Digital Bangladesh and achievement

Digital Bangladesh is one of the nation's dreams, and so special

emphasis is given on the application of digital technologies to realise
Vision 2021, which we commonly call Digital Bangladesh. By 2021, after
50 years of independence, our goal is to be a middle-income country
with peace, prosperity and dignity. The government of Bangladesh
implemented a large number of projects relating to digital technologies
and a number of these are already underway. National ICT Policy-2009
was developed with a view to achieve middle-income status of the nation
by 2021 and developed status by 2041.
The World Bank classifies economies as low-income, middle-income and
high-income groups. The Per Capita Gross National Income (GNI) is the
basis of the classification. Low-income and middle-income countries are
referred to as developing countries. Per Capita GNI is the dollar value
of a country's income in a year, divided by its population. As of July 1,
2014, low-income economies are defined (in 2013) as those with GNI per
capita of USD 1,045 or less (World Bank Atlas Method) and middleincome economies with a GNI per capita above USD 1,045 (but less than
USD 12,746). (According to this classification of the Word Bank,
Bangladesh should be very close to the middle-income group now and
our target should be the upper middle-income group by 2021.)
According to the National ICT Policy-2009, short-term, mid-term and
long-term plans consisting of 306 action plans have been identified for
the realisation of Vision 2021. Digital Bangladesh is an issue regarding
which there is no conflict or difference of opinion between the
government and the people all are working hand-in-hand for its

realisation. This short article briefly summarises our achievements in

ICT, examines our status in the global perspective, and suggests steps
to be taken in light of the recent advancements in ICT.

Achievements
The slogan of Digital Bangladesh of the Government of Bangladesh
has special significance for national development. Digital Bangladesh
with Vision 2021 is a big impetus for the use of digital technology in the
country. In spite of several bottlenecks and limitations, works are in
progress for the realisation of Digital Bangladesh. Several projects for
digitalisation have been completed and a big number of projects are
under progress. The nation now, with over 12 crore mobile subscribers
and 4.3 crore Internet subscribers, enjoys the fruits of digitisation in
numerous areas of activities. The ultimate objective is to make more
and more services available at the doorsteps of the people with
increased digitalisation where possible.
A few examples of available digital services are: registration for
admission

to

academic

institutions,

publication

of

results

of

examinations, registration for jobs abroad, registration of pilgrimage,

collection of official forms, online submission of tax returns, online
tendering, etc. Online banking systems have sped up the financial
activities of the country. SMS services for lodging complaints to police
stations,

online

bill

payments

for

utility

services,

instant

communication with persons working abroad, and e-passports are some

more examples.

Telemedicine services, videoconferencing for the treatment of diseases,

and video conferencing for administrative activities are examples of eservices available to rural Bangladesh. Setting up of nearly five
thousand Union Information Service Canters is a great boost for Digital
Bangladesh, especially for rural areas. Turning eight thousand village
post offices and approximately five hundred upazila post offices into ecenters and the introduction of mobile money order and postal cash
cards are significant achievements in the recent past. Union
Information Centers, District Information Cells, National Information
Cell are also revolutionary additions.
There are many more developments in the line. Deputy Commissioner
Offices in districts and UNO offices in upazilas provide a large number
of e-services to rural clients. Direct digital services eliminate
middlemen and save both time and money. Without such online
services, our cities and towns would have turned into difficult places to
live in.
Status and Ranking
In spite of mentionable achievements in the recent past, our position as
providers and users of ICT services is far behind many countries. This
can be explained by the benchmarking indices of responsible
international organisations like the United Nations, World Economic
Forum, International Telecommunication Union, etc.
Networked Readiness Index (NRI)
The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) of the World Economic Forum
assesses the impact of ICT on the competitiveness of the nations of the
world. The four sub-indices of NRI are: Environment (business,
innovation, political and regulatory), Readiness (infrastructure, digital

contents, affordability, skills), Usage (individuals, businesses and

government), and finally the Impact of ICT (economic and social
impact). Each sub-index is based on several pillars (a total of 10) and
each pillar is calculated out of a number of indicators. For example, the
Environment sub-index is based on two pillars: a) political and
regulatory environment, and b) business and innovation environment;
the score of political and regulatory environment pillar is calculated out
of numerical values of nine indicators.
Table 1: Status of NRI of Bangladesh and its neighboring countries
COUNTRY 2014 2013 2012
Bangladesh 119 (score 3.21) 114 113
Bhutan 94 (score 3.68) N/A N/A
India 83 (score 3.85) 68 69
Nepal 123 (score 3.09) 126 128
Pakistan 111 (score 3.33) 105 102
Sri Lanka 76 (score 3.94) 69 71
Table 1 depicts the NRI status of Bangladesh and its neighboring
countries. Bangladesh's global position (with a score of 3.21 out of 10) is
119 (out of 144 countries) in 2014, which is five steps below its 114th
position in 2013. This was due to poor performance in the Environment,
Impact and Usage sub-indices compared to other nations. According to
the 2014 NRI rankings, the ranks of India (3.85), Pakistan (3.33) and
Sri Lanka (3.94) have also degraded. On the other hand, Nepal (3.09)
moved up by three positions to 123 from 126. This indicates our
achievements in ICT and current status of digital lifestyle in global
perspective.

According to the NRI data of 2014, the top 10 countries are: Finland
(6.04), Singapore (5.97), Sweden (5.93), Netherlands (5.79), Norway
(5.70), Switzerland (5.62), United States (5.61), Hong Kong (5.60),
United Kingdom (5.54) and Korea Republic (5.54). Bangladesh needs to
improve in the Environment Readiness sub-indices. The public sector of
Bangladesh scores higher in the Usage sub-index than the private
sector. We need to increase individual usage of ICT besides
infrastructure and digital contents for increasing social and economic
impact.
ICT Development Index (IDI)
The

ICT

Development

Index

(IDI)

of

the

International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a useful tool for the status of

Information Society. This index, which is based on eleven indicators, is
grouped into three categories: Access, Use and Skills. Table 2 depicts
the IDI of Bangladesh and its neighboring countries according to the
Information Society Report 2014 of ITU. In the 2013 IDI ranking,
Bangladesh is ranked 145 and is ahead of Afghanistan and Myanmar
amongst our South Asian neighbors. Currently Sri Lanka, ranked 116,
is at the highest position in the region. Among the 29 countries of Asia
and the Pacific listed in the report, Bangladesh's position is third from
the bottom. The bottom two countries are Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Bangladesh needs special attention for improvement in the Use subcategory (score of 0.27, rank 150), Access sub-index (score of 2.5, rank
143) as well as the quick expansion of broadband wireless Internet
services. However, the good news is that Bangladesh offers mobile
cellular services at a lower cost than many countries of the world.
Table 2: Status of IDI of Bangladesh and its neighboring countries

COUNTRY 2013 2012 2011

Afghanistan 155 (score 1.67) 155 N/A
Bangladesh 145 (score 1.97) 146 139
India 129 (score 2.53) 129 120
Nepal 131 (score 2.37) 134 N/A
Pakistan 142 (score 2.05) 141 128
Bhutan 123 (score 2.85) 126 117
Sri Lanka 116 (score 3.24) 113 107
Myanmar 150 (score 1.82) 148 N/A
In the IDI ranking of 2013, the top 10 countries (with scores out of 10)
are: Denmark (8.86), Korea Republic (8.85), Sweden (8.67), Iceland
(8.64), UK (8.50), Norway (8.39), Netherlands (8.38), Finland (8.31),
Hong Kong (8.28) and Luxemburg (8.26).
E-Government Development Index (EGDI)
United Nation's e-Government Development Index (EGDI) evaluates the
impact of ICT on the political economy of a country. This index focuses
on how governments use ICT to deliver services to the people and
opportunities for citizens to participate in the decision-making process.
EGDI is measured on the basis of online services, technological
infrastructure and human capital. Table 3 shows Bangladesh's ranking
(out of a total of 193 countries) in EGDI as wells as those of its
neighbouring

countries.

Amongst

the

South

Asian

countries,

Bangladesh (rank 148) is ahead of Afghanistan (rank 173), Nepal (rank

165), Pakistan (rank 158) and Myanmar (rank 175). Ranked at 74, Sri
Lanka is at the highest position in the region.

Table-3: EGDI ranking of Bangladesh and its neighboring countries

COUNTRY 2014 2012 2010
Afghanistan 173 (score 0.1900) 184 168
Bangladesh 148 (score 0.2757) 150 134
Bhutan 143 (score 0.2829) 152 152
India 118 (score 0.3834) 125 119
Maldives 94 (score 0.4813) 95 92
Myanmar 175 (score 0.1869) 160 141
Nepal 165 (score 0.2344) 164 153
Pakistan 158 (score 0.2580) 156 146
Sri Lanka 74 (score 0.5418) 115 111
The top 10 countries (with a score out of 1) are: Republic of Korea
(0.9462), Australia (0.9103), Singapore (0.9076), France (0.8938),
Netherlands (0.8897), Japan (0.8874), USA (0.8748), UK (0.8695), New
Zealand (0.8644) and Finland (0.8449).
According to a UN report, the least developed countries (LDCs) with
significant progress in mobile technology and mobile-government
services (such as notification by SMS, mobile-banking and mobilehealth services) are of special importance. Bangladesh (score of 0.2757
out of 1) is in the eighth position among 48 LDCs after Rwanda
(0.3589), Kiribati (0.3201), Tuvalu (0.3059), Cambodia (0.2999), Angola
(0.2970), Bhutan (0.2829) and Tanzania (0.2764).
Our rankings in the above mentioned indices (NRI, IDI and EGDI) are
poor in comparison to most of the countries of the world.

ICT Trends
A noteworthy trend in ICT is that numerous devices with new and
updated technologies are rapidly replacing older devices. New
technologies for the near future include 3D printing, thumb printing,
increased smartphone storage, expanded use of IPv6, broadband
services for consumers, cloud computing, quantum computing, real-time
speech transaction, nano-computers, wearable devices and networks,
cyber security, smart cities, Internet of Things (IoT), etc. New trends,
techniques and devices will massively involve online activities affecting
our lifestyle. IoT interconnects all sensors and smart objects to
interconnect in such a way as to make them intelligent, programmable
and capable of interacting with humans.
More and more smart machines and processes will be required for
decision-making in business, administration and education, and they
will impact our lifestyle and the jobs of decision-makers significantly. All
types of jobs, including business and administration, will be more and
more digitised. We in Bangladesh will be forced to use and adapt new
technologies and will require expertise in new technologies like cloud
computing, 3D printing, Big Data, gaming, animation, outsourcing, etc.
Internet services require radical improvement in terms of speed.
Starting from e-commerce, the internet is used for numerous
applications and a higher speed for internet services is of great
significance for rapid economic growth. Most nations of the world now
give special emphasis on the improvement of Internet speeds. Average
internet speed of users is above 10 Mbps in many countries (South
Korea: 25.3 Mbps, Hong Kong: 16.03 Mbps, Japan: 15 Mbps).

It is encouraging that the ICT Division of the Ministry of Posts,

Telecommunications and Information Technology has undertaken allout efforts for the development of ICT human resources through
countrywide training. Some examples of these trainings include
Learning and Earning, Training for Mobile Apps, Leveraging ICT for
Growth, Employment and Governance Project, and ITES Foundation
Skills Training. Special emphasis is given to ICT education up to high
school. Also, the ICT policy is being updated to face new trends.
Ambitious projects like development of the National ICT Infrastructure
for Bangladesh Government (Info Sarkar), National Data Centre and IT
Parks will bring about radical improvements in e-services, e-governance
and software development in the country.
Actions to be Taken
Bangladesh has an impressive track record of growth and development
and aspires to achieve middle-income status by its 50th birthday. The
country needs faster growth which depends on increased investments,
development of human capital and enhanced productivity.
We have mentionable progress in ICT considering our previous
condition. But keeping in mind our current rank and status in
comparison with other nations and the rapid development of ICT, the
journey ahead for Digital Bangladesh will not be smooth. Each new
technology requires new skills and training. Human capital is a key
factor to develop and adapt innovative ideas and technologies. Quality
ICT education as well as ICT-based education from the primary to
tertiary level, along with the orientation of general mass in ICT should
receive top priority.

Elimination of the digital divide between rural and urban areas and
between Bangladesh and other nations is essential in order to be at par
with middle-income nations. A peaceful political environment is
essential for intellectual, social, cultural and economic development.
Time and time again, the nation's dream for Vision 2021 and Digital
Bangladesh has been shattered by the turbulent political situation. The
country dearly needs a tranquil political environment for the
development of all sectors, including ICT, and for the realisation of
Vision 2021 and Digital Bangladesh.