5G Services Expanded Across Bangladesh, Says Minister

The information was disclosed in Parliament on Tuesday in response to a written question from ruling party lawmaker Md. Harun-or-Rashid of Rajbari-2. The reply was delivered by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on behalf of the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Fakir Mahbub Anam.

The minister stated that full-scale implementation of 5G services depends heavily on the readiness of vertical industries such as agriculture, healthcare, education, and manufacturing. Considering the context of Bangladesh, initiatives are underway to identify suitable sectors for adopting the 5G ecosystem effectively.

He further noted that efforts are ongoing to expand limited-scale 5G services in residential and industrial areas, as well as other key locations in divisional cities across the country.

To support 5G deployment, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) is implementing the “Optical Fiber Transmission Network Development” project. Under this initiative, all 64 districts and their respective upazilas are being brought under backup optical fiber cable connectivity to ensure uninterrupted transmission networks.

Additionally, work is underway to install ASON (Automatically Switched Optical Network)-enabled DWDM equipment to facilitate high-speed bandwidth distribution from district to district and from districts to upazilas, including the creation of backup links within the Dhaka metro area.

So far, approximately 79 percent of the optical fiber installation and equipment setup has been completed. The project is expected to be finished by December 31.