The numbers of mobile phone and internet subscribers in Bangladesh reached the highest ever in the country in September this year, according to new data released by the telecom regulator.
The country’s mobile phone operators think this rise in numbers shows a rebounding economy from the Covid-19 pandemic-triggered crisis and an increasing adoption of digital technology.
Some three million new internet subscribers were added in September, taking the total number of internet subscribers in Bangladesh to 111.13 million, according to the data released by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (BTRC) on Monday.
Mobile phone subscribers also went up by more than one million in the same month, registering a rise from the immediate pre-Covid-19 month, February.
Mobile phone subscribers stood at 167.10 million in September, while it was 166.08 million in August and 166.11 million in February.
The data showed that, of the internet subscribers, some 102.47 million are mobile internet users and 8.65 million broadband internet users.
Grameenphone, the largest mobile phone operator in the country, had 77.59 million mobile phone subscribers as of September, which was 77 million in the previous month.
Second-placed Robi Axiata had 50.12 million subscribers in September, which was 49.78 million in August this year.
Banglalink and state-run Teletalk are yet to fully recoup from the pandemic's detrimental effects.
Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer at Robi Axiata Ltd, said Robi has been experiencing a massive uptick in mobile internet use due to the corona pandemic.
He said a lot of new internet users have been added in recent times, while the existing users are using more mobile internet than they usually do.
“On the whole, it's very clear that the internet usage pattern is changing and the internet user number is swelling up,” he said.
Khairul Bashar, head of communication at Grameen Phone, said this rapid growth of internet sub-base is mostly a testimonial of fast digital and connectivity-based service adoption due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the overall behavioural shift.
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