A JICA study on investment climate has come up with some interesting findings, according to a news report. It reflects what LIRNEasia found through its benchmarking work.
Bangladesh did demonstrate herself as competitive in eight components, including lowest rates among all the countries surveyed with regards to monthly telephone charge and monthly gas charge.
However, it remained less competitive in most areas related to foreign investment, including container transportation, land price of industrial estate, internet connection fee, monthly internet fee, telephone installation fee, mobile phone subscription fee, and corporate income tax among others.
The report, however, highlighted high internet fees among these.
“Particularly, the Monthly Basic Payment for Broadband Internet Service in Bangladesh is continuously holding highest position among all the participating countries in this survey.”
3 Comments
Kirigalpoththa
40 paisa per minute – I don’t think other countries can beat that.
Anyway I can’t see any price reductions in mobile tariff in Bangla market. If so they will kill the industry.
Amar
The APRU is holding steady and don’t think it can go any lower. Meanwhile, BTRC just lowered wholesale bandwidth price by 33% in effect starting from August 2009. And more price cuts are on the way, hopefully Bangladesh can also have the cheapest broadband charges, soon.
Abu Saeed Khan
The mobile market is poised to consolidate in Bangladesh. Charging “per minute” basis will not sustain much longer. The industry will fight with “free minutes” and bundling other value added services. EBITA margin will survive if the OPEX remains under control through innovative measures like outsourcing and network sharing.
Regulatory intervention in wholesale bandwidth price is not a sustainable approach for affordable broadband. The submarine cable landing station should be open. And the national transmission networks are to be functionally separated from access service. The ISPs will co-locate respective servers at BTCL’s international gateway. Let the agencies (both with and without intelligence) monitor the traffic.
The providers should be also allowed to directly deal with competitive international carriers, bypassing the public and private gateway monopolies that have been created by the infamous ILDTS Policy. That will start making broadband cheaper in Bangladesh. The second submarine cable with equally open second landing station will pave the way for cheapest broadband in Bangladesh.
Workshop: Digital Tools for Strengthening Public Discourse
Today, LIRNEasia hosted a workshop to launch digital tools created by Watchdog Sri Lanka, funded by GIZ’s Strengthening Social Cohesion and Peace in Sri Lanka (SCOPE) programme. Researchers, practitioners, activists and journalists attended to learn about these tools, and how they can potentially help them in their own lines of work.
Election Misinformation in Sri Lanka: Report Summary
Election misinformation poses a credible threat to Sri Lanka’s democracy. While it is expected that any electorate hardly operates with perfect information, our research finds that the presence of an election misinformation industry in Sri Lanka producing and disseminating viral false assertions has the potential to distort constituents’ information diets and sway their electoral choices.
Election Misinformation in South and South-East Asia: Report Summary
A powerful weapon in a time of global democratic backsliding, election misinformation may undermine democracy via a range of mechanisms. Election misinformation may influence an electorate to cast their ballots for candidates they otherwise might not have on the basis of incorrect information about a country’s economy, the candidates, or some other phenomenon.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
12, Balcombe Place, Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2024 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific