The telecom ministry is mulling over reducing the monthly rental bandwidth price further for the leased internet access through submarine cable by Tk 3,000 within June to spread the ICT based services to the grassroots, said officials.
They said the government would trim the bandwidth price only after making sure the low cost internet service for end user, as there is an allegation that the end users did not get the benefit of revised bandwidth price at different times.
Taking to the BSS, posts and telecommunication secretary Abubakar Siddique said that the government would reduce the bandwidth price further whenever its benefit would be ensured for the end user.
‘Without the benefit of end user, the government would not cut the bandwidth price further,’ he added.
Officials said Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd, which maintains the country’s lone submarine cable, has already sent a formal proposal to the telecom regulator in this regard and recommended cutting 38 per cent bandwidth price at user level.
The BSCCL proposed Tk 5,000 for per mbps bandwidth from existing Tk 8000 while Tk 4,200 for internet service providers and Tk 3,800 for international internet gateway operators.
Confirming the initiative, BSCCL managing director Monwar Hossain told the BSS that reduction of bandwidth price aims at making the internet affordable for end users.
The government is going to take the initiative of bandwidth price reduction again, as it had slashed the price by Tk 2,000 in August last year and this is the fourth time the government is going to reduce the bandwidth price.
Earlier, the present government had slashed the bandwidth price for third time in August 2012 and brought down it to Tk 8,000 from Tk 10,000 to spread uses of information and communication technology under its Digital Bangladesh vision.
Officials informed that it trimmed down the bandwidth price to Tk 18,000 from Tk 27,000 in January 2009. Later, it again re-fixed Tk 10,000 for per Mbps bandwidth from Tk 18,000.
It was Tk 1,27,000 until 2006, before the caretaker government brought it down further, they added.
At present there are 30.39 million active internet users in the country. Of them, 95 per cent is using internet via mobile phone operators.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory
Commission has changed the definition of broadband. According to new definition, at least 1.0 mbps speed internet will be defined as ‘broadband’ and below 1.0 mbps speed will be called as ‘narrowband.’
-With New Age input
