Hasina asks mobile operators to cut internet prices

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged private mobile phone operators to cut internet cost at the consumer level to popularise its use.

She noted the price cut would be profitable for the operators, too.

“People will use internet more [if the prices are slashed] and it will mean more income,” Hasina said at the inauguration of weeklong ‘Internet Week’ at the Ganabhaban on Saturday.

Software exporters’ association BASIS has organised the ‘Internet Week’ in association with the ICT Division to expand the use of internet. Private mobile operator Grameenphone (GP) is assisting in the endeavour.

She said her government had reduced internet prices to make it affordable for the people.

“We’ve brought down prices of 1MBPS bandwidth to Tk 625 from Tk 78,000 in eight phases,” the prime minister said.

“We urge the mobile phone operators to cut the prices at the consumer level.”

According to government data, there are about 48.34 million mobile internet users in Bangladesh. Some 97 percent internet subscribers use mobile internet.

Building a ‘digital Bangladesh’ was one of the Awami League’s key electoral pledges in 2008.

The Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) announced a

41 percent price cut

for 1MBPS bandwidth to Tk 625, down from Tk 1,068.

But International Internet Gateway (IIG) operators and Internet Service Providers (ISP) said end-users would not be benefitted by the conditional price cut.

Hasina took a dig at the previous BNP-led government for rejecting free submarine cable connection and highlighted her government’s efforts for the expansion of IT.

She said her government opened the market for private mobile operators when a single operator dominated the market and charged high call rates.

Turning to GP CEO Rajeev Sethi, the prime minister said, “The only thing I’d like to tell Grameenphone is that it is one of the first private mobile phone companies I gave permission for doing business.

“Nobody had the courage to open this market. There was one mobile company when we opened it (the mobile phone market).”

The prime minister on Saturday also sought an end to the illegal VoIP business.

“It harms the country,” she said. “We have to take care of it.”

The government on Thursday announced Tk 100,000 rewards for information on those running illegal VoIP operations.