In order to bring banking services to the doorsteps of low-income people and strengthen its financial inclusion drive to support Bangladesh becoming a cashless economy, Bank Asia Limited has signed an agreement with Grameenphone to appoint the mobile phone operator’s retailers as the bank’s micro-merchants.
According to a news release, the agreement was recently signed in the Bank Asia Tower in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka, by Rasheda Sultana, deputy director and head of financial services at Grameenphone, and Ziaul Hasan, the bank’s deputy managing director. At the signing ceremony, which also included Shafiuzzaman and ANM Mahfuz, additional managing directors, and Md. Sazzad Hossain, deputy managing director, Adil Chowdhury, president and managing director of Bank Asia, was present.
Among those present were Mohammad Rezwan Ullah, head of financial regulations and strategic connections treasury, Fazle Abed, a lead expert for financial services, and Md Najmul Ahasan Prince, deputy general manager for financial services of the telecom operator. Due to a rise in mobile subscriptions, Bangladesh’s number of internet users increased by nearly 12 lakh in May compared to the previous month.
As a result, 12.76 crore people now have access to the internet, according to statistics from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
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Since February, the number of internet subscribers has increased four times in a row.
Due to an increase in mobile internet users earlier in February, the number of internet customers had its first recovery in six months. The number of broadband users then increased in March.
But in May, the surge was entirely due to the rise in mobile internet customers.
The overall number of mobile internet users now stands at 11.55 crore with the addition of the 12 lakh new clients.
Mobile internet subscriber numbers have increased, according to representatives of mobile network providers, as a result of the rising popularity of varied digital services outside of social media.
Due to an increase in mobile internet users earlier in February, the number of internet customers had its first recovery in six months. The number of broadband users then increased in March.
Mobile subscriptions have significantly increased as a result of the growing popularity of different digital platforms, they said, illustrating how the industry is changing.
Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi Axiata Ltd., said that the company is now seeing a new tendency among consumers.
“They now use the internet for a variety of digital services, including gaming, over-the-top video, and other services. The subscriber base is growing as a result,” he stated.
It is impossible to tell if the number of customers has risen or decreased since the BTRC only reports data on broadband internet subscribers on a quarterly basis. Previously, mobile internet users tended to utilize our service for social networking.
The BTRC gathers data from practically all internet service providers (ISPs) and analyzes the market to determine broadband subscriber statistics.
The ISPs, however, claimed to have seen a favorable trend in May.
According to Md Aminul Hakim, chief executive officer of Amber IT, a leading supplier of broadband internet services, “customer acquisition was positive in May and June.”
However, since many users use different SIM cards, it is impossible to estimate the number of persons who access the internet via BTRC data.
41% of Bangladeshis over the age of five use the internet, according to Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics, an initiative of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
The poll revealed that the gender digital gap is also evident and that Bangladesh still suffers from the digital divide, which highlights differences in internet access between rural and urban regions.
Only 37.1% of users are from villages, demonstrating the continued digital gap between rural areas and large cities.
According to experts, rural villages suffer infrastructure challenges such as limited broadband coverage and a lack of technology resources whereas metropolitan regions have stronger infrastructure and connection.
There is a gender difference in internet use and digital abilities, according to industry insiders and academics, since women confront more barriers to online access than males.
They said that the gender gap in internet access is still there because of certain cultural and traditional views or conventions.
According to the Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics released last month, there are 34% more women than males among internet users in Bangladesh.
At 1.20 crore in May, the number of broadband internet customers remained constant.