All telecom indicators but data consumption are negative
All indicators in the telecommunication sector in Bangladesh were in the negative in the next quarter of 2020, aside from the increase in internet data consumption as the pandemic battered the economy and reduced income, according to a written report.
The earnings for telecom operators during the quarter (April-June) decreased a lot more than 8 per cent when compared to first quarter (January-March), a report of the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) showed.
Active mobile subscriber fell 2.4 %, internet subscribers slipped 0.3 %, call minutes per customer monthly dropped over 6.5 % and average earnings per user also decreased over 2.5 per cent.
The GSMA National Dialogues' report on "Keeping Bangladesh connected: The role of the mobile industry through the COVID-19 pandemic" was published by the association that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide through a virtual event yesterday.
The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown measures introduced in March 2020 on the mobile industry were evident in the industry's Q2 (April to June 2020) results, based on the report.
This reliance on the web saw a rise in per customer data consumption between 16 % and 29 %.
"Movement restrictions, because of health concerns and government orders, resulted in a rise in online activity in the home [that is working and studying from home, e-health, digital commerce, entertainment, streaming etc]," the report said.
Erik Aas, ceo of Banglalink, which includes 3.5 crore customers, said since June all of the telecom customers in Bangladesh have already been paying near to 6 per cent more for telecom service than before, putting pressure on the operators because customers pay less for increased VAT.
Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, CEO of Robi Axiata under which mobile operator Robi and Airtel run an procedure with over 5 crore customers, said in the very beginning of the pandemic the operator lost over half a million subscribers as a result of the economic woes due to the pandemic.
Echoing the Banglalink CEO, Ahmed said although internet data use increased by as much as 20 %, operators' revenue was falling plus they did not get enough spectrum to cater to the clients. He said while Robi's data use more than doubled, its earnings decreased 2 %.
"We have the chance to monetise the problem, but we operators didn't do that. We brought down the purchase price in the request of the minister," he said.
He said the operators could have provided more support to consumers but for the government's disintegrated method of the industry they would not do it.
Ahmed said a much better taxation policy could have made people's lives easier.
"Now 53 % of operator's revenue would go to the government in various types of taxation. Consumer tax for call and data can be high. In a country where consumer penetration is so high and government has a vision of Digital Bangladesh, why are taxes are so high?" he asked.
"It had been expected that it could decrease nonetheless it increased, making affordability challenging," he said.
He thanked the federal government for introducing the emergency services, enabling them to repair the network during lockdown.
According to the report, the consequences of the gender mobile internet and consumption gap can be seen through the Covid-19 pandemic with women almost twice (29 %) as likely as men (15 %) to not receive necessary data on Covid-19.
Overall, only 43 % of women, instead of 57 per cent of men, received helpful, clear and timely information.
Md Shahab Uddin, managing director of state-owned Teletalk which has over 46 lakh subscribers, said the operator is not able to provide better services as a result of some challenges because of Covid-19.
"Our revenue has fallen significantly. However, things are actually slowly changing," said Uddin.
Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone, the country's leading mobile operator with 7.8 crore subscribers, said in May, when the pandemic situation was at its peak, Bangladesh faced another calamity, Cyclone Amphan.
That time operators caused the government to revive telecom service with absolute agility, ensuring smooth telecom services to customers.
About post-pandemic plans of telecom regulators in Bangladesh, Shyam Sunder Sikder, the new chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), said this is high time for Bangladesh to determine priorities that would condition the future policies.
Assigning spectrum with allocated bands so that the operators can provide multiple services, expediting infrastructure so that you can expand network coverage, increasing telecommunication and ICT services, facilitating fixed service for online education and entertainment, and facilitating remote satellite service to cater to the rural people by the means of broadband and other services will be the regulator's priority, according to Sikder.
Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said in the beginning of next year, 100 % 4G penetration would be ensured as operators assure him about that.
"Next year will be a different time for the sector. We are preparing to introduce 5G network soon," he said.
Md Afzal Hossain, secretary to the ministry, and Brig Gen SM Farhad (Retd), secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, also spoke at the event.
The report also recommended promoting network resilience, ensuring access and affordability of digital services and leveraging e-health, big data and telemedicine to handle the health crisis.
