Archive for the ‘Internet -Telecomunication’ Category

ICT facilities to be expanded to all UPs by December

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

In line with the present government’s vision to build `Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021, ICT facilities will be expanded to all 4,484 unions in the country by this year to reach such facilities to the doorsteps of the rural people.
“Against the backdrop of tremendous success in 102 unions, the information and communication technology (ICT) facilities will be expanded to all 4,484 unions by December this year to build Digital Bangladesh, envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” a review meeting on the activities of Digital Bangladesh.
The meeting arranged by the UNDP-funded Access to Information (A2I) Programme under the Prime Minister’s Office also took a decision to bring all government offices at the upazila level under computer and internet network.
Besides, decisions were undertaken to arrange `digital innovative fair’ in all divisional cities in the country from October to December and to introduce unicode Bangla typing in all ministries.
Adviser to the Prime Minister HT Imam was the chief guest at the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office.
With Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office M Abdul Karim in the chair, the function was addressed by Cabinet Secretary M Abdul Aziz as the special guest.
National Project Director of A2I Programme Mohammad Nazrul Islam Khan gave answers to various questions as the coordinator of the function, while secretaries of all ministries and `e- governance focal points’ were present.
Speaking on the occasion, HT Imam called upon the government officials to work hard for raising literacy rate to implement Digital Bangladesh envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Without increasing the country’s literacy rate, implementation of Digital Bangladesh will not be possible as both are related with each other,” he said.
HT Imam urged the secretaries to work with a service- oriented mindset and undertake programmes to reach the digital services to the doorsteps of the people speedily and at a low cost.
The PM’s adviser also asked the government officials to take the next steps after evaluating the progress of the earlier programmes.
The meeting reviewed the progress of 53 `quick-win initiatives’ innovated by the 53 ministries and government departments to reach digital services to the doorsteps of the people. Besides, 39 `quick-win initiatives’ were identified.
At the meeting, all ministries and government departments were reminded to present these new innovations to the divisional innovative fairs as the digital services. It also discussed in detail the issues of cyber safety and ICT Polic

Make corporates answerable: Bangladesh information chief

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Bangladesh’s Chief Information Officer (CIC) wants that the Right to Information Act be amended to cover corporate offices and MNCs operating in the country to effectively combat corruption.

According to CIC Muhammad Zamir, bringing them under the RTI’s purview was essential to ensure transparency and accountability of business organisations.

‘Necessary measures need to be taken to bring the multinational corporations and corporate offices within the purview of the Right to Information Act. This will expand the accountability and the transparency of these organisations,’ Zamir said in an interview with Media.

Besides government offices and NGOs, all other institutions should also be made accountable to the public since they have their stake there, he said.

RTI is a new concept in Bangladesh that is ranked among the lowest in the corruption chart by the Transparency International, a global body that monitors the level and extent of corruption in a country.

The CIC said the government offices/departments now realise that they are legally bound to provide answer to questions from the public and they have to do this within a prescribed legal time frame.

‘Otherwise, under this act, necessary measures can be taken against the recalcitrant party,’ Zamir said.

‘We are creating a paradigm which will help in curbing corruption and ensure citizens’ right information.’

He said corruption emanates from misgovernance or withholding of fundamental rights of the citizens.

ICT Development :Bangladesh ranks lowest

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

The report, which took into account 11 indicators to measure the level and evolution of ICT developments, found that Bangladesh had been ranked 137th in the list of 159 countries around the world in the year 2008, despite meagre improvement in its index score from the previous annum.
Bangladesh is ahead of only two other countries from the Asia Pacific region according to the latest ranking, namely, Nepal and Papua New Guinea that are placed at 142nd and 151st respectively in the list.
Sweden has topped the list of the 159 countries surveyed by ITU as part of the study, while eight of the top 10 countries in the index are from Northern Europe.

“The report confirms that despite the recent economic downturn, the use of ICT services has continued to grow worldwide- driven by the growth in mobile phone usage,” ITU said in its ‘Measuring the Information Society 2010′ report.

The Geneva-based United Nations Agency for Information and Communication Technology has been publishing the report regularly for the last few years to evaluate internationally comparable data and statistics on ICT.

The report has also found that Bangladesh is at the bottom of all South Asian economies in terms of its ‘ICT Price Basket’ index which has put it at 137th place while measuring the affordability of fixed and mobile telephony and fixed broadband Internet services.

The Price Basket- which figures out comparable data on affordability of ICT services- thus pinpointed that despite having one of the lowest voice tariff rates, the cost of ICT services remained considerably higher in Bangladesh in comparison to the average income level of the mass.

Insiders, however, have blamed the trend on heavy SIM tax for mobile phone which they say is ultimately increasing the burden on general subscribers.

“Although the mobile companies are trying their best through offering subsidies on new connections, it is still beyond the means of rural people and lower income group”, said an insider.

“Many developing countries have no or much less SIM tax on mobile connections. Bangladesh should take the same route”, he added.

A closer look at the index also reveals that Bangladesh’s lower ranking in terms of price and affordability was not helped either by the country’s high broadband prices.

This is evident from Bangladesh’s score in the sub basket for mobile and fixed phone in the index which is quite comparable to its neighbouring economies. The country has gone significantly down because of its much lower scoring in fixed broadband category.

Industry leaders have long been calling for reducing the Internet bandwidth price from Tk 18,000 to Tk 7,000 which they say can make broadband accessible at Tk 300.00 for common people.

The scenario, however, is by and large common for all Third World economies, as the ITU pointed in the report that fixed broadband access remained out of the reach for many people in the developing countries.

According to the survey, fixed broadband services showed the largest price fall of 42 per cent in one year around the globe, compared to 25 and 20 per cent in mobile cellular and fixed telephone services respectively.

The report predicts that the global number of mobile cellular subscriptions would top five billion in 2010-and despite lower penetration rate of broadband and cellular in developing nations, demand is still strongest in the Third World regions.

Bangladesh telecom industry vs Telecommunication (amendment) Bill 2010

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

A parliamentary body yesterday assured cellphone operators and telecommunications and ICT-based entrepreneurs of taking necessary steps to remove growing anxiety over proposed amendments to the telecom laws.

On their concern and objections to the proposed amendments, the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications ministry said it would carefully examine those and bring amendments to the bill, if necessary.

Representatives of the telecom operators also opposed the proposed amendments that provide the government with sweeping authority by curtailing jurisdiction of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

The telecom industry is among the largest contributors to growth, accounting for approximately 6 percent of GDP. Under Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission regulations, the industry shares 5.5 percent of revenue collected in the form of rent and call charges as well as pays for the lease of Bangladesh Railways’ fibre optic network. Not to talk about the large money the government realises in the form of SIM tax. During the caretaker government’s time, owners were forced to pay additional fees for transfer of ownership too. Altogether it is around 10 percent of the government’s revenue collection.

As mentioned earlier, on June 13, 2010, the Bangladesh Telecommunication (amendment) Bill 2010 was placed before parliament for review by the parliamentary standing committee on posts and telecommunication ministry. The Mobile Operators Association (AMTOB) highlighted a few key provisions in the new regulatory framework that are detrimental to the future growth of the industry and against the spirit of free markets.
The new law proposes raising the maximum fine for offenses from Tk 10 lakh to an astounding Tk 300 crore, higher than any comparable fines in the region; Pakistan currently has the highest with a maximum fine of PKR 35 crore (approximately BDT 28 crore). Given the industry’s high rate of taxation, mandatory revenue sharing and strict regulatory framework, this incentive adds an incremental contingent cost on industry players, discouraging further domestic and foreign investment. While our government is trying hard to market overseas investment, this will obviously send a wrong message to the rank and file. Especially when nobody less than our prime minister is continuously focusing on policy continuity, despite political changeover.
Against the spirit of due process, the new law provides no scope for appeal against expanded powers given to regulators. Telecom-related offenses are now made cognizable under the law, allowing the arrest of industry professionals without warrants, against all tenets of the Criminal Procedure Code. I thought we live in a respectable democratic country, known for its hospitality to the foreign guests. The other day, a minister was speaking high about the country’s potential as a ‘business process outsourcing’ (BPO) hub, with growing and reasonably priced IT savvy and English literate young men and women.
The new law also gives the regulator unilateral power to amend licence conditions at any time. The current cost of renewing a licence represents a significant investment in a capital intensive and highly competitive industry. The potential for abrupt and/or unfavorable changes in licence conditions in light of the high cost of renewal is a significant barrier towards future growth and casts a pall over the business and investment climates in Bangladesh.
The telecom industry is among the largest contributors to growth, accounting for approximately 6 percent of GDP. Under Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission regulations, the industry shares 5.5 percent of revenue collected in the form of rent and call charges as well as pays for the lease of Bangladesh Railways’ fibre optic network. Not to talk about the large money the government realises in the form of SIM tax. During the caretaker government’s time, owners were forced to pay additional fees for transfer of ownership too. Altogether it is around 10 percent of the government’s revenue collection.
Mobile phone operators have been very serious in implementing measures and technologies in the spirit of Digital Bangladesh. Among other things, the industry has brought mobile connectivity to over 90 percent of Bangladesh, introduced data and Internet services to mobile users, provided valuable services such as the facilitation of inward remittance from Bangladeshis living abroad, and generally introduced among the lowest cost mobile phone services in the world.
The industry has promoted significant foreign investment in Bangladesh, sparked growth in Bangladesh capital markets and brought the gift of communication to far-flung corners of rural Bangladesh. The industry is the epitome of a healthy, competitive market and fostering growth for the sector and will continue to provide benefits for the people of Bangladesh.
The people of this country voted this regime, because we wanted change, change for better, biased towards a forward-looking Bangladesh, more technology-driven solutions. No going back, look forward with confidence. If one looks at the telecom bill put up in the parliament, s/he will obviously doubt the sincerity of purpose of the change. I know many ministers, many parliament members who truly believe Bangladesh has a future, based on better education, access to information and shared vision. And that can only happen with better connectivity, using technology for poverty alleviation, investing more in agricultural and tropical health research. Professor Jeffrey Sachs (the author of ‘End of Poverty’) mentioned in 1999 ‘the future of Bangladesh depends on – how fast it can reach technology to rural masses, how better they can use technology for poverty alleviation’. Let’s not kill the golden goose, let’s not send a wrong message to the rest of the world. I am convinced senses will prevail among our people’s representatives, they are the listening people, they represent the toiling masses, and they in togetherness can give us a better Bangladesh. They are the change ambassadors.? can they kill change!

Tata Consultancy for Telenor on how to modernise

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

At Telenor Group, believe that being at the forefront of
telecommunications isn,t just about technology.
It,s about people,s needs.
Telenor is one of the biggest foreign mobile phone companies in Asia with operations stretching across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.

Now, the Norwegian group seems intent on returning the favour by helping Asian companies build a foothold in Europe.

Telenor announced on Wednesday that it was awarding Tata Consultancy Services of India a big, multi-year contract to modernise its information technology systems in Norway.
The deal came seven months after Telenor chose Huawei of China to overhaul its Norwegian mobile network infrastructure ahead of European rivals such as Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Both contracts show the scale of competitive challenge facing the developed world as China and India climb the economic value chain. Everyone understands that Asia is sucking manufacturing from the west. But surely IT service contracts and wireless network overhauls are exactly the kind of sophisticated, added-value business that western companies were supposed to be able to keep hold of? Particularly in an advanced country such as Norway.

If any further proof were needed of the great strides being taken by Chinese and Indian companies, check out how Tata described its Telenor deal:

??This contract underscores TCS?? ability to help global corporations optimise their ??Run the Business?? cost and channelize those savings to undertake modernisation projects that are delivered with reduced risk and increased certainty,?? said A.S. Lakshminarayanan, head of Tata??s European consultancy business.

When an Indian executive shows such a mastery of western corporate gobbledygook, there can be no doubt that emerging market companies have arrived as a force to be reckoned with.

Bangladesh, China forwarding road link via Myanmar and space cooperation

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

China-Bangladesh relations opening a new chapter of cooperation??Bangladesh and China plan to construct a road link via Myanmar to boost connectivity between the two nations as they seek to deepen bilateral relationship, including space cooperation.

The two countries will discuss constructing a road link for connecting China with Bangladesh via Myanmar during Chinese vice president Xi Jingping’s visit tomorrow, foreign minister Dipu Moni said today.

They will also discuss launching of satellite stations during the two-day official visit of the Chinese vice-president that begins on Monday.

“There will be discussion on launching of satellite stations in Bangladesh with Chinese assistance,” Moni was quoted as saying by the private bdnews24 online.

The foreign minister said Chinese companies had recently made proposals to help with launching of satellites.

The report, quoting foreign ministry sources, said Bangladesh will be able to collect necessary data on land use and disasters such as cyclone, flood, surge and drought with the satellite.

Ashfaqur Rahman, a former Bangladesh ambassador to China, was quoted as saying that the Chinese government in 2007 gave Bangladesh a ground station for launching satellite stations.

Sparso, which is under defence ministry, looked after the satellite ground station, he said.

The minister told reporters that an agreement on economic cooperation between Dhaka and Beijing would be signed during Xi’s visit.

In addition, she said, the two sides will also discuss other regional matters during the talks headed by prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Xi.

Moni said the two leaders would also discuss the progress on implementation of the joint communiqu??? signed during Hasina’s China visit.

Establishing Digital Bangladesh :Massive changes in areas of VAT (value added tax)

Friday, June 11th, 2010

This time for strengthen the national backbone and management system -?Establishing Digital Bangladesh :Massive changes in areas of VAT (value added tax).work out all VAT? formalities online.The finance minister in his budget speech Thursday proposed to bring massive changes in areas of VAT (value added tax) and introduce online registration and return submission.

“Establishing Digital Bangladesh is a key priority of the present government. In order to digitize the taxation system, I propose to introduce online VAT registration and return submission,” he said.

A specific software (Bangladesh VAT system, e-VAT) will be used for this purpose, which will be developed by a private firm under the direct supervision of NBR (National Board of Revenue), he said.

In order to impose penalty under the existing VAT Act properly, he also proposed to add new provisions to this Act to take up judicial proceedings in the court of Special Judges appointed under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1958.

He also proposed relevant amendment to the Act to allow the aggrieved taxpayers to appeal to the High Court against the verdict of the Appellate Tribunal.

Currently, there is no provision in the VAT Act for protection of information provided by the taxpayers.

Considering the demands of taxpayers, he has proposed to insert a new provision in the existing law for protection of information given by the taxpayers.

To modernize the VAT system, the finance minister has proposed to simplify the price declaration procedure and introduce amendments in the law for payment of taxes using various means.

He also proposed necessary amendments in VAT Act to impose VAT on e-commerce.

Facebook Unblocked : Facebook RE-OPENED !!!In Bangladesh

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

This is really Good news for all friend lovers !!! In fact who don’t love Friend ?
After few days of banning facebook reopens today .It was a democratic demand.

Let’s Meet our Face book friends!!

LOG ON:www.facebook.com

Bangladesh may unblock Facebook by 6/14

Friday, June 4th, 2010

‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2013.A highly placed source in the Ministry of Telecommunications told media that the Bangladesh government is actively considering unblocking the popular social networking site Facebook latest by Monday [June 6, 2010]. The site was earlier blocked by Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission [BTRC] for containing cartoon of the Prophet of Islam.

On condition of anonymity, the source said, Facebook authorities have already closed several Fan pages containing ‘objectionable’ contents. Meanwhile, there is tremendous pressure on the government from country’s Information Technology [IT] sector, which considers such blocking as a major obstacle in advancement of the country towards its goal of further expansion of computer based network in Bangladesh. Current ruling party in its electoral mandate promised ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2013.

It may be mentioned here that, the same government earlier blocked YouTube, which was later unblocked in three days, while the blocking of Facebook is continuing for almost one week.

Justifying such actions of the government, the official said, in future also, Bangladeshi authorities will block any such social networking site or even news site, if they will contain any item, which either would be considered blasphemous or ‘threat’ to the national security of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh government is actively considering blocking a number of sites soon. These sites include website of Hizbut Tahrir, website of Hizbut Towhid, blog and Facebook page of Islamic Democratic Party [former HuJI], all porno sites etc. Bangladesh authorities will also block websites of all militancy organizations in India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Government is also considering taking actions against illegal news sites operated from Bangladesh

Bangladesh and Facebook Privacy, Politics, and Advertising Revenues

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Bangladesh banned facebook !Over the last few weeks and months, there has been a lot of commentary in the media on Facebook and online privacy. Much of the criticism that has been directed at Facebook has focused on either the absence of or poor usability with privacy settings ? issues that Facebook made moves to try to address with the release of updated privacy controls last week.

But fortunately and unfortunately for the company, this won??t be the last time that privacy issues cause it to make urgent product adjustments. These days, Facebook users often don??t publish the kind of information they share on it anywhere else on the web, putting the company in a unique and central position the future of online privacy. As a result, it is now responsible for setting and managing the expectations of 1) 500 million users who trust it with their data, 2) millions of businesses who trust it with their money and marketing plans, and 3) hundreds of national governments who have the power to regulate it whenever enough of either users or businesses get upset.

Facebook??s challenge is to continually adapt its privacy products to meet the varied and evolving needs of each of these diverse groups. When expectations and products get out of whack ? even if the problems are unspecific and/or exaggerated unfairly by media ? the company could quickly find itself in situations like it did a month ago with Senators teeing up the Facebook football on the steps of the Capitol. (And just this week, it also received an inquiry from the House Judicial Committee.)

Privacy and Politics
Facebook has shown it can survive the regular bans it gets from smaller countries (for example, Facebook was banned in both Bangladesh and Pakistan recently for facilitating for free speech/obscenity reasons ? not privacy), but those countries only represent a small portion of Facebook??s user base. And in cases like these, those governments have usually reversed the ban relatively soon when internal political pressure subsided (although in the Pakistan case, Facebook deleted an offensive group to help get access restored more quickly). But the stakes are much higher when talking about US government regulation.

Thus, Facebook is ramping up its Congressional staffer briefing efforts to try to educate and manage Washington better, especially in this election year. Unlike Google, Facebook doesn??t have many alumni high up in the Obama administration, so it??s going to have to start the Beltway dance quickly to make sure it isn??t underheard.

One of the key challenges Facebook will face in the months and years ahead ? besides trying to keep privacy watchdog groups under control ? is getting Congress to think with broader context when it comes to online privacy, instead of targeting it, specifically. Because of its success, Facebook is now a poster child for how new technology is affecting our notions of online privacy today ? much like the leading e-commerce companies who were the first to handle big volumes of online credit card transactions in the ??wild west?? days of the consumer Internet. As informed observers like Tim O??Reilly recently noted,

When I wrote last week about Facebook privacy flap, I was speaking out of the frustration that many technologists with a sense of perspective feel when we see uninformed media hysteria about the impact of new technology. (How many of you remember all the scare stories about the risks of using a credit card online from back in the mid-1990s, all of them ignoring the risks that consumers blithely took for granted in the offline world?)??

There are real privacy issues to be faced in the data collected by web companies. But they are part of a far bigger picture of how the world is changing. We need thoughtful understanding of what the real risks are, not finger pointing by the media (and even more frighteningly, by members of Congress) at companies that are easy targets because they make good political theater.
Mark Zuckerberg has been telling us for years that his vision for Facebook is to create a public/private hybrid model for sharing information ? meaning Facebook will encourage users to make some information private, and some information public. As Facebook continues to tweak and change its products over the coming months and years, it will have to continually tweak its privacy controls as well to sufficiently match the expectations of consumers, businesses, and governments. It won??t always be exactly right, but it is in Facebook??s interests to continually protect and cultivate its greatest asset ? the trust that people put in the company by virtue of how they use Facebook to develop their online identity and build their part of social graph.

Privacy and Revenue
When it comes to the intersection of privacy issues and Facebook??s revenues, one important point to note is that Facebook is trying hard to reiterate that its in-house advertising model is not dependent upon its privacy model. In other words, people see the same Facebook Ads, no matter what their privacy settings are. In general, this is the simplest way that Facebook has avoided bigger problems with regulators. By handling the serving and optimization itself for most ads shown on Facebook.com, Facebook is working on building a large business that doesn??t require it to share personally identifiable information with advertisers.

The broader strategy question connecting privacy and revenue for Facebook, however, is that of the Facebook Platform. Here, there are actually two competing dynamics at play:

1) By allowing third parties to get access to some user information when users authorize applications, Facebook is enabling these third parties to in effect compete with it by creating their own advertising products that key off of user data obtained through the Facebook Platform. For example, if a user authorizes an application to access their list of music interests, that application might be able to provide a compelling ads or offers for concert tickets or other music-related items. If that application has access to advertising inventory that Facebook doesn??t, then it could, in a sense, capitalize on Facebook by plugging into its API.

We??ve seen this at play over the years as a variety of companies have created third party ad networks on the Facebook Platform to varying degrees of success. While there were aggressive players in this area during the first couple years after the Platform launched, Facebook has tightened the rules on third party data access here over time. In general, most of these companies have complained that Facebook hasn??t given them sufficient access to user data to create a larger opportunity, especially compared to Facebook??s own ad business, and we??ve seen some consolidation in this market over the last 18 months. (Most of the new advertising efforts are now focused on virtual currency ? see our previous coverage for more details on issues in that area.)

2) But the broader strategic goal of the Platform of course is to make Facebook??s social graph the underlying infrastructure for all parts of the Internet that depend on social context. For example, if Facebook can get many media sites to personalize content based on your Facebook identity and friends list, or many e-commerce sites to personalize their stores based on your Facebook identity and friends list, it would then play an important role in many internet services, apart from ads. If Facebook succeeds here, more of the Internet will depend on it for increasingly valuable parts of its functionality, increasing Facebook??s leverage as a growing part of the value chain.

Several years out, Facebook??s revenues will be increasingly affected by its off-Facebook.com activities. Here, the privacy questions get more complicated. Will Facebook be able to provide value to advertisers without sharing user data with publishers in a way that publishers will be willing to accept ? or will Facebook need to create new rules for sharing user data with publishers on its network? For example, would a travel website which depends on Facebook for social context allow Facebook to completely handle all the advertising on its site as well, or would it want greater control over its user and monetization data? If Facebook didn??t share any data with the publisher to follow the same type of third party privacy standards it does on Facebook.com today, the value proposition to the publisher would be less attractive. But if Facebook were able to create a service that worked well anyway, it would be able to grow its advertising business substantially on the back of the Platform. However, this is a much longer term question.

Conclusion
If Facebook is able to navigate these near- and intermediate-term waters successfully, it will be in a very strong and unique position for many years to come. After all, for many of Facebook??s 500 million users, Facebook is the exclusive platform on which they are publishing and sharing any personal information online that??s tied to their authentic identity, enabling Facebook to continue to build a strong advertising business.

Fundamentally, a lot of people both like and trust Facebook, as shown by how they use and share information on it. But there are certainly going to be a lot of potholes ahead. Like the issues Facebook has faced in recent weeks, many of these won??t actually have any immediately measurable impact on user behavior ? but will be symptomatic of the work Facebook has to do with government, advertisers, and the media