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The number of internet users in Bangladesh has fallen gradually in the first four months of the current fiscal year 2022-2023.
While the country claims to have achieved the Digital Bangladesh vision in 2021 with massive digitisation all across and now preparing to achieve the Smart Bangladesh vision by 2041, the drop in the number of internet users is alarming.
The fall has been occurring at a time when the government has been strict in strengthening 4G network countrywide to ensure digital inclusion.
The number of internet users was upward over the first six months of 2022 but the growth was not up to the mark compared to other neighbouring nations. In that scenario, the current downward trend has created uncertainty to contain the growth trajectory.
According to the latest data from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the number of internet users has fallen from 12.76 crore in July to 12.61 crore in October, meaning that the number has fallen by a margin of around 15 lakh.
The data shows that the number was gradually down from July, with 12.73 crore users in August, 12.63 crore in September and 12.61 crore in October.
In the first half of 2022, the trend was upward, with 12.19 crore subscribers in January. The number rose to 12.62 crore in June and reached the highest-ever mark in July with 12.76 crore users before the number started to fall.
However, the fall has occurred mostly when it comes to mobile internet use with 11.64 crore subscribers in July which dropped to 11.46 crore in October, around 18 lakh subscribers down within this time.
The number of mobile internet users was highest in October last year with 11.91 crore subscribers, which means a fall of around 45 lakh when compared to the same month of this year.
Internet use from internet service providers (ISP) and public switched telephone network (PSTN) has remained almost the same between the last two months – September and October – with 1.16 crore users which was 1.11 crore in July and August. The current number is the highest ever.
Industry insiders said the number of mobile internet subscribers has declined by a big margin due to a number of reasons including the ban on Grameenphone SIM sales, the current macroeconomic fragility, and the new pricing on mobile internet packages.
The number of mobile subscribers in Bangladesh has drastically gone down in the current fiscal year from 18.45 crore in June to 18.17 croe in October. The fall occurred after the ban on selling new Grameenphone SIM on June 29.
Grameenphone had around 8.5 crore subscribers in June which dropped to 8.14 crore in October, which means the operator has lost around 36 lakh subscribers within this time who could have been brought under the operator’s internet network coverage.
Grameenphone Ltd Head of Communications Khairul Basher said, “Firstly, the fall has occurred due to the unavailability of SIMs. People use multiple SIMs. If you cannot bring more customers than you lose, decline occurs in the customer base.”
Khairul Basher said that due to the decline in mobile subscribers, the internet subscriber base is also shrinking.
“Another problem is inflation or the macro-economic crisis, which reduced people’s purchasing power. The new pricings of internet packages have also impacted internet use,” he added.
Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) President Emdadul Hoque said, “Although the total number of internet users has decreased, internet use from ISPs did not decrease. However, we are not being able to expand our services.”
“Global recession has been of course one of the main reasons of the fall. We have to import almost all our equipment but imports are stopped for now, so we are not being able to deploy new connections” he added.
Emdadul Hoque also said that the amount of investment in this sector is lower than before. “I think new companies are refraining from investing more for expansions in fear of getting less number of corporate customers.”
He also informed that the ISPs have not increased the price of broadband internet packages in the meantime.
