Information communication technology (ICT) has opened up enormous opportunities for countries like Bangladesh. The sector in this country now employs a sizeable number of its educated jobless youth and is also earning an increasing amount of foreign exchange through export-related products. A FE report published last Saturday highlighted the vast untapped potential of the sector. Such a situation could not be foreseen even a decade back. Given a little support by the government, the ICT, as the report quoting industry insiders indicated, can go a long way towards accelerating the pace of the country's economic growth, as manpower and apparel exports have been doing over the years. Export of IT products does not require hazardous shipments to the ports through vulnerable highways in times of political instability nor does it need big offices or factories to operate. One can earn a substantial amount of foreign currencies just sitting before a laptop or desktop computer.
The ICT began its journey in Bangladesh not long ago. But it has already started striking miracles. Statistics with the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) say, about 50,000 programmers are now involved with exporting ICT products. Export earnings through freelance outsourcing were $28 million in 2013; with a 30 per cent increase, such receipts rose to $40 million last year. But if the outsourcing programmers get support from the government institutions, the amount of export receipts could be doubled, the report said quoting experts.
Internet penetration in Bangladesh is still low. Currently, only 22 per cent people use the internet, according to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. It is against this backdrop that all the stakeholders including the government, regulator, carriers, application developers, equipment suppliers and device manufacturers are now coming forward to help develop a comprehensive system for higher use of the internet in Bangladesh. With every 10 per cent data penetration increase, incremental gross domestic product (GDP) grow at the rate of 0.5 per cent. The telecommunication sector as a whole contributes significantly to the GDP but if one considers the productivity and other factors, the effect of the connections on the GDP will be much higher.
The effect, of still slow data-connections in countries like Bangladesh is significant in health, agriculture and education sectors when compared to the situation in the developed countries. Almost all students of the country go for private tuitions which are expensive, but if they were provided with facilities for online education, the cost would come down significantly. Comprehensive internet connection for all is doable because of the technology revolution. The internet infrastructure needs to be cheaper and better. It is doable because the people of the country learn new things very easily.
Facilitating easy access to high-speed internet at affordable costs to people will contribute significantly to developing the freelancing sector. The media can also play a supportive role in building the comprehensive system for the internet by covering success stories that encourage others to be innovative. Furthermore, banks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) do need to offer credit support to both students and start-up ventures in IT sector on easier terms to buy computers and also help become self-entrepreneurs in the sector, upon completion of education in related fields and after having acquired the basics for software and related developments. But the slow speed of the internet is a major problem. It has to be addressed immediately.
Promoting freelancing in software export
FE Team | Published: February 16, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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