Mobile internet surfers cross 10cr mark
The number of men and women using internet on the mobile phones in Bangladesh crossed the 10-crore mark in September as customers' shift towards the digital sphere to handle tasks made further gains owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of internet users rose 13 % year-on-year to 11.11 crore in September, data from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission showed yesterday. It had been 9.84 crore in the same month last year.
Now, 10.25 crore subscribers use internet on their handheld devices and the others count on the services supplied by internet companies and public-switched telephone network operators.
In another milestone, mobile phone subscribers grew 2.26 % year-on-year to 16.71 crore in September to reach an all-time high. The quantity of active mobile phone users stood at 16.34 crore in the same month last year.
With September's uptick, the quantity of cellular phone users went at night pre-pandemic most of 16.61 crore posted in February.
Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer of Banglalink, said, "We want to make a recovery in the post-pandemic period as economical activities are regaining the normal pace especially after the lockdown."
He credited people's increasing financial condition and buying convenience of the uptick in the amount of mobile phone subscribers and internet surfers. Market leader Grameenphone's customers jumped 2.51 % to 7.76 crore in September from 7.57 crore in this past year.
Robi Axiata, which went past the 5-crore landmark in September, took its tally to 5.01 crore at the end of the month, up from 4.82 crore in the same month this past year.
Third-placed Banglalink had 3.48 crore subscribers in September, down from 3.5 crore a year ago. The number of users of state-run Teletalk was 46.12 lakh in September in comparison to 45.27 lakh in the same month in 2019.
"As internet consumption is increasing among persons for their day to day activities, we've lowered the prices of many of our data packages, and sometimes increased the volume of data while keeping the price the same," Rahman said.
He said Banglalink saw a growth in the use of a few of its digital products such as for example Toffee and self-care app during this period.
