Mahmudul Hasan

For the second time in two weeks, a bill was passed in the parliament that has taken its relevant industry stakeholders by surprise and is now facing a pushback.

In 2012, the government took on a Tk 541 crore project to convert 8,500 post offices in rural areas to e-centres for the communities.

The telecom regulator has instructed Banglalink to clear dues worth around Tk 823 crore after carrying out an audit into the mobile phone operator for the period from 1996 to 2019.

The number of internet subscribers in Bangladesh rose by about 12 lakh in May from a month earlier thanks to an increase in the country’s mobile subscriber base.

The commerce minister’s recent admission that stern measures against market manipulators could create a sudden crisis has exposed the helplessness and lack of political will of the government, said three top economists and a consumers’ body. 

The commerce minister’s recent admission that stern measures against market manipulators could create a sudden crisis has exposed the helplessness and lack of political will of the government, said three top economists and a consumers' body. 

Mobile subscriber numbers witnessed growth in May thanks to a strong performance by the top operator, Grameenphone.

The government should withdraw customs duties slapped on the imports of raw materials used in making sanitary napkins as the penetration of the basic hygiene product is low in Bangladesh due to higher prices, said a top executive.

With Eid-ul-Azha fast approaching, online cattle sales are gaining momentum as many are looking to buy their sacrificial animals from the comfort of their homes. 

Customers now can avail handsets in instalments when purchasing connections as the telecom regulator has finally decided to give the greenlight to mobile network operators in this regard. 

People have not been able to purchase SIMs and related services over the last two days as mobile phone operators have been unable to verify buyer information due to difficulties in accessing the national identification (NID) database server at the Election Commission (EC). 

People are facing problem in purchasing SIMs and get other services as mobile phone operators can not verify the buyer’s information due to problem in NID database server at the Election Commission.

The digital divide continues to exist in Bangladesh underscoring disparities in internet access between rural and urban areas, while gender digital divide also worsened.

Local production of mobile phones declined substantially in Bangladesh in April as manufacturers grappled with a massive drop in sales amidst the grey market’s expansion.

Three private submarine cables have backtracked from their initial decisions to supply bandwidth separately through undersea cables and have now agreed to collaborate on one connection amid the US dollar shortage. 

The proposed budget for 2023-24 is unrealistic and unattainable as the challenges that caused the economic growth to decelerate, foreign exchange reserves to dip and inflation to surge in the past one year still persist, said economists and think-tanks.  

“If a person is not liable for tax, how can you really tax the person? This is a desperate attempt to increase direct taxes,” he added.

In the context of ongoing crisis and problems, the macroeconomic projections announced in the budget are illusional and unattainable, the Centre for Policy Dialogue said in its instant budget reaction.

The prices of mobile phones are set to increase in the upcoming fiscal as the government proposed raising value-added tax (VAT) on local production of handsets.

The allocation for the ICT Division may increase by Tk 452 crore to Tk 2,368 crore in the proposed budget for 2023-24 fiscal year.