Bangladesh is undecided on the fate of Internet


Posted on November 17, 2012  /  1 Comments

There were lots of political fireworks when Bangladesh got elected as one of the Council Members in ITU two years back. I welcomed it cautiously. Because, I am aware of the institutional incompetence of Bangladesh in contributing as a Council Member in the ITU. I kept asking the officials in BTRC and MOPT about their activities. All I heard was the travel plans of attending various meetings and workshops across the globe. Net result? ITU has dropped Bangladesh from its IDI Index. And the media got upset about it.

Now the authorities are again yawning about the country’s position on Internet Governance. By far, I have heard the telecoms minister and the chairman of BTRC will represent the country in WCIT 2012 at Dubai next month. Yet, no one has any clue about the objectives of this trip.

Bangladesh, also an ITU member, will make up on its stance after sitting with the country’s different stakeholders, said Sunil Kanti Bose, the chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

The BTRC chairman’s above statement proves that Bangladesh has missed the November 3, 2012 deadline of submitting its contribution to the ITU. I hope Mr. Bose will be able to consult the “stakeholders” before catching the flight to Dubai after two weeks. Bangladesh government lacks the track record of deciding on policy issues upon consultation. The nation will be very sorry if that habit remains unchanged and Internet gets hijacked.

1 Comment


  1. Let’s think positive: May be the Bangladesh Government wants to see the current ITR as it is. So the MoPT or BTRC did not propose anything and waiting for the VOTE day…But we are really waiting for the consultation day.