All telecom indicators but data usage are negative
All indicators in the telecommunication sector in Bangladesh were in the negative in the second quarter of 2020, except for the increase in internet data usage as the pandemic battered the economy and reduced income, according to a report.
The revenue for telecom operators during the quarter (April-June) decreased more than 8 per cent compared to the first quarter (January-March), a report of the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) showed.
Active mobile subscriber fell 2.4 per cent, internet subscribers slipped 0.3 per cent, call minutes per customer per month dropped over 6.5 per cent and average revenue per user also decreased over 2.5 per cent.
The GSMA National Dialogues' report on "Keeping Bangladesh connected: The role of the mobile industry during the COVID-19 pandemic" was published by the association that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide through a virtual event yesterday.
The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown measures introduced in March 2020 on the mobile industry were evident in the industry's Q2 (April to June 2020) results, according to the report.
This reliance on the internet saw an increase in per customer data consumption between 16 per cent and 29 per cent.
"Movement restrictions, due to health concerns and government orders, led to an increase in online activity at home [that is working and studying from home, e-health, digital commerce, entertainment, streaming etc]," the report said.
Erik Aas, chief executive officer of Banglalink, which has 3.5 crore customers, said since June all the telecom customers in Bangladesh have been paying near to 6 per cent more for telecom service than before, putting pressure on the operators because customers pay less for increased VAT.
Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, CEO of Robi Axiata under which mobile operator Robi and Airtel run an operation with over 5 crore customers, said in the beginning of the pandemic the operator lost over half a million subscribers because of the economic woes brought on by the pandemic.
Echoing the Banglalink CEO, Ahmed said although internet data use increased by as much as 20 per cent, operators' revenue was falling and they did not get enough spectrum to cater to the customers. He said while Robi's data use increased significantly, its revenue decreased 2 per cent.
"We have the opportunity to monetise the situation, but we operators didn't do that. We brought down the price in the request of the minister," he said.
He said the operators could have provided more support to consumers but for the government's disintegrated approach to the industry they would not do it.
Ahmed said a better taxation policy could have made people's lives easier.
"Now 53 per cent of operator's revenue goes to the government in different forms of taxation. Consumer tax for call and data is also high. In a country where consumer penetration is so high and government has a vision of Digital Bangladesh, why are taxes are so high?" he asked.
"It was expected that it would decrease but it increased, making affordability challenging," he said.
He thanked the government for introducing the emergency services, enabling them to fix the network during lockdown.
According to the report, the effects of the gender mobile internet and usage gap can be seen during the Covid-19 pandemic with women nearly twice (29 per cent) as likely as men (15 per cent) to not receive necessary information on Covid-19.
Overall, only 43 per cent of women, as opposed to 57 per cent of men, received helpful, clear and timely information.
Md Shahab Uddin, managing director of state-owned Teletalk which has over 46 lakh subscribers, said the operator has not been able to provide better services because of some challenges due to Covid-19.
"Our revenue has fallen significantly. However, things are now slowly changing," said Uddin.
Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone, the country's leading mobile operator with 7.8 crore subscribers, said in May, when the pandemic situation was at its peak, Bangladesh faced another calamity, Cyclone Amphan.
That time operators worked with the government to restore telecom service with absolute agility, ensuring smooth telecom services to customers.
About post-pandemic plans of telecom regulators in Bangladesh, Shyam Sunder Sikder, the new chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), said this was high time for Bangladesh to figure out priorities that would shape the future policies.
Assigning spectrum with allocated bands so that the operators can provide multiple services, expediting infrastructure in order to expand network coverage, increasing telecommunication and ICT services, facilitating fixed service for online education and entertainment, and facilitating remote satellite service to cater to the rural people by the means of broadband and other services would be the regulator's top priority, according to Sikder.
Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said in the beginning of next year, 100 per cent 4G penetration would be ensured as operators assure him about that.
"Next year will be a different time for the sector. We are planning to introduce 5G network soon," he said.
Md Afzal Hossain, secretary to the ministry, and Brig Gen SM Farhad (Retd), secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, also spoke at the event.
The report also recommended promoting network resilience, ensuring access and affordability of digital services and leveraging e-health, big data and telemedicine to address the health crisis.
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