No govt can shut internet legally as relevant law to be amended: ICT special assistant to CA
Internet price will be reduced further
No government, including the current interim government, can shut internet legally as the provision of shutting down internet under the Telecommunication Act 2001 will be removed, said Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, special assistant (ICT) to the chief adviser.
At the same time, the interim government is working to reduce internet prices further, making it as low as the regional price.
Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb made the remark while speaking at the opening session of the four-day-long investment summit kicked off today (7 April).
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"I would like to make it very clear that the current government will not shut Internet for a single moment and we would like to convey the message that we are working very hard to make it so that the future government also will not be able to shut the internet," he said at the session titled "Bangladesh Startup Connect" held at the city hotel.
"And to do that, we have taken four steps. The very first thing in the cyber safety ordinance we have declared and acknowledged internet as a civic right. So this is the first thing we have already done, and the cyber safety ordinance will be published, hopefully by the end of next week."
"Secondly, there was an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to how to shut internet initiated by the previous government. We have stopped that already and the ministry will not prepare any SOP to shut Internet anymore. Thirdly in the Regulatory and Licensing Guidelines for Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) Satellite Services Operators, we didn't keep any provision for shutting internet and the last one is in the Telecom Act 2001 there is a provision for shutting down the internet. We are working to repeal that law so that the next governments, including us, will not be able to shut internet legally.
Addressing the question regarding internet price, he said, "We will reduce the internet price and at the same time we will enhance the landscape of the usability of the internet. Besides, our government has a very high focus on data governance. So, data governance and interoperability have already taken a good focus in the ICT Digital Transformation Master Plan and ICT roadmap. We will be making all the ministries interoperable so that people get access to the databases and services will get more access to the data so that the startups and the businessmen get more access."
