Like many developed and developing countries, the Internet in Bangladesh has witnessed phenomenal growth. Although facing many constraints in expanding Internet access and use, development of the Internet and Information Technology are high government priorities.
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The top-level domain for Bangladesh is .bd.
Starting in the early nineties, Bangladesh had dialup access to e-mail using the Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) of a few local providers, but the number of users did not total more than 500. Users were charged by the kilobyte and email was transferred from the BBS service providers to the rest of the world by international dialup using UUCP.
In June 1996 the first VSAT base data circuit in the country was commissioned and the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) granted licenses to two Internet Service Providers. In subsequent years more liberal government policies led to a rapid expansion of the industry, resulting in over 180 registered ISP's by 2005. ISPs are currently regulated by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) through the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act.[1]
In May 2006 Bangladesh inaugurated new submarine optic fiber connectivity as part of the 16 country consortium SEA-ME-WE 4 project. The landing station is in Cox's Bazar, the southern city near the Bay of Bengal.
The number of internet subscriptions in Bangladesh grew from 186,000 in 2000 to 617,300 in 2009.[2] However, only 0.4% of the population used the internet in 2009 giving Bangladesh one of the lowest usage percentages in the world, ahead of only North Korea, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone.[3] This limited internet penetration is due to many factors, including: high costs, little local content, limited or poor service quality, lack of infrastructure with last mile often limited to dial-up, too many providers competing in a relatively small market, and low literacy rates.[4]
In April 2010, Akhtaruzzaman Manju, president of Internet Service Providers' Association of Bangladesh, said "we've estimated that nearly 10 million people in the country are using 800,000 internet connections on sharing basis", adding the number of internet users in the country is increasing roughly 15-16 percent a year.[5]
“This increased internet penetration will result in a 2.6 per cent contribution to the country’s GDP by 2020, while creating 129 thousand more jobs by the same year” the research added.[6]
The main obstacle of using the Internet in Bangladesh is its distribution. The Internet is still an urban privilege because telephone connections are more concentrated in urban areas, particularly in and around Dhaka. Mobile operators are providing substantial services in and outside urban areas using EDGE/GPRS or EVDO.
Internet Exchange (IX) refers to switching system which connects all the ISPs and equivalent service providers primarily for data traffic flow.[7] It consists of two parts, International Internet Gateways (IIGs) and the National Internet Exchange (NIX). The IIGs provides global internet connectivity, while all domestic internet data communication is routed via the NIX to minimize usage of international bandwidth. Currently two IIGs are in service, Mango Teleservices Limited[8] and the government owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL).[9]
As of 2005 more than 180 Internet Service Providers were operating in the country.[1] ISP's are regulated by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). In 2011 there were 111 licensed ISPs providing services nationwide[10] and 84 ISPs providing services in the central zone.[11]
Because fixed line penetration rates are low and are expected to remain low, most Bangladeshis' first experience with the Internet is likely to be via mobile services. An estimated 90% of Bangladesh's Internet users get their access using mobile services now.[4] Out of the six mobile operators, five offer EDGE or GPRS GSM internet service. The sole CDMA operator, Citycell, offers EVDO.
Broadband internet and e-commerce in Bangladesh is slowly progressing. In 2009 there were 50,000 fixed broadband internet subscribers.[12] Though broadband internet access is available, the charges for high speed connections are higher than in other south Asian countries, though this is changing. In Bangladesh Broadband is legally defined as 128/128 Kbps, which is not in line with the ITU's definition[13] and many broadband internet services may not be considered true broadband internationally.
Three companies, BanglaLion Communications Ltd., Brac Bdmail Network Ltd., and Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd., won licenses to operate WiMAX in Bangladesh in September 2008.[14] The three firms purchased the licenses at auction for 2.15 billion BDT (31 million USD) from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission under the agreement that pay 27.50% of the revenue to the government. Though Brac Bdmail declined to start the service,[15] BanglaLion and Augere (Branded as Qubee) launched commercial WiMax services by the end of 2009.[16][17]
This is a new initiative in Bangladesh to promote internet use and web hosting. "Project BDesh" is one of the leading in this section. They are providing domain name and hosting service free of cost to all Bangladeshis' and NRBs'. Other free web hosting services are also available. People are encouraged to start their own blog or personal web pages online.