Bangladesh lowest internet user in Asia Pacific: Study
According to a report of Groupe Special Mobile Association (GSMA), the global trade body of mobile operators, Bangladesh, along with Pakistan has the lowest level of mobile internet penetration in the Asia Pacific region.
The report shows that in 2017, only 21 per cent of the population of both Bangladesh and Pakistan have mobile internet connection and one in five Bangladeshis subscribed to mobile internet services despite 3G networks covering in excess of 90 per cent of the population.
The majority of subscribers in Bangladesh primarily use their phones for basic voice and SMS services, and as a result of this low level of engagement, the country also generates one of the lowest subscriber average revenue per user (ARPU) levels in the world at US$2.9, the report said.
It reveals some interesting information like Nepal and Myanmar both of which have lower GDP per capita than Bangladesh, have higher mobile internet penetration-28 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.
"Affordability represents a major barrier to the uptake of mobile services in Bangladesh," said the GSMA, which has approximately 800 members.
A medium consumption basket of 1 GB of data would cost an individual in the bottom 20 per cent by income distribution approximately 11 per cent of their monthly earnings in Bangladesh, which is above the affordability threshold recently adopted by the United Nations.
In the February 2018 spectrum auction too, the high reserve prices and the associated licence fees remained.
When coupled with a mobile market with some of the lowest ARPU levels in the world, some of this high-priced spectrum went unsold.
This highlights the importance of setting reserve prices for future spectrum auctions at levels that consider operators' needs to not only finance access to spectrum, but also to deploy infrastructure to use that spectrum.
Source:
http://www.observerbd.com/details.php?id=134076
