Technological imperatives of telecom regulation in Bangladesh

Abstract

In Bangladesh prior to 1989, Telecom sector was controlled by a single state owned enterprise (SOE), Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board. Total number of telephone (land telephone) subscribers was 0.48 million. The country was suffering from “telephone crisis” due to poor telecom penetration. Subsequently various reforms were introduced to improve the performance of the Telecom sector by approving policies and enacting laws, rules and regulations. Major items of the reforms were participation of different international private enterprises and introduction of mobile phone technology. Notable achievements have been made during the last 24 years (1990 to 2014).In 2014 total number of telephone subscribers was 110.32 million (22983 percent increased) of which mobile subscribers was 109 million and land line subscribers was 1.32 million. The Teledensity and Internet density were 78% and 24% respectively. Various interrelated technological parameters of the telecom sector have been studied by the present research; the outcomes are presented below. The importance of Frequency Spectrum (limited natural resource) for planning and development of Telecom Sector has been highlighted. The regulatory measures taken by Bangladesh Government/BTRC since 1998, have been discussed. Different technological components (segments) of telecom sector and their interactions have been discussed for optimum development of the Sector. The present status of telecom network neutrality (technology neutral network) was studied and it was found satisfactory. Suggestions for appropriate regulatory measures for future consideration made by telecom experts have been presented. The study recommended that state ownership of Spectrum resource should be ensured in the Constitution of Bangladesh like other natural resources (e.g. coal, oil, natural gas). So that the allocation of Spectrum are made on transparent basis. A Telecom Master Plan need to be prepared for systematic development of all the segments of the Telecom Sector. An empirical study should be undertaken to assess the impacts of development of Telecommunication on different sectors of socio-economic development (e.g. agriculture, rural development, health, education, disaster management etc.).