While it is not an uncommon sight to see people typing messages in Bangla on their smartphones, the familiar colours and user interface make it obvious that they are not using communication apps belonging to local companies.

While mobile financial service providers and nearly all banks have gained traction in digital services in Bangladesh, the same cannot be said of communications apps built by the government or private entities.

In early 2020, a homegrown mobile application with capability to send messages and make voice calls was launched in Bangladesh. At the inauguration ceremony of the app, named 'Kotha', Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT, said it would be Bangladesh's Facebook, PayPal, Netflix, Twitter, and WhatsApp.

But now, almost none remembers the app. Although Kotha has good ratings on Google's Play Store, it has less than 2 lakh downloads.

However, Mahboob Zaman, chairman of Kotha Technologies, said the growth of the app is somewhat steady given their strategy. "We were trying to do organic marketing. Besides, research and development requires huge investment. We are trying to find an investor."

So far, the app has 4 lakh registered users, according to the company.

Sumon Ahmed Sabir, a technology expert, said copying something that has numerous versions, which local apps tend to do, is unlikely to lead to popularity. "Popular apps come with diversity, flexibility, efficiency and global expectancy that cannot be replicated."

"Besides, local apps cannot compete with these platforms due to the scale of their research and investment. Once a sector is monopolistic, it's not easy to break."

The government has also taken the initiative making communication apps, but all of them failed to attract audiences.

The government-funded app 'Baithak', a video-conferencing platform enabling virtual meetings and webinars similar to Zoom, was designed for government officials, but got very little response.

'Alapon', a Viber-like app developed by the government's ICT Division with the aim to streamline messaging and file exchange processes for government officials, was launched in 2016. Eight years later, the app no longer exists.

"Privacy is definitely a concern, if not a major one," Sabir added.

Meanwhile, the use of social media platforms and communication apps in Bangladesh developed by the global tech giants boomed in the past decade and made it one of the largest markets for them in terms of audiences. The top communication apps in terms of users are WhatsApp, Messenger, and Imo.

Facebook has a huge chunk of the audience, with nearly 53 million users in the country, which places Bangladesh among the top 10 Facebook-crazed nations as of January 2024, according to Statista, a German online platform that specialises in data gathering and visualisation.

Facebook also offers Messenger, integrating it as a standalone app for messaging, voice calls, and video chats.

There were more than 6.3 crore Facebook users in Bangladesh in February 2024 that has a population of about 17 crore, according to management and analytics platform NapoleonCat. It put the number of Messenger users at 5.7 crore.

When asked how many people in Bangladesh use WhatsApp, Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger, said it is unable to share the country-specific data.

Imo is also popular in rural Bangladesh due to low data usage, simplicity, and free voice and video calls. In 2023, a staggering 4 million new users from the country were integrated into Imo's network, the company said. 

That took its monthly users in Bangladesh to 50 million, accounting for a quarter of its 200 million total users. Imo users in the country made 91.6 billion audio and video calls in 2023, among which 35.8 billion calls were international.

Bangladeshi users also made 676 million group calls last year through the app. The top five destinations for international calls were Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Malaysia, and Qatar.