The posts and telecommunication service sector's share in the gross domestic product (GDP) has doubled over the last one decade and the average growth per year is 10 percentage points, according to the official statistics.
The share of the sector in the GDP in the fiscal year (FY) 2005 was 1.30 per cent and it more than doubled to 2.63 per cent in the FY-2014.
The growth was the highest, 16.92 percentage points, in the FY-2012 thanks to booming internet use, outsourcing and export of software, high speed broadband and flat tariff rates offered by mobile phone operators and different other information and communication technology (ICT) service providers.
After reaching the saturation point, the market began to normalise as the growth in the FY-2014 stood at 9.30 percentage points, as per provisional statistics.
As per the Board of Investment (BoI) data, foreign direct and local private investments in the telecommunication sector are increasing every year.
Submarine cable, high-speed broadband, optical fibre cable, Wimax, IIG, ICX, IGW, internet service and other mobile apps are helping the sector grow.
High value added internet services are being used as tools for outsourcing and export of software.
According to Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), ICT-based animation and coding and decoding of software products are the high value-added ones and gradually the local products are becoming global brands.
An official in the ministry of ICT said in line with the digital Bangladesh concept, public investments in the ICT sector and its services were also growing.
According to the statistics, though during the last pre-election political unrest in the country the service sector experienced a slip in the FY-2014, the overall growth of the posts and telecommunication sector is positive.
The financial institutions were automating their transactions and within the next five years almost 50 per cent services would be automated, an official at the ICT ministry said.
Internet serves were still costly in Bangladesh compared to other Asian countries, he added.
A source with the internet service providers' association of Bangladesh said if the Internet services were made cheaper, the country could earn a large amount of money both from local and international markets.
According to the BoI, a vast amount of private investments in the telecom sector is in the pipeline and the public investments in the coming budget would increase in the area of automation of different wings of the government.
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