Broadband internet service (experimental) will be restored across the country including homes within the night. The State Minister for information and technology Junaid Ahmed Palak said that mobile data will be restored between Monday and Sunday.

He said, broadband internet service will be restored from tonight. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be observed all day. After that the decision will be taken to go full speed ahead. We will work in such a way that the internet can be launched uninterruptedly.

He said these things in a press briefing regarding the restoration of experimental internet at BTRC building in Agargaon on Wednesday (July 24).

Palak said internet services were disrupted due to fire damage caused by miscreants. In this situation we were working to restore internet system as soon as possible. Broadband internet service will be fully available from tonight.

Earlier, Imdadul Haque, the president of ISPAB, an association of internet connection companies, also said that internet connection can be restored at home within the night.

Meanwhile, after five days on Tuesday (July 23) night, broadband internet was restored on a limited basis. However, the mobile internet service is closed. Even with broadband internet, it is not possible to access various social media including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram. There is no clear information about when these will be normal.

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak said that the Herpower project has been undertaken to empower women and ensure employment in the field of technology where 25 thousand women entrepreneurs will be created across the country. After 4 months of training and 1 month of internship, each woman is given a laptop.

The State Minister said these things to the reporters after visiting the Sheikh Russell Computer Lab and Herpower Project at Saikat Balika High School in Cox's Bazar town on Thursday (04 July) afternoon.

He said that in the next 5 years, during the current tenure of the government, 10 lakh youth will be trained for the IT sector.

Nilufa Yashmin, sub-project director of Herpower Project, said that 560 women are being trained in 3 stages in 3 upazilas of Cox's Bazar district.

The trainees of this project said that as a result of the training in the Herpower project, there is an opportunity to earn through skills in the IT sector.

Cox's Bazar’s Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Tapati Chakma, Cox's Bazar Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Farzana Rahman and others were present. 

Bandwidth supply from the second submarine cable (CMUI-5) has completely stopped due to the cut. As a result, the internet problem in the country has not been solved yet. Customers have suffered for a long time due to slow internet.

The problem is not immediately solved because the cable is not repaired. According to the sources of state-owned Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited, the bandwidth supply from the second submarine cable was completely stopped due to the cutting of the SIMUI-5 cable in the sea area of Indonesia last Friday night.

An official of Submarine Cable told Barta24.com on condition of anonymity that permission to enter the Indonesian part of the sea has not yet been received. It can take up to three to four weeks to get permission. After that it may take another 8 to 10 days to repair the cut cable. Altogether, it will not be possible to fully deliver the bandwidth from the second submarine cable even in a month.

But in an alternative way they are trying to normalize internet services across the country. So far they expect to meet 40 percent of the bandwidth demand they have received from the first submarine cable in the next 2 to 3 days.

At present 1600 Gbps bandwidth is provided in the country with SIMUI-5. This supply is completely closed. An alternative to the Internet was not yet possible with SIMUI-4 (the first submarine cable). The submarine cable company is working for this. They say it will take 2 to 3 days. During this period they will be able to operate only 40 percent of the internet demand.

Currently there is a demand of 5,500 bandwidth in the country. Of these, submarine cable companies provide more than 2,500 bandwidths. The remaining demand is met by International Terrestrial Cable (ITC). 

Post and Telecommunication Minister of the previous government, Mustafa Jabbar, had pushed for the introduction of 5G services in the country in December 2023.

For this reason, 5G was launched experimentally through Teletalk in December 2021. 6 places including National Parliament, Secretariat came under this facility.

Earlier, in the auction held in March last year, mobile operators bought 190 MHz waves by spending Tk. 10 thousand crore.

There were objections from the operators about launching 5G service at such a fast time. But finally it was not possible to do it before the election because this service cannot be launched without 5G related guidelines.

Currently 3G and 4G services are available in the country. 3G was launched in 2013 and 4G services were launched in 2018. South Korea launched the first 5G service in 2019.

Finally, the 5G guidelines have been finalized almost two years after the wave auction. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) recently finalized it. According to the guidelines, mobile operators have to roll out 5G within the next one year.

From the second year, operators will have to build all kinds of 5G service capabilities. Such as smart city, smart home, intelligent transportation system, smart grid and other new applications have to be launched.

Regulatory body BTRC has launched Unified License. As a result, different licenses for 2G, 3G and 4G, which operators had to obtain, will no longer be required.

The 5G wave auction was held in March 2022. In this, four mobile operators bought a total of 190 MHz waves for Tk. 10 thousand crores. In the wave auction, it was said that they will have to launch 5G services within the next 6 months. But it took two years to prepare the guidelines after the wave auction.

At that time, the mobile operators said that it was not the right time financially for them to launch 5G at that moment. They expressed their concern on various issues including high cost of infrastructure construction, difficult to get customers, non-return of investment money because they were still worried about investment in 4G services.

Those associated with the sector said that we have to change the ecosystem at the beginning of 5G. Towers will require a lot of electricity. To deliver 5G to remote areas, the transmission network should be accessible and active sharing issues should be emphasized. Where the networks are needed, how much the customers will benefit from the 5G service or how the demand will be, these issues need to be seriously considered and prepared.

Those concerned said that while 4G has a minimum speed of 7 Mbps, 5G has a speed of 20 Mbps. It will be used in the industry, not at the individual level.

Meanwhile, experts in the telecommunication sector said that an investment of Tk. 20 to 25 thousand crores will be required to launch 5G. It is difficult for operators to take investment risks as the business sector is not finalized.

But in the meantime, operators do 5G test runs. Even 5G is not yet commercially viable in many countries. According to a report by GSMA, the global association of mobile operators, 5G subscribers will reach 200 crores by 2025.