ICT and Knowledge-based Growth

Experience of Bangladesh

Presentation by

Prof. J. R. Choudhury

Vice Chancellor, BRAC University

at International Seminar on ICT Policy Reform and Rural Communication Infrastructure 30 August, 2004

Outline of Presentation

 Evolution of Information & Communication Technology (ICT)  Recent Global Developments  Present position of ICT in Bangladesh • IT • Telecommunications  E-Governance, E-Commerce  Future Prospects  Concluding Remarks

Telecom Infrastructure in Bangladesh

 800,000 fixed lines ( 90% in service) • PSTN : Government monopoly BTTB • 14 new licenses issued (2004)  fixed telephone density : 0.6 lines per 100 population • one of the lowest in the world average fixed telephone density is 0.07 per 100 people in rural areas  2,700,000 mobile cellular telephones (4 operators) • impressive growth; >100% CAGR

The Digital Divide

 Global Internet Population : 1 billion • • Annual growth : approx 25%  16% of global population  Present position in Bangladesh • 1.8 million Internet/E-mail users i.e.  1.3% of population (

1/12 th of global average

) • Most of the users are in Urban areas • urban-rural digital divide

Background

Computer use started in 1964

•

IBM 1620 at the Atomic Energy Centre, Dhaka

•

Used by Universities Banks, Insurance Companies and Utility Companies

•

Accounting and Consumer Billing

•

Electricity / Gas / WASA (67-68) Independence in 1971

•

Financial Crisis

• •

“Mainframe” installations closed down 1979 : IBM 370 at BUET

•

Bureau Service

•

Mainframes and Minis

•

IBM S/34, S/36, 4341

Global Connectivity

 Internet • Private sector ISPs (June 1996) • VSAT initially licensed by BTTB

deregulated in 2000

• around 90 ISPs – mostly in Dhaka – gradually spreading to other Cities/Towns  E-mail • Dialling from outside 1994 • 300,000 account holders – CAGR > 80% •

c.

1.8 million users

Global Connectivity

(contd.)



Broadband – wireless or cable

• available in Dhaka and Chittagong  Submarine Cable connection to Global Information Superhighway

SEA-ME-WE 4 to be commissioned by 2005



Internet Exchange being set-up



Recent Developments

June 1997 : Committee appointed by the Government

• •

Export of Software and Data Processing Services from Bangladesh Members from Government, Private Sector, IT Professionals, Academia



September 1997 : Committee submits report

•

45 Recommendations

 

January 1998 : Recommendations accepted by Government and being implemented now



around 30% implemented

January 2002 : Revised Recommendations submitted to Government

Bangladesh’s Strengths

 A substantial number of educated unemployed youth force, with ability to read and write English  Quite a few Bangladeshi skilled IT professionals working abroad (NRBs)  Universities in Bangladesh are turning out an increasing number of graduates in Computer related subjects every year  A large number of Bangladeshi students are studying overseas in Computer related subjects.

Bangladesh’s Strengths(contd)

 Bangladesh offers a very attractive cost-effective wage level, viz.

40 30 20 10 0 Data Entry (10,000 keystrokes) Bangladesh India USA 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Programmer (US$ per month) Bangladesh India USA

Fiscal

 Import Duties , Taxes and VAT withdrawn from all computer hardware and software  Tax holiday allowed for 5 consecutive years  15% price preference for locally developed software  Banking procedures amended and simplified  Working Capital loan without collateral  Equity Participation Fund (Tk. 5000 million or US$80 million)

Infrastructure

 Software Copyright Act enacted in 2000  IT Act (Digital Signature, Cybercrime) awaiting enactment by Parliament  BERNET (Bangladesh Educational & Research Network) set up  High Speed Data Communication network (Fibre Optic Backbone) being set up in the country; all 64 districts now connected; 500 sub-districts to be connected by 2005  IT Incubator in Kawran Bazar  HighTech Park with high speed data links being established at Kaliakoir, 40 km from Dhaka  Cybercafes, Public Kiosks

Features of Hi-Tech Parks

 Leasing Option  Build to Suit Facilities  Ready-Built Facilities  Ready-to-Occupy Plots  Incubators  Industry Options  Information technology  Biotechnology  Pharmaceuticals  Electronics  Telecommunications  Manufacturing technology  Educational Institution  ICT University

Rural Areas

 Danger of increasing urban / rural disparity  Mobile Grameen phones • 60,000 “phone ladies” in 50,000 villages providing teleaccess to 60 million people  Grameen Communications • Solar powered computers • Village e-mail service • Village internet programme • Grameen cyber kiosks

the concept of … …

Phone Call Service A village woman

(the service vendor)… chosen by the people living in the area

Human Resource Development

 around 100 universities/ Institutes/ Colleges offering undergraduate degrees in IT related fields • Current annual output

c.

1500 p.a.

• year 2005

around

4,000 p.a.

• year 2008 12,000 p.a.

 1-year post-graduate diploma in IT to convert graduates in other allied disciplines to IT professionals • 2004 : 500 p.a.

 Large number of training institutes with franchises from internationally recognised institutions

Access to Information

 Difficulties in getting access to documents in public sector organizations • Review existing laws, regulations to establish the right of a citizen to view all documents unless related to state security;

Freedom of Information Act being drafted

 Electronic Government • All forms to be made available on the web • All government departments/ministries dealing with members of public to have webpages • Procurement of goods and services

Marketing

   Domestic market being developed NRBs in North America being mobilized • SBIT2000, TechTransfer NA (+BD)  May, 2003 : Office opened in Silicon Valley • To be shared by IT firms from Bangladesh    Participation in International Fairs and Shows (COMDEX, CeBIT) Bangladeshi marketing missions to North America, Europe, Japan Software Expos being organized Foreign Teams visiting Expos in BD

Multimedia Products

 Export from Bangladesh to North America, Europe, Latin America and Japan   Pre-press work (graphic design) : Denmark Cartoon Animation Films : Canada

Opportunities

IT-enabled services  declining charges of telecommunications  declining cost of computing resulting in

cost advantage of outsourcing to countries where manpower is relatively inexpensive

International Back-office Operations

 Call centers  Data warehousing/mining  Software development  Website design  Engineering design  Medical records  Legal records  Magazine editing  Accountancy  Finance management

Opportunities (contd.)

IT-enabled Services examples  Data Entry  Back-office Computing  Medical Transcription  Insurance Claims Processing  Payroll  Legal Database • creation and maintenance

IT-enabled services

 Multimedia content creation ( CD-ROM, Web)  CADD Coversion • manually drafted drawings to autocad/database  Engineering Design, CADD  Translation  Animation

All these can be outsourced to a different company in Bangladesh or A subsidiary/division of the company may be located in Bangladesh



Some recent initiatives

Community Access Facility at Madhupur (rural community by Grameen Communication)   Telemedicine : 2 companies working Electronic Transactions Act drafted by Law Commission • based on UNCITRAL, India and Singapore • reviewed by stakeholders, both in Public and Private sectors • being extended to cover Cyber crimes and Data Protection/Privacy • waiting to be placed in Parliament  Computer Education for School Children in remote villages – pilot project of Learn Foundation in Sylhet with MIT, USA

Some recent initiatives

(contd.)

      Software being exported to 18 countries from Bangladesh A number of companies have got ISO 9000 certification • Trying for SEI-CMM certification BIOS (Bangladesh Initiative for Open Source Software) formed • School computerization setting up computer lab in one school in each of the 64 district headquarters; 10,000 computers BRAC Community Libraries being equipped with computers CAE software developed by BRAC University teachers

Some recent initiatives

(contd.)

 Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission starts functioning  Bangladesh Railway Fibre Optic Network made available for data communication  E-commerce webportal www.bangladeshgarments.info

created for the BGMEA members with all the features required by Bangladesh’s garments exporters in mind

Some recent initiatives

(contd.)

 IT Task Force headed by Prime Minister formed in January 2001  Ministry of Science and Technology renamed as

Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology

E-learning

 SAFLI : South Asia Foundation Learning Initiative 7 SAARC Countries + Afghanistan

Postgraduate Diploma in South Asian Studies

 BRAC University sets up video-conferencing facility  www.bracuniversity.ac.bd

 lectures at Harvard University being delivered from Dhaka; lectures at VirginiaTech with students in BU Being considered by World Bank for linking with Global Distance Learning Network (GDLN) www.gdln.org

Web Portal

 All Government Ministries to have Websites linked from the portal www.bangladesh.gov.bd

 All Government publications and policy documents to be made accessible from Web  www.bangladeshgateway.org

 www.grameentelecenter.org



Concluding Remarks

Government recognition of IT as a thrust sector  Fiscal Incentives : Duty free import, Tax holiday  High level of enthusiasm among young people  Government ministries, departments having web sites • easier public access  Digital Divide

nd

Vision for future



Bangladesh as a Regional Hub for software development and IT enabled services



Bridge the Digital Divide and Transform Bangladesh into an active participant in the Global Information Society