A Quick Look at The Value chain of The Mobile Sector & Broadband Telecom Industry in Bangladesh in 2022

In 2016, World Bank in World Development Report 2016, made a mind-blowing statement: “The poorest households are more likely to have access to mobile phones than to toilets or clean water.”

It’s not an exception in Bangladesh either, because mobile broadband connection single-handedly dominates the Internet industry in Bangladesh.

Over 60m people of 63 million Internet connections in the country are established via 2G or 3G mobile technology (Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission 2016).

Even so, fixed broadband channels and the innovation that reigned over the past two decades like WiMax or wire-line are losing market share. Maybe the king is dead but long live the king.

So, let’s take a look at the current value chain of the Mobile Sector & Broadband Telecom Industry in Bangladesh in 2022.

Let’s dive in—

Value Chain in Mobile Sector & Broadband Telecom Services 

As one of the major types of ANS providers, Bangladesh’s mobile network lags far behind that of most other developing countries. increasing the price with value chain activities to 60% would be enormously valuable, but each taka spent would only return an amount of something between 3 and 6.

Right now, the most dominant operator in the market is GP, which charges BDT275 for 2GB of data. Even though other mobile operators keep charging lower rates than the bull, it is hard to understand why nearly 16 million users prefer GP’s service. Only regular interactions might be covered with these 2GB data, and due to the high cost, video-centric broadband applications using mobile connectivity have so far not become famous among the general public, especially those living in extreme poverty, until for the past 5 years.

Value Chain in Ethernet LAN  

Among wireline operators in Bangladesh, Ethernet LAN-based service dominates ANS operations. Almost 95 percent of the 1.5 million fixed-line users use Ethernet LAN to connect their broadband. Almost 95 percent of the 1.5 million fixed-line users use Ethernet LAN to connect their broadband.

It has been discovered nearly 80% of the total cost comes from the cost of distributing broadband connections to target consumers.  Due to the steady economic expansion of other overhead expenses, it appears that the cost of providing end-user-level connectivity via Ethernet LAN will not decrease in the near future.

Value Chain in FTTX and WiMax  

FTTX is becoming increasingly popular across all kinds of broadband internet service providers, including CableTV operators for broadband TV services. Fiber optics cable is used to connect the PoP of the transmission network services to the distribution point of the ANS operators. Different technologies, such as twisted copper wire, radio frequency (for mobile or WiFi), or coaxial cable, are used from the distribution point to the end user’s device.

On the contrary, despite the early success of 2 different WiMax operators in the country like Bangla Lion, their subscriber base has dropped significantly, reaching below two hundred thousand users in 2015. The whole country is witnessing that WiMax operators are shifting toward LTE deployment under a new modified licensing condition, seemingly better to improve lifestyle with better network service.

Hoping for the Better  

Most countries around the world have launched massive initiatives to build nationwide fiber optics backbone infrastructure, with Bangladesh moving faster than most developing countries to make a mark in broadband internet connection.

But above all, network transmission on a domestic platform (domestic transmission) seems to be the door key to Bangladesh’s one chance to establish a high-speed access network for expanded services with affordable broadband services.

Bangladesh Government is making supreme efforts to expand domestic transmission infrastructure with high-speed broadband internet service to link rural areas of Bangladesh to Digital Bangladesh.