (subscriber identification module) card for cell phone from October 12 to reduce criminal activities and illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) business. The mobile phone operators are now activating the SIM only after verifying the identity of its users.
Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
