Bangladesh has dropped 6 steps in the global ranking of mobile internet speed. Bangladesh was ranked 112th in the last month of March. The previous month i.e. in February, the country was ranked 106th in this list. At the same time, Bangladesh also fell a step behind in broadband internet from 107th to 108th.
Okla publishes a report named Speedtest Global Index every month highlighting the speed of internet in different countries of the world. This information is known from the latest report of the company.
According to Okla data, the average download speed on mobile internet in Bangladesh in March was 24.59 Mbps. And the upload speed was 11.53 Mbps. At that time the median latency in the country was 25 milliseconds.
The mobile internet quality index has deteriorated the most in the last 6 months in March this year. This month the position is stuck at 112. Before this last year i.e. in October 2023, Bangladesh fell to the 111th position. The position improved in the following month. Bangladesh moved up 6 steps to the 105th place in November.
In December, it advanced 4 steps to the 101st position, but in the first month of this year, i.e. January, it again fell to the 108th position. Then in February, Bangladesh is walking backwards in the speed of mobile internet, rising to the 106th position.
The median download speed in the broadband segment during the same period was 44.25 Mbps. Upload speed was 43.61 Mbps. And the median latency was 5 milliseconds.
Bangladesh is somewhat stable in the ranking of broadband internet speed compared to the ups and downs of mobile internet speed. Bangladesh was ranked 108th in October 2023, 107th in November, 108th in December and January, and 107th in February.
How are the surrounding countries?
According to Okler Index- Neighboring country India is ahead of Bangladesh in terms of mobile internet speed. The country’s position in the global ranking is 16th. Download speed 105.85. And upload speed is 9 decimal zero 8.
Pakistan, however, lags behind Bangladesh in terms of mobile internet speed. The country’s position is 127th. And the average download speed is 18.18 Mbps. Upload speed is 8.72 Mbps.
SAARC country Maldives has a good position in the index. The country’s position is 32nd in the global ranking of mobile internet. Average mobile internet speed in Maldives is 85.94 Mbps. Upload speed is 20.47 Mbps.
Several officials of Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink were contacted about the deterioration in the mobile internet speed index, but they refused to comment on it.
On the other hand, Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) President Imdadul Haque believes that it is possible to increase the speed of broadband Internet and advance in the ranking if some work is done on the transmission network.
He said, ‘Increasing the speed and improving the ranking, some work needs to be done on the transmission network to advance it. From city based bandwidths but we can provide Mbps speed as per customer demand. If someone wants 20 Mbps instead of 10 Mbps, it is still possible. It is possible to provide it with a small price increase. If it is paid to customers outside Dhaka, the cost increases. That should be worked on now.’
Having a Dhaka-centric cash service center is also an obstacle in the way of increasing speed, he said, ‘Our cash service is Dhaka-centric. Due to security policy of BTRC it was not possible to decentralize it. If the cash service is installed in big cities outside Dhaka and if it is kept with all ISPs, the speed can be increased. Still, we are trying to provide good speed internet service to the customer.
Director of Engineering and Operations Department of BTRC. Golam Razzak told Jago News that we are taking various steps to increase the speed of the Internet. Working under the guidance of government officials. We look at the Okler index. There are many factors or indicators. The index has not been noticed recently. It would not be right to comment on how far we have progressed or regressed before seeing that.
AAH/ZH/ASM
