Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader have said that Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT Adviser to the Prime Minister, will inaugurate the 5G technology services in the country on 12 December.
The government mobile operator Teletalk is going to launch 5G on a trial basis.
He made the statement while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled '5G: The Frontier Technology' organized by the Awami League's sub-committee on science and technology at the Council Hall of Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in Ramna of the capital on Wednesday.
Secretary of Science and Technology of Bangladesh Awami League and Member Secretary of the sub-committee Engineer Md Abdus Sabur delivered the welcome speech. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Digital University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Munaz Ahmed Noor and Teletalk Bangladesh Limited Managing Director Engineer Md Sahab Uddin spoke as discussants.
The keynote paper was presented by the Vice-Chancellor of the Canadian University of Bangladesh, Professor Muhammad Mahfuzul Islam. Sub-committee member Engineer Ronak Ahsan moderated the event while Awami League Science and Technology Sub-Committee Chairman Professor Hossain Mansur presided over it.
Speaking as the chief guest, Obaidul Quader said that the election manifesto of the present government announced in 2018 promised to launch the latest mobile technology service 5G in Bangladesh between 2021 and 2023.
“In line with the directives of the Department of Posts and Telecommunications and Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission-BTRC, Teletalk Bangladesh Limited is preparing to launch 5G in a limited range in December by connecting to the existing 4G network. First, a limited 5G service will be introduced in some important government offices and business establishments in Dhaka city. It is planned to expand this service to other divisional cities and industrial establishments of the country in phases by 2023,” he said.
He further said that in order to digitalize Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina’s government launched 3G technology services in the country in 2013 and 4G services in 2018, in continuation of which the country will enter the 5G era in Mujib Barsha.
“During the Covid-19 period in 2020, the country was in lockdown. Students attended online classes using 3G / 4G technology. Doctors were able to provide telemedicine treatment at home, and the justice system continued its work virtually. And all this has been made possible by the visionary leader Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the science-based plan of Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the architect of Digital Bangladesh,” he added.