Internet price has been slashed down by 16.66 percent and set at Tk 10,000 per megabits per second (Mbps) from Tk 12,000 before for leased internet access via submarine cable.
But the cut in prices would have minor impact on the end users, as the operational cost is still high.
In a notification, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has announced the price reduction to be effective from August 1.
The corporate broadband internet users may be benefited from the price cut, but not the individual users, said internet service providers (ISPs).
Bandwidth costs account for 20 percent to 25 percent of the total expenditure of the ISPs. Moreover, the government has imposed a 3 percent tax on fibre optic cable import. Other capital expenditures are still high, said Sumon Ahmed Sabir, vice president of Internet Service Providers Association Bangladesh.
A 16 percent reduction in the bandwidth prices is quite little for the industry, Sabir said, adding that this cut would have a minimal impact on the internet pricing.
However, he said the ISP expenditure will go down slightly.
Wireless broadband service providers said the price cut would not benefit them much. But this would help them increase their capacity or speed to some extent, they added.
In February, when the broadband internet price was cut down to Tk 12,000 from Tk 18,000 for per Mbps, the wireless service providers could offer better services — double speed and capacity — to their customers.
Mehboob Chowdhury, chief executive officer of Citycell, the largest wireless broadband internet service provider, said, “We appreciate the price cut. This will help implement the government’s vision for a ‘Digital Bangladesh’.”
“There won’t be any significant impact of the slashed price, but the quality of service will improve,” said the boss of Citycell that provides the broadband brand Citycell Zoom Ultra.
The other two wireless broadband internet service providers in the country are Qubee and Banglalion.
Back in 2007, the caretaker government reduced the bandwidth price from Tk 75,000 to Tk 27,000 per Mbps.
-With The Daily Star input
