by Staff Correspondent;

Bangladesh has taken up the steps to install its second satellite into the orbit along with other measures to materialize the target of establishing “Smart Bangladesh” in two decades, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Thursday.

The country does not need to depend on foreign satellites any more since the Bangabandhu-1 Satellite was launched into the orbit in 2018, which brought a revolutionary change in the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors, she said in a video message aired at the inauguration of Digital Fair in Dhaka.

“Bangladesh is now a proud 57th member of the satellite family in the world,” she said adding that the country is earning huge foreign currency by using unused frequencies from satellite.

The Prime Minister underscored the need for ensuring maximum use of digital technology including artificial intelligence, internet of things, virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics and big data to become economically prosperous.

Five-G services will be ensured at the industrial regions, she said adding that her government was working on to establish the third submarine cable by 2024.

Bangladesh has so far achieved a bandwidth capacity of 3400 GBPS, which will be increased to 7200 GBPS in the middle of this year, and to be raised to 13,200 GBPS after installation of the third submarine cable, Hasina said.

She said her country is earning 4.81 million US dollars every year through giving bandwidth leases to Saudi Arabia, France, Malaysia and India.

She noted that nearly 956298 kilometers optical fibre cables have been set up till union levels across the country while 10 Gigabyte capacity has been ensured in every union, helping provide high speed internet to the people and the government offices.

A total of 8,600 post offices across the country have been turned into digital ones using the infrastructure, she said. Some 18 crore mobile SIMs are being used while the number of internet-using people is 12 crore, she added.

“The digital inequality and prices of broadband internet between the rural and urban areas has been erased due to it,” she said.

The digital connectivity will be the key to build Smart Bangladesh, she told the audience at the three-day fair, being organized by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications showcasing the IT and ITES products and services.

The prime minister also hoped that the digital goods would play a significant role in investments and exports.

“Digital Bangladesh is now a reality. Our next target is to build Smart Bangladesh and Smart Nation. There is no alternative to using modern technology to achieve the target of building Smart Bangladesh,” she said.

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