The telecommunication and ICT sectors passed a mixed year marking both the positive and negative events.
The installation of a domestic communication satellite, biometric registration of mobile phone SIM cards, second submarine cable and export of bandwidth to India are among the positive trends the sector witnessed in 2015, say experts.
On the flipside, they say, the government's move to block social media sites twice and monopolise International Gateway (IGW) services soiled the sectors' image.
Experts think the biggest initiative in the sector is a deal involving US$248-million (Tk19.51 billion) with a French firm for launching the country's first-ever satellite project Bangabandhu-1.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (BTRC) Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood and French firm Thales Alenia Space Chairman Jean-Loïc Galle signed the deal in Dhaka on behalf of their respective organisations on November 12 this year, which is expected to go across the space on 16th December 2017.
Blocking of social sites, including Facebook, whatsapp, viber, tango etc were widely viewed as the 'frustrating' steps by the government.
IT expert Zakaria Swapan said internet users did not see the blocking of social communication sites as a good way.
The initiative is also against the government's core political catchphrase-Digital Bangladesh, he added.
The government blocked social sites on January 18 first and then on November 18. The social sites and mobile applications-Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp, Tango, Mypeople and Line-have remained blocked for around 26 days.
Another initiative was of approving a cartel of international gateway operators, which experts dubbed 'very bad'.
Mr. Swapan said the act of creating the cartel is a violation of law. The big seven players are now controlling international voice call price.
"It's a fundamental violation of the competition act and a very bad initiative."
After one and a half months of pilot, the government started biometric SIM registration process on December 16, 2015 to ensure correct identification of all mobile subscribers, curb cybercrimes and strengthen security.
A BTRC official said Bangladesh is the second country in the world for having biometric registration of SIM.
"Under the process, BTRC has to register 132 million SIMs, which is a gigantic job," a director of BTRC said.
In 2015, the number of mobile subscribers grew to 132 million, while the figure was 120.35 million in 2014.
Simultaneously, internet users reached 54.7 million, while the number was 43.6 million in the previous year with 83.09 per cent teledensity and 34.41 per cent internet density.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) under the Planning Ministry approved the second submarine cable-Regional Submarine Telecommunication Project for connection to the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-5 (SEA-ME-WE-5)--on March 13, 2015.
"It was a good and foresighted initiative," an expert said.
According to the project paper, cables will be installed under sea from Singapore to Bangladesh through Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Myanmar stretching 25,000 kilometres under the Tk 6.6 billion project.
Bangladesh will have 1300gbps bandwidth at its disposal and connection to the second submarine cable, which will facilitate 4G services.
Bangladesh was connected to the first submarine cable, SEA-ME-WE-4, in 2005.
A trial run for bandwidth export to India started from Akhaura on November 30 following which Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) was supposed to kick off its formal export in early January through Akhaura-Agartala frontier.
On June 6, the state-owned BSCCL signed a deal with the Indian state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for exporting bandwidth during Indian prime minister's visit to Bangladesh.
According to the agreement, BSNL decided to import 10 gbps bandwidth for the Tripura state from September, but the export had been fixed one month ahead in August. Later, both party missed the deadline.
The submarine cable company will get the payment at the beginning of each quarter while Bangladesh will earn Tk96 million a year by exporting bandwidth to India.
The bandwidth export price is 33 per cent higher than that in domestic market, though there are also opinions against the latest price of bandwidth.
Besides, the government approved the much-awaited Mobile Number Portability (MNP) guideline, enabling users to switch operators keeping their old numbers under a system expected to be operative in March 2016.
The authorities had earlier initiated a process to prepare internet services providers' database to thwart the unauthorised internet business and help control internet- based crimes.
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