The country's most of the internet bandwidth (data communication ability) operators are now in dire straits, as too many companies are operating in a relatively small market, stakeholders said.
They blamed wrong policy of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for the situation.
So far ten internet bandwidth operators, known as International Internet Gateway (IIG) operators, out of 37, have failed to start operation even after almost two years of receiving their licence. Besides, other 15 operators are struggling to survive in the competitive market.
Suman Ahmed Sabir, chief technology officer (CTO) of Fiber@Home, said: "The situation was not unexpected in such a competitive market, where the number of bandwidth service providers is more than that of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs)."
"Wrong decisions of the telecom policymakers are liable behind the present deplorable situation of the IIG operators," he added.
However, a senior official of BTRC told the FE that rise in number of IIG licences is not a problem. The market should always be competitive, and those who are capable, will survive in the market.
The commission will take legal actions against the licensees, who failed to comply with the regulator's rule, he concluded.
The IIG operators sell a large volume of bandwidth to the ISPs, mobile phone companies and Wimax operators, who are providing direct internet service to end-level customers.
BTRC issued 35 new IIG licences in April 2012 in addition to two old operators.
According to sector insiders, the regulator issued the licences under political consideration and without thinking of business prospects. As a result, a large number of licensees are likely to be dropped from the rat race.
Only two old operators - Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) and Mango Teleservices - and around 10 operators that have own ISP operation are doing well in the bandwidth business, they opined.
In 2012, bandwidth consumption was around 25 Gbps, which is now around 60 Gbps for both data and voice communication. However, the number of IIG licensees has increased to 37 from earlier two.
The IIG operators are taking Internet Protocol (IP) transit from the Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) and six International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) operators.
BSCCL managing director Monwar Hossain mentioned that his company does not sell bandwidth to the ISP operators using its IIG licence.
He also admitted that only the IIG licensees, having own ISP operation, are doing well.
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