Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Let’s face it, when it comes to internet speeds in Bangladesh, it is safe to assume that they are comparable to a tortoise’s pace.
I’m talking about the internet connections you use at home not necessarily corporate dedicated lines.
However, there are internet service providers who offer packages which provide much faster connection speeds as opposed to the earlier years, but they still have certain drawbacks, such as high costs or limited download capabilities, reports hifipublic.com.
Now, if the internet users of the country complain about the internet speeds on their desktop computers, laptops or tablets, you could palpably say that the mobile internet connections would function at much slower speeds.
Well, that was perhaps true in the past but thanks to the introduction of 3G, the speeds reached during video conferencing, video streaming, to simply browsing, all have seen a massive jump.
Although the prices for 3G data connectivity is a tad higher than what you currently pay for your 2G data plan, it is certainly not too high to reduce the number of subscribers.
In a statement made yesterday, BTRC said that since the privately owned mobile telephone operators have been given 3G licenses from the government in October 2013, the 3G subscribers have grown in number more than 6 folds to 48.45 lakhs, in these last nine months.
The number of mobile phone users has also been growing at a steady rate, with more than 75 lakh new users added between August 2013 and July 2014, to over 11.68 crores. While the number of internet users currently is 3.9 crore and it rose by 28 lakhs. BTRC also mentioned in the statement that due to the increased internet use by the subscribers in the country, the cost of internet services decreased.
Grameenphone leads in the number of internet users in the country. More than 33% of all mobile internet subscribers use Grameenphone.
In a span of only one month, the number of mobile internet users has increased by 15 lakhs, to 3 crore 93 lakhs and 52 thousand in July 2013. While the number of Grameenphone internet subscribers have increased to 1 crore 28 lakhs and 42 thousand.
During the same time span, Banglalink had 1 crore 12 lakhs and 6 thousand internet subscribers. Also, Robi has the highest number of 3G users with a total of 97 lakhs and 74 thousand internet users.
The number of internet subscribers for Airtel, state owned company TeleTalk and City cell, was 38 lakhs 5 thousand, 4 lakhs 1 thousand and 2 lakhs 15 thousand, respectively.
BTRC also revealed that this year about 2 lakhs 96 thousand wimax users have been added while another 12 lakhs 31 thousand avail the internet from local internet service providers.
The leading operator in internet services, Grameenphone has included 10 different 3G packages for their users.
These include the least expensive 3G Click Pack to the most expensive 1 Mbps connection for Tk. 1,250. Aside from 3G, the operator also provides 9 different 2G packages starting from Tk.1 2G Click Pack to Tk.700 3GB package.
As Grameenphone conquers the mobile internet market, it will be interesting to see what new journey this mobile operator embarks upon next.
BBN/ANS-24Aug14-2:00pm (BST)