Bangladesh enters 5G era today

Highlights:

• Huawei and Nokia has partnered with Teletalk to propel the first 5G network in Bangladesh
• Apart from Dhaka, Tungipara to be connected with 5G

Bangladesh is entering the 5G era as the state-owned telecom operator Teletalk is going to launch the service at six sites on a trial basis on Sunday.

The sites are Tungipara in Gopalganj, National Martyrs' Memorial at Savar, Bangladesh Secretariat, Prime Minister's Office, Dhanmondi-13 and Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka. 

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, information and communication technology affairs adviser to the prime minister, is scheduled to virtually inaugurate the service at 7pm.

Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar, among others, will participate in the function at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden.

To ensure 5G telecom services, Teletalk has already partnered with the Chinese ICT solution provider Huawei and the Finland-based Nokia.

The two global technology solution providers will provide seamless 5G experience infrastructure and technical support to Teletalk for deploying a 5G network in the six sites on a test basis.

Following the 5G technology launch, users will enjoy speedier internet and smoother telecommunication services.

"Huawei will provide technology for four sites while Nokia for two sites," said Md Shahab Uddin, managing director at Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd.

To this end, Teletalk has signed separate deals with Huawei and Nokia.

The commercial trial will be implemented in 200 sites by 2022 through cluster-wise deployment in the Dhaka Metropolitan focusing on commercial and government offices.

The technology will help in building smart manufacturing through cloud-based wireless robot control, wireless e-health and panoramic live broadcasting in social networks.

"4G has changed life, 5G will change society. And we are happy to be a part of this key initiative towards that journey. We shall partner with Teletalk to build the necessary infrastructure for a superior 5G network," Kevin Xu, chief technical officer at Huawei Bangladesh, said in a statement.

"Initially, we have been chosen to provide more than 65% of initial 5G sites. Huawei has been working in Bangladesh to build a fully connected, intelligent nation for more than 21 years and we will responsibly continue this journey."

It is mentionable that Huawei has been investing in 5G R&D since 2009. Subsequently, in 2017 and 2018, Huawei invested almost $1.4 billion in 5G product development.

The company carried out more than 5,000 5G tests in 2020 across a wide range of industries, including mining, manufacturing, and seaports, with about 1,000 commercial contracts signed.  

As of now, 700 telecom operators are working to establish 5G technology around the world. Huawei is providing technical support to 83 operators among the 184 who have already successfully launched 5G in different countries.

However, no comment has been received from Nokia.

The present government had promised to launch 5G across the country by 2021-2023 in line with the goals and plans of the election manifesto of 2018.

As part of an initiative, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has allotted 60MHz frequency wave (spectrum) to Teletalk from 3.5GHz frequency to launch 5G services in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh launched 3G mobile communication technology in October 2012 and 4G technology in February 2018.

At present, the country has 17.69 crore mobile subscribers and 12 crore mobile internet users under four mobile operators.

Only 28% of the subscribers have adopted 4G networks while smartphone adoption is only 41%.