A latest study of GSMA reveals that consumers in Bangladesh are punished with 55% sector-specific taxes while subscribing a new mobile connection. It is worst among the other five countries – Malaysia (6.1%), South Africa (15%), Mexico (16%), and Brazil (43.3%) – the GSMA has studied.
Bangladesh is among the very few country worldwide and certainly the only country in this group that has brought nearly 100% of its population and landmass under 2G mobile coverage. Over-taxation has been badly impeding the growth of this highly competitive market. Yet the government has provisioned universal service tax while amending the telecoms law this week.
It is a very bad news for the government’s “Digital Bangladesh” scheme. Because, 3G mobile is the only way to acquire rapid nationwide broadband penetration. But the GSMA study is skeptic about such achievement unless the taxes are rationalized. Download full report.
4 Comments
shehab rahman
agree with that.bangladeshi govt skiped the 3g broadband to 4g wimax broadband.which is probably most expensive broadband service in the world.which doesnt make any sense.telecom minister of bangladesh has no idea whats the differnce betwen 3g and 4g.
Abu Saeed Khan
@ Shehab
The 3G license has been kept on hold to let WiMax survive. But the present government, let alone the incumbent minister, has played no role in this malpractice. The regulatory hierarchy during the military-backed interim government’s period (2007-08) had orchestrated it. The issuance of 3G licenses has, however, become more uncertain after transferring regulatory authority to the telecoms ministry by amending the telecoms law last week. Moreover, the government is yet to announce the fundamentals of 2G licenses’ renewal, which is due next year. Therefore, investments in telecom has nosedived. The consumers are, certainly, the worst victim of such regulatory uncertainty.
Faisal
The prime minister of Bangladesh who is nothing but a slave of India ruining the country by not making internet available to Bangladeshi people. She does not realize that implementing broadband countrywide can create many jobs for Bangladesh. India is afraid that many western country will outsource in Bangladesh if broadband internet prospers. Dear Prime Minister can you please work for Bangladesh rather than kissing India’s a.. and bulsh..ting about your late father.
Sri Lanka at WAIC 2026: Aligning with a More Inclusive Vision for Global AI Governance
The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026 was held in Shanghai from 17–20 July and brought global attention to the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as the increasingly important question of who gets to shape the rules governing it. This analysis examines the alignment between Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech and Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eng.
LIRNEasia Senior Research Manager Merl Chandana at NewsFirst Sri Lanka’s Face To Face Programme
LIRNEasia Senior Research Manager and Team Lead for Data, Algorithms, and Policy (DAP), Merl Chandana, was interviewed on NewsFirst Sri Lanka’s Face to Face programme on 9 August 2026. The interview focused on the wonders and dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI), covering a recent cybersecurity incident where an experimental agentic AI model developed by OpenAI was manipulated to execute multiple attacks on Hugging Face.
More Than a Wheelchair: The Case for Mobility That Actually Works
The economic exclusion faced by people with mobility disabilities in Sri Lanka is substantial. Although Sri Lanka has made genuine investments in this area, yet, for many wheelchair users, the journey to work, school, university or a vocational training center remains difficult.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
9A 1/1, Balcombe Place
Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2026 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific