Now that the IGW license auction is over and BTRC met and surplus our expectation handing over the licenses with in a very short time after the auction, it is time for BTRC to start the next project of bringing the benefit of Internet doorstep of concern citizens.
I am pleased to see the public auctioning of International gateway licenses by BTRC. This is the first step toward opening up government strong hold on a key strategic area of technology where a tremendous opportunity blinks. I would like to see 100% utilization of the SEA-ME-WE in every way we can. This small leap is the giant step for the nation of Bangladesh. I will tell you why in a minute. First, please take a moment and reflect few questions:
Why we are doing this?
What problem it solves? In solving this current problem, are we introducing a bigger problem?
What could bring the maximum throughput to the overall national economy?
What can bring the maximum number of countrymen get benefited both in consumption as well as a means to more income?
What can we learn from the cell phone industry boom and how can we repeat that in this broadband sector?
What impact it could bring to the productivity of our everyday chores? Are we going to be more productive?
I can not answer all these questions and I would like to get them answered from BTRC, BTTB, Novotel, Mir and Bangla Tarc. However I have some gut feeling on these questions.
We are doing these to fill the plug that has been created by our procrastination of adapting the thriving technology of VOIP. But the root of the problem was “lake of enforcement of rule of law and regulation”. So please do not shove the dirt under the carpet. Going forward, please keep that in mind.
Can we bring the maximum number of countrymen to get any more benefit out of this? The answer is “No, we created some new jobs and cash flow which may benefit some countrymen”.
However, BTRC may go next step and make broadband to peoples doorstep and thereby our heavily paid submarine cable get more utilization. Currently according to elite international estimation, we only use 10% of the bandwidth. Job one should be to drop a high bandwidth broad band node to every University of the country and then trickle down to the education sectors, vis a vis degree colleges, two year colleges, high schools etc. Then enforce and adapt broadband to all medical facilities as well as law enforcement agencies. Create a environment and policies to encourage small businesses like internet cafes. Make a standard to connect all the internet café so that people from one district can get instant communication to other with “price quote” for service and business, contract for transfer goods and service. This will create an infusion of small entrepreneurs. This could be defined as “kutir shilpo” of new age. Our software developer will develop easy, applicable bangle software which could be access online with a usage fee of say 1 taka payable by “cell phone technology of sharing money”. This way developer will get their development cost and business and will eliminate piracy. This software could be a “contract form” in Bangla. May be a “transaction letter”. This could be an application of admission to any school, institution, a loan application, a small “tender” offer to local market or buy/sell in privacy of online.
Now that BTRC will get half of the shared revenue without doing anything, it is time for them to take some infrastructure projects and set the vision. Few months back in a “Silicon India” article “Free broadband within 2 yrs” reports that. “The Indian government plans to offer all citizens of India free, high-speed connectivity by 2009, through the state owned telecom service providers BSNL and MTNL”. All telecom operators in India have to contribute 5% of their revenue to a special fund call “Universal Service Obligation Fund” (USOF). USOF will pay for the free broadband connectivity at a speed of 2MB per second across the country. I wrote a letter to “New Age” on this topic http://www.newagebd.com/2007/may/24/fb.html. I know it is not “cool” in Bangladesh to follow India; however we like it or not India is the leader of IT service in the world today. Like we are better then India in RMG sector.
Bangladesh is the most expensive country in the context of internet access. In some statistics, we are ten times costly then our neighboring country. In some cases, economic activity follows law of science. Like Bernoulli’s law, all business dependent on broadband and electricity will flow to India than Bangladesh, because we are expensive.
We have to understand that technology is like a fluid and it is up to the user, what he wants out of it. If you look at the cell phone usage and application in the developed world like USA and compare that with our cell phone usage and application in Bangladesh. Than you will see how versatile the technology can be. The concept of “miss call” is absent in USA. Text massaging is not at all used here in USA. Where as, in Bangladesh, we do lot of business using cell phone. We transfer cash, pay small transactions. I heard a story of a barber. The landlord raised the rent and put more restriction on his business of barbershop. He made a list of his customer, loaded their contact numbers and closed the shop. He called all his client told them that he closed the shop and if they liked his service, then he will continue to do so. Now a day his client calls him and he goes to their home or business and do the service. Cell phone made him independent, made his job flexible, improved his productivity and reduced his operating expenses. We all know about the “phone lady” of Grameen phone. Street vendor now a day call their regular and prime customer and inquire as well as deliver their supplies in their convenient times. On the other hand, we hear complain that cell phone made life miserable for the young adults. They spent a significant amount of their time and money gossiping. Organized crime got smarter. Taxicab mugging, chasing and other petty theft got also an edge with the cell phone technology. Technology is like a piece of clay, you can make a art from it, or a useful appliance; but you can also make a wasteful product, which cost your time, money and effort. We have to place safe guard around it.
Parents can take necessary steps to take a control of their young adults, law enforcement agencies may also embrace the technology on their benefit and use it to limit crime. I am glad to acknowledge that progress has been made in these areas and will continue to do so.
We need a vision to rip the benefit of global connectivity and innate entrepreneur capability of our countrymen. If we could bring “internet” to the home of every citizen who can read and write, our national productivity will grow tremendously. It will very well justify the investment and return in multiple times in magnitude both in terms of monetary amount and national development. I know there is good and bad element in “internet” however there are many ways that can be guarded. Next thing is the adaptation. I know from my decades of experiences on designing the most complex technology of microprocessor that the continuation of computer adaptation will reach the poorest of poor all over the world. We experienced it through cell phone. With a proud nation of micro credit a USD$100 computer will be an everyday thing for most of the family in Bangladesh, given that our desire to make life better given the chances. Now if we can hook them up, we could offer many applications over the net for their everyday life.
I know piracy is an issue and we don’t have locally developed software; but it is a catch 22 or chicken an egg problem. We can use the cell phone cost model. The software will stay where the server is and people will pay, say 1 taka for every usage. Now along with the national identification, tracking will be easy for doing any business with anyone inside the country.
What impact it could bring to our everyday life? “None” from this event of IGW auction; however, as I said, this could be the first baby step. Next, BTRC may think about how it could remove the boulder from our path to the virtual world. Suppose, you have a unique idea of a movie or drama or a music video. You want an investor or a producer. Today you can upload a sample of you work to “youtube” and chances are that someone will like it and call you if it were real good. This is for individual level. For business opportunities, Off course, if our broadband price structure is competitive like India then we may also expect a flow of job outsourcing in to Bangladesh from India as subcontractor level. As we gain experience and confidence, more job will come from West to take advantage of cost effective alternatives.
I took a little detour from the main point here to make a forward looking argument. Now to the main point. Three companies Novotel, Mir and Bangla Tarc will share 51.75% revenue with BTRC. In addition to that they have to share 35% with down stream network partner, like 15% with interconnection exchanges and 20% with network service provider according to the news. Till today 100% of the revenue goes to BTRC and illegal channels like VOIP gateways.
I think this transfer of control and management will not make any direct impact to the consumers as I understand. Because all the call rates remain almost indifferent. However one problem it solved. As the BTRC chairman Manzurul Alam put it, “ ..boost the revenue earning of the government”. If you pay careful attention then one question will come to your mind that, “the new 51.75% revenue sharing will boost revenue from 100% revenue, it use to collect.” The major black hole was the call termination business by VOIP, where a group of smart syndicate stealing the revenue as there was no oversight and regulation enforcement.
I am a fervent believer of free market economy. I believe in fair, competitive, level playing, and nondiscriminatory business environment. I salute the auction initiative and I hope and pray that this open market strategy will create a competitive, self-correcting mechanics which will benefit the consumer and business entities. This has better chance to improve quality of service as accountability is in the core of the system.
Showing posts with label BTTB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BTTB. Show all posts
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Every University student in Bangladesh deserves a computer
In one of my early posting, I was expressing my joy, congratulating any University student in Bangladesh. By simple math each of them is “one in a hundred”. We have 44 lac 1st graders enrolled in 2005 and about 50 thousand 1st year students around the country based on BANBEIS http://www.banbeis.gov.bd/ statistics. So every University going student made the biggest hurdle, he secured a place in one of the Universities. Now he will prepare himself on how to be a better human being. He will argue and learn how to prepare him for the challenges of life in Bangladesh. He will learn how to resource himself to be able to earn a decent living. This process will continue and will contribute to the nation building in one way or other.
The moment a student walks into the University to study, the university opens up the doors of unlimited study materials. He goes to his area of specialization and starts building his growth of knowledge in a specific area of concentration and the lecturer guides him along the way. In this writing, I would like to concentrate my focus on how to bring the world of knowledge and information to him. We all know the answer: bring the internet to him; but it is expensive and infrastructure need to be there, are not available, student will be exposed to porn sites, student will learn bad thing more than the good things. Though there is plenty of parental control software available to limit the porn site access. These are some of the challenges.
Let’s jump to 10 years from now. Let’s visualize what is happening around the Universities in Bangladesh. Students of Statistics and Marketing of Dhaka University are modeling the NASDAQ indexes. They are predicting comparative growth of DOW chemicals and NASDAQ. A group of students is proposing a real time market analysis tools for Technology companies or Manufacturing sectors. Another group of students from the Institute of Business Management, researching on portfolio managements for some hedge funds. They are ready to serve customers in the geographically other part of the world.
Let us visit Dhaka Medical College. DMC in collaboration with North South University researched and developed a managed healthcare scheme. They did extensive research with National Institute of Health (http:// http://www.nih.gov/) using their dedicated backbone of mirrored network of servers (which is full of their research material freely available through the internet). Policy makers of Bangladesh made a commitment to train world class Nurses to capitalize the future growth of medical tourism in Bangladesh. The policy encouraged the medical professionals and business entities to invest in better health care facilities and nursing institutes. They provided education to gain respect of Nursing as a profession. Bangladesh now outsource Nurses around the globe, not to mention their outstanding service in the country as well.
In another development, Bangladesh Agricultural University students working along side with the students of BRAC University on a promising bioengineered seed to grow in barren lands of Sahara. They developed a new drink from pineapple (available in abundance in Bangladesh), which turned into a world wide sensation because of its use in weight management in the developed world. The students of these Universities published numerous articles in Amber Waves magazine (http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/) and doing joint research with USDA (http://www.usda.gov/).
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have pioneered innovative schemes of database mirroring. This innovation came from the students’ extensive research on internet data sharing. Their expertises attract Google and myspace to setup student research centre in the Robert Noice simulation lab building. In the software arena Students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology developed a program suits which gives you a generic package of application forms for various schools and colleges, archive of all the exam papers for various schools and colleges for various grades. They are text based and thereby easily searchable. They also developed an online schools system partnering with free online Global Education and Learning Community (http://www.curriki.org/). There mission is to improve education around the world by empowering teachers, students and parents with user-created, open source curricula and it's all free! They believe that access to knowledge and learning tools is a basic right of every child. Their goal is to make curricula and learning resources available to everyone.
Let me return from my dream to reality. The vision that I just travel through could become reality with proper planning and execution. It may not be easy; but it is very possible. To begin with, we have to guarantee easy access to global media to every University going students.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and BTTB need to ensure dedicated broadband service to every student in every University of Bangladesh. They may enforce to contribute 5% of the revenue from all the telecom companies in business in Bangladesh to fund this initiative.
Universities may offer each student a PC or Laptop like classmate PC or the equivalent during their registration process. Universities may work with various funding agencies, NGOs or foundations for the funding of these PCs. They may as well work with various bank and financial agencies for a package of installment payable by each student in absence of funding from non profit organizations. A student may pay as low as 500 Taka per month for a laptop during his full length of study. For this scheme we do not need any funding, we can work out with a bank for this venture. For funding example, Dhaka University has 30000 students. Dhaka University may search for a grant of 6 million dollars from Intel Corporation, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Ford Foundation etc for closing the digital divide. They may purchase 30,000 PCs, one for each student. BTTB will ensure the WiFi or broadband connectivity though its submarine fiber optic networks.
There are 73 universities in Bangladesh. Out of these, 21 universities are in the public sector, while the other 52 are in the private sector. Out of 21 public sector universities, 19 universities provide regular classroom instruction facilities and services. Each of them may take initiatives to get grant and design their intranet and the gateway to internet. BTTB may just drop the extension of submarine cable and fiber to the nearest node. Again, government may impose a mandatory 5% revenue contribution from the entire telecom provider operating in Bangladesh including BTTB to fund such a connectivity project.
No University will benefit from the online capability more than the National University of Bangladesh. The National University caters the general education at graduate and post-graduate level in colleges/institutions which were affiliated to different public universities since independence. About one million students are studying in more than 1600 colleges/institutions affiliated to this university. The National University is expanding in terms of number of students, courses and institutions day by day. To day this university plays the most significant role to provide opportunities for higher education among the students living especially in rural and semi-urban areas. A dedicated connectivity and access to the internet with a computer in students possession may do more then the education. The student will have the vision.
How do we find the funding? I already discussed 5% telecom revenue for the connectivity solution. We need USD$ 40 million for 200,000 cheapest laptops. The hardware funding may come from various foundations and NGOs. Universities need to research for that. Again a dedicated internet may help the research process. There is a lot of funding available to close the digital divide. One of the cheapest laptop designed for educational purpose is classmate PC designed by Intel Corporation. There are 700,000 of them will be delivered to Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) with fully-functional Intel-powered PCs into the hands of students all across Pakistan by 2009.
I thereby propose, let us make a policy decision to hand an internet enabled PC or laptop to every University going students in Bangladesh. We can do it in small steps or a big stride. We have ~200,000 students currently studying in any Universities in Bangladesh. The Universities may collaborate and make a consortium for such computerization project. May I suggest the honorable Vice Chancellors of All the Universities around the country to exchange emails regarding the formation of such consortium? Call a meeting to distribute the task of funding proposal. We already laid out the plan as you read through the blog.
The moment a student walks into the University to study, the university opens up the doors of unlimited study materials. He goes to his area of specialization and starts building his growth of knowledge in a specific area of concentration and the lecturer guides him along the way. In this writing, I would like to concentrate my focus on how to bring the world of knowledge and information to him. We all know the answer: bring the internet to him; but it is expensive and infrastructure need to be there, are not available, student will be exposed to porn sites, student will learn bad thing more than the good things. Though there is plenty of parental control software available to limit the porn site access. These are some of the challenges.
Let’s jump to 10 years from now. Let’s visualize what is happening around the Universities in Bangladesh. Students of Statistics and Marketing of Dhaka University are modeling the NASDAQ indexes. They are predicting comparative growth of DOW chemicals and NASDAQ. A group of students is proposing a real time market analysis tools for Technology companies or Manufacturing sectors. Another group of students from the Institute of Business Management, researching on portfolio managements for some hedge funds. They are ready to serve customers in the geographically other part of the world.
Let us visit Dhaka Medical College. DMC in collaboration with North South University researched and developed a managed healthcare scheme. They did extensive research with National Institute of Health (http:// http://www.nih.gov/) using their dedicated backbone of mirrored network of servers (which is full of their research material freely available through the internet). Policy makers of Bangladesh made a commitment to train world class Nurses to capitalize the future growth of medical tourism in Bangladesh. The policy encouraged the medical professionals and business entities to invest in better health care facilities and nursing institutes. They provided education to gain respect of Nursing as a profession. Bangladesh now outsource Nurses around the globe, not to mention their outstanding service in the country as well.
In another development, Bangladesh Agricultural University students working along side with the students of BRAC University on a promising bioengineered seed to grow in barren lands of Sahara. They developed a new drink from pineapple (available in abundance in Bangladesh), which turned into a world wide sensation because of its use in weight management in the developed world. The students of these Universities published numerous articles in Amber Waves magazine (http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/) and doing joint research with USDA (http://www.usda.gov/).
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have pioneered innovative schemes of database mirroring. This innovation came from the students’ extensive research on internet data sharing. Their expertises attract Google and myspace to setup student research centre in the Robert Noice simulation lab building. In the software arena Students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology developed a program suits which gives you a generic package of application forms for various schools and colleges, archive of all the exam papers for various schools and colleges for various grades. They are text based and thereby easily searchable. They also developed an online schools system partnering with free online Global Education and Learning Community (http://www.curriki.org/). There mission is to improve education around the world by empowering teachers, students and parents with user-created, open source curricula and it's all free! They believe that access to knowledge and learning tools is a basic right of every child. Their goal is to make curricula and learning resources available to everyone.
Let me return from my dream to reality. The vision that I just travel through could become reality with proper planning and execution. It may not be easy; but it is very possible. To begin with, we have to guarantee easy access to global media to every University going students.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and BTTB need to ensure dedicated broadband service to every student in every University of Bangladesh. They may enforce to contribute 5% of the revenue from all the telecom companies in business in Bangladesh to fund this initiative.
Universities may offer each student a PC or Laptop like classmate PC or the equivalent during their registration process. Universities may work with various funding agencies, NGOs or foundations for the funding of these PCs. They may as well work with various bank and financial agencies for a package of installment payable by each student in absence of funding from non profit organizations. A student may pay as low as 500 Taka per month for a laptop during his full length of study. For this scheme we do not need any funding, we can work out with a bank for this venture. For funding example, Dhaka University has 30000 students. Dhaka University may search for a grant of 6 million dollars from Intel Corporation, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Ford Foundation etc for closing the digital divide. They may purchase 30,000 PCs, one for each student. BTTB will ensure the WiFi or broadband connectivity though its submarine fiber optic networks.
There are 73 universities in Bangladesh. Out of these, 21 universities are in the public sector, while the other 52 are in the private sector. Out of 21 public sector universities, 19 universities provide regular classroom instruction facilities and services. Each of them may take initiatives to get grant and design their intranet and the gateway to internet. BTTB may just drop the extension of submarine cable and fiber to the nearest node. Again, government may impose a mandatory 5% revenue contribution from the entire telecom provider operating in Bangladesh including BTTB to fund such a connectivity project.
No University will benefit from the online capability more than the National University of Bangladesh. The National University caters the general education at graduate and post-graduate level in colleges/institutions which were affiliated to different public universities since independence. About one million students are studying in more than 1600 colleges/institutions affiliated to this university. The National University is expanding in terms of number of students, courses and institutions day by day. To day this university plays the most significant role to provide opportunities for higher education among the students living especially in rural and semi-urban areas. A dedicated connectivity and access to the internet with a computer in students possession may do more then the education. The student will have the vision.
How do we find the funding? I already discussed 5% telecom revenue for the connectivity solution. We need USD$ 40 million for 200,000 cheapest laptops. The hardware funding may come from various foundations and NGOs. Universities need to research for that. Again a dedicated internet may help the research process. There is a lot of funding available to close the digital divide. One of the cheapest laptop designed for educational purpose is classmate PC designed by Intel Corporation. There are 700,000 of them will be delivered to Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) with fully-functional Intel-powered PCs into the hands of students all across Pakistan by 2009.
I thereby propose, let us make a policy decision to hand an internet enabled PC or laptop to every University going students in Bangladesh. We can do it in small steps or a big stride. We have ~200,000 students currently studying in any Universities in Bangladesh. The Universities may collaborate and make a consortium for such computerization project. May I suggest the honorable Vice Chancellors of All the Universities around the country to exchange emails regarding the formation of such consortium? Call a meeting to distribute the task of funding proposal. We already laid out the plan as you read through the blog.
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