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The government has postponed a TK 236 crore Teletalk project, designed to commercially introduce Fifth Generation (5G) technology in Dhaka by 2023, in a bid to tackle the steady decline of forex reserves.
This decision came from the weekly Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting – chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – on Tuesday, which is a part of the government’s economic austerity measures amid the global crisis.
The meeting was held at NEC Auditorium, Planning Commission in Dhaka’s Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, and the Prime Minister joined in virtually from Ganabhaban.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the decision after raising a question about why the 5G technology project should be implemented right now when 4G is yet to be implemented across the country.
While briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan added, “As the government is currently taking up austerity measures and 5G project of the state-owned operator Teletalk is largely import dependent.
“The project has been put on hold to reduce the ongoing forex pressure incurred due to the USD crisis. The Prime Minister asked to postpone Teletalk’s 5G project for the time being to reduce the pressure on forex reserves.”
The new project titled “Commercial Introduction of 5G technology in the Teletalk Network in Dhaka Metropolitan area” involving Tk 236.54 crore was supposed to be implemented by December 2023.
Adding that the project will be implemented later, Planning Minister MA Mannan said, “The Prime Minister said Teletalk’s 5G project is not needed right now. Before that, the existing 4G technology has to be implemented in all parts of Bangladesh first.
“Alongside the state-owned Teletalk, other telecom operators have been asked to enhance the 4G coverage.”
The main project objectives include introducing 5G technology commercially, raising interest among the people over the 5G technology, and encouraging other mobile phone operators to introduce 5G services.
Teletalk had planned to launch its 5G service on a limited basis in the capital. For this, some areas of Dhaka North and South City Corporation had been selected.
At Tuesday’s ECNEC meeting, seven other projects worth around Tk 2,700 were approved.
The country’s largest operator Grameenphone claimed to have successfully completed trials for 5G in Dhaka and Chattogram last July, while state-run Teletalk launched 5G connectivity on an experimental basis in six areas in the country back in December last year.
