3G is all set to take Bangladesh by storm

Bangladesh is a unique country in many ways. In several areas Bangladesh stands proudly (be it rightly or wrongly) as an exception. The recent entry into 3G mobile environment is likely to create another reference in traditional statistics of the technology.
Although very late, Bangladesh has finally embraced the third generation mobile telephony through the spectrum auction on September 08 this year. In lightning speed and record time, the mobile operators have launched the service commercially. This is the beginning of a new era and the transition to a different 'culture' or lifestyle is about to be unleashed.
Globally, 3G has been projected and evolved as a means of fast Internet access and remained somewhat stagnant initially. Only the professionals tried to reap the benefits of the new development by accessing mails or checking stock markets. Even just a few years ago, before the advent of smart phones, the operators struggled to convince general public towards paying more on better speeds. One common question surfaced in everybody's mind: where are the contents? Browsing a standard website (now most good websites offer a mobile-friendly version) in a small handset has been practically prohibitive. As a result, the fascinating advancement of technology in its 3rd generation continued to struggle with small number of subscribers while the operators' investment on spectrum and infrastructure remained a burden as recent as until 2007 in most developed countries. The professionals and busy corporate executives found utilities on the move and the general public remained attached to their home or office broadband networks to savour all the best the Internet can offer.
Then came the era of smart phones and brought the revolution of apps and social networks. That changed the mobile landscape significantly. Not only common people embraced it graciously, they even asked for more - even faster speed and pushed the envelope for 4G. Operators finally got reasons to smile and more and more innovation continued on smart phones and contents. A paradigm shift was inevitable for media, advertisement and most commercial entities - forcing them to be 'digital' and be part of consumers' mobile experience. Voice, the ultimate king, started to lose the glory and gave in to the digital world of knowledge and entertainment.
The above chronicle is mostly applicable for developed and semi-developed markets. For emerging markets in the developing countries, the issue has been and still in many aspects remains unresolved. The primary reasons are quite a few. The price of a smart phone remained beyond their reach (in many countries, the price of a good smart phone could be as high as one's income for the entire year!). Literacy is another huge barrier. Contents are limited and e-governance efforts of the governments are in fledgling state. Some initiatives are there for digital healthcare or learning activities, but in the developing countries where 3G has been launched, there exists a long list of hurdles and uncertainties. Most of them are facing the hereditary syndrome of slow growth and being confined with the middle class and above, the professionals and business people.
How is Bangladesh going to do with its new-found 'wealth'? I have come across quite archetypical set of remarks from different people including senior decision-makers from some of the 3G licence winning operators. They echoed the conventional wisdom and blamed the high price of suitable handsets, lack of education, lack of contents etc. It may sound absurd, but I tend to be optimistic and consider the reality to be just the opposite. Only a few elements can storm the 3G pipe and the operators may find themselves struggling to cope up with consumer demand if they offer the products on the right platter. Why is such a high hope? The answer is simple - entertainment and social networking can make Bangladesh one of the most aggressive users of 3G mobile services. Let us consider the following:
Bangladeshis are notoriously over-spenders. If something interests them, they will find a way or two to indulge in it. They will soon discover the 'treasure' in high-speed mobile Internet and will not hesitate to get addicted.
What is the treasure? It is the world of entertainment. Except a select few who are lucky to have online access using PCs/laptops, the majority has been starving without the Internet. Many have no idea what the Internet is! They are the general people, often the lower segment of society. They are the larger group of the 110 million users of a mobile phone service though. They are familiar with VAS and quite happy with the 'knowledge/entertainment' they extract that they get for a premium price. In the western world and developed countries, the so called value-added-service (VAS) is virtually non-existent. Even if there were VAS at the beginning of mobile era, those services found the path of extinction and disappeared. On the contrary, VAS is still thriving in the emerging markets. Most of the VAS is centred around entertainment - be it ringtones, caller tunes or daily jokes etc. Interestingly enough, the users of VAS contents are not the professionals or higher strata of the society. While the car owner struggles to check a mail or find specific information from Google, the driver keeps changing his caller tune on regular basis and goes through the jukebox whenever he gets bored in waiting for the boss to return to the car! The entertainment options are treacherously limited for the common working people in Bangladesh. Hundreds of people throng outside of an electronic appliance shop where a few televisions are on display!
These people need 3G more than most of the 'potential' high-profile users. Once a YouTube video plays smoothly, flushing the long lost clip of a favourite Bangla movie or a folk song of the most admired singer, the users may find these irresistible. A talk show on political matter, a favourite interview of a media artist, a funny video of a comedy all will keep them glued to their handset. YouTube alone has the potential to keep a 3G network busy. And the exponential growth of Facebook users in Bangladesh is also phenomenal. Once facebooking becomes more comfortable with faster Internet on mobile handsets, the activity will increase manifold. More photos will be shared, more videos will be watched, more status updates will keep the users in close contacts. 3G service operators can keep their subscribers mesmerised by offering easy access to those services.
Apart from entertainment and social networking, the fascinating services of 'free' overseas calling will be highly alluring. To talk to friends and family members living abroad via those services like Skype and Viber will encourage vast majority who have so far been dependent either on PC-based fixed broadband or simply waited for the other parties to call.
On the handset front, things are not going to be too challenging thanks to the manufacturers in China. It is predicted that a 3G-enabled handset (a primary version of a smartphone) will soon be available under Tk 3000. For all the 'benefits' of entertainment, a subscriber will be tempted to upgrade his/her old basic phone to a 'smartphone' for a small premium.
The 'academic' suggestions on the utility of 3G services in healthcare, education and e-governance will see some usage though, but the unprecedented preference on the other contents mentioned earlier will probably rule the game. Bangladesh might just be another reference point in the future telecom forum discussions on how a belated technology takes the country by storm. The industry writers and analysts are all looking for success stories and they might, odd may it sound, find the source in Bangladesh in the near future!
The writer is a London-based telecom regulatory expert who was the sole consultant and
auctioneer for Bangladesh
3G spectrum auction.
[email protected]