BANGLADESH: Internet fair breaking bounds

An internet fair, first ever in Bangladesh, beginning on March 31 at Osmani Memorial Hall, is a big effort to make people aware of the power of the internet

The Daily Star
Wednesday, March 24, 2004

By Mizanur Khan

The promise of the internet knows few bounds. An internet fair, first ever in Bangladesh, beginning on March 31 at Osmani Memorial Hall, is a big effort to make people aware of the power of the internet.
 
Economists think it can boost productivity, efficiency and prosperity much further. Entrepreneurs are excited by facilitation of online commerce. Students and teachers will go browsing websites for information on higher study and research.

About 65 internet service providers (ISPs), solutions providers and telecoms-equipment vendors are expected to take part in the four-day gala event, organised by the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB).

"The fair was aimed at making internet more popular," ISPAB President Akhteruzzaman Manju told Star City.

"Internet for All" -- the theme of the fair -- fits in the technologically backward Bangladesh where only 1.5 lakh of 14 crore people have access to the internet, Manju said.

The government legalised the online internet on June 4, 1996 and the same day Information Services Network (ISN), a private ISP, went online. Earlier, internet users had no option but to use internet offline via overseas servers twice a day.

After deregulation of the very small aperture terminals (VSAT), the number of active ISPs rose to 60. Over 100 organisations received licences for VAST but remained inoperative.

"Participants will exhibit latest IT products and services at the fair, which will attract entrepreneurs and users to use the net," Manju said.

Because of poor economic condition, one signs up with an ISP but many use the same account, so the number of internet users is hidden, he said.

A large section of people without computer and internet connections at home use cyber cafés to surf websites. Dhaka is a city with 125 cyber cafés.

"Subscribers, especially businesspeople, use the e-mail service of internet and students and teachers browse websites for information," said Ershad Shafi Chowdhury, ISPA general secretary.

About 65 percent of the internet users consist of people aged between 7 and 35 and 30 percent belong to the 30-50 age group and the rest by 50-plus.

Email traffic takes 83 percent of online time, while 12 percent for web browsing and only 5 percent for reading newspapers, according to a computer magazine's recent survey.

"The scope of internet service in Bangladesh remained largely under-utilised because of lack of awareness, high service charge, poor telecommunication systems, government policy and low purchasing capacity," the ISPA president said.

The service charge is high in Bangladesh compared to other South Asian countries, and the slow data transmission makes web browsing costly, he added.

The online charge is Tk 0.50 a minute and the government imposed a 15 percent value-added tax (VAT) on it in December 1996 to make things worse.

The fair will house a browsing zone to provide free internet access, video conferencing and online chat for visitors.

Seminars and symposium will be held with the participation of ICT (information communication technology) experts from home and abroad. IT professionals from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are also invited to the fair, sponsored by GrameenPhone and Samsung.

GrameenPhone will also arrange SMS competition and Samsung will display its latest products at the fair that will continue until April 3 with the entry fee of Tk 10 a person. Organisers expect that the number of visitors will cross 50,000.

More information about the fair is posted on the official website: www.internetfair2004.com

Date Posted: 3/24/2004