3G services to be discontinued by December: Jabbar
The 2G network service, however, will remain effective for the next few years, said the minister
The government is going to shut down the third generation (3G) mobile network services by December this year which was launched in the country in 2013, said Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar.
"We have directed the mobile manufacturers and assemblers not to produce 3G handsets any more in the country," he said while addressing as chief guest at a roundtable titled "5G Technology: Prospect and Way Forward" held at a Dhaka city hotel on Tuesday.
"Considering people's affordability, we are going to keep the second generation (2G) mobile network service active for voice call for the next few years. But we have decided to shut the 3G service as the country has almost 100% 4G network coverage which provides a much better service than 3G," said the minister.
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Telecom Reporter's Network Bangladesh (TRNB) and Robi Axiata Limited jointly organised the discussion on the eve of Robi's silver jubilee of service in Bangladesh.
As of June 2022, there were 3 crore 3G subscribers in the country whereas the number of 2G and 4G subscribers were 7.46 crore and 7.91 crore, respectively.
In 2013, the government allotted 35MHz 3G spectrum to mobile operators ranging from 1920-1980MHz and 2110-2170MHz frequency bands.
Talking about the preparedness for 5G technology implementation, Mustafa Jabbar said Bangladesh has developed all the infrastructures required for 5G implementation.
"We are going to complete our preparation next year by auctioning 5G spectrum," he said.
Urging the network operator to invest in 4G, Jabbar said the operators might not get a huge number of 5G users at the beginning but they need to stay ahead with the infrastructure nonetheless.
All the mobile operators in Bangladesh already completed a trial run of the 5G service and the government has set the target to launch the commercial service by 2023.
TRNB President Rased Mehdi moderated the discussion while Telecom expert Khaled Mahmud, an associate professor of the Institute of Business Administration at Dhaka University, presented the keynote.
In his presentation, Khaled Mahmud said 5G is not an upgradation of 4G rather it is completely a new technology.
"5G network is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything [whether it is humans, machines, objects and devices] efficiently, effectively and intelligently," he said.
"The technology has enormous usage but it is very important to prioritise the implementation order based on the socio-economic context and ecosystem readiness," he added.
At present, 79 countries across the world commercially launched 5G services and the number of subscribers stands at 73.8 crore and is increasing gradually.
Speaking as a special guest, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder said, "We need preparation before the commercial launch of 5G. We need to conduct surveys on different sectors to find out which of them needs 5G first."
The officials from different mobile operators who spoke at the event emphasised the mutual collaboration among the stakeholders for faster implementation of 5G technology in the country.
Representatives from different technology suppliers like Huawei and Ericsson said, in the beginning, smart ports, education, smart grid and health sectors could be the major prospective use case of 5G in Bangladesh.
With TRNB General Secretary Masuduzzaman Robin's welcome address, Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited's Managing Director Dr Md Rafiqul Matin, Secretary General of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh Brig Gen S M Farhad (Retd) and BTRC Director General (systems and services division) Brig Gen Md Nasim Parvez also spoke at the roundtable.
