New Age | Bangladesh lags behind in ICT sector progress: ITU

According to a report published by the International Telecommunication Union, Bangladesh is lagging behind in terms of progress in the information and communication technology sector.

In the recently published “ICT Development Index 2024” of the specialized agency of the United Nations, the country scored 62.00 points, while the average score of lower middle-income countries was 64.80.

The index analyzed the progress of ICT services in 170 countries around the world, including Bangladesh, based on data collected in 2022.

The average global score for progress of ICT sectors in this year’s index was 74.80.

The IDI index focused primarily on two issues: universal connectivity and meaningful connectivity.

Bangladesh scored well in the Essential Connectivity category, scoring 84.50 points, but performed disappointingly in the Universal Connectivity category, scoring 39.40 points.

The index defines universal and meaningful connectivity (UMC) as the ability for every user to enjoy safe, satisfying, enriching, and productive online experiences at an affordable cost.

The pillar on essential connectivity is dominated by infrastructure indicators, for which achieving high scores is probably easier.

However, the pillar of universal connectivity is more dependent on consumer acceptance.

The report showed Bangladesh had made little progress compared to the previous year.

In the IDI 2023 index, the country scored 61.10 points.

BM Mainul Hossain, director of the Institute of Information Technology at the University of Dhaka, told New Age that the country’s communication infrastructure may have improved, but the number of smartphone users has not increased significantly.

“We will soon graduate from LDC status, but connectivity strategies are not yet up to that standard. Investing in infrastructure is good, but unless the number of smartphone users and digital literacy in the country increases, it will not yield much benefit,” he said.

According to the index, only Pakistan lagged behind Bangladesh in terms of progress in the ICT sector.

The remaining neighbouring countries on the list – Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Vietnam and Bhutan – scored 63.80 points, 71.30 points, 81.50 points, 85 points and 85.90 points respectively on the IDI 2024 index.

Among the 10 index indicators, the internet usage rate among individuals in Bangladesh is 38.90 percent, and 38.10 percent of households have internet access.

It was the same in the previous index. That is, according to the report, the number of internet users in Bangladesh has not increased.

According to the index, mobile broadband traffic per mobile broadband subscriber in the country in 2022 was 78.70 GB, and fixed broadband traffic per fixed broadband subscriber was 1,195.50 GB.

It was mentioned that in 2022, 61.80 percent of the country’s citizens had a mobile phone.