4G or just a joke

ALTHOUGH Bangladesh entered 4G era on February 19 according to reports published in media, the 4G facility is hardly available. As I talk about it to my friends and relatives, they laugh it away as if it were a big joke.

What is 4G, is a question that stands out as an imminent issue. According to International Telecommunications Union-Radio communications sector (ITU-R), 4G is a high speed communication process where peak speed requirement is 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s) for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 gigabit per second (Gbit/s) for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users).

Now the reality in context of Bangladesh is almost the opposite. A consumer named Mehedi who lives in Dhanmondi said, "We even do not get proper 3G service from the operators, how can we expect 4G service. It's like daydreaming!" Another consumer named Oninda living in Jatrabari says, "This is an advertising gimmick for the mobile operators. We never got the actual speed and it is an act of cheating."

We know that Grameenphone, Banglalink, Airtel, Robi and Teletalk got 4G licenses from the government to offer 4G services for their subscribers. But people are not happy with their performance. In reality, 4G services of the mobile network operators (MNOs) of Bangladesh are far from being satisfactory. The government should therefore make sure that the MNOs make 4G facilities available for all mobile phone subscribers across the country.

Arshad Istiaque Khan

Department of Business Administration

East West University, Rampura, Dhaka

[email protected]