Country’s mobile Internet speed not rightly reflected in Ookla report: Amtob

Bangladesh's mobile Internet speed has not been rightly reflected in the Ookla Speedtest report, claimed the Association of the Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (Amtob) on Thursday.

There are many factors linked with Internet speed that were not addressed in the report, said Amtob Secretary General Brigadier General (retd) SM Farhad at a virtual press meet.

Ookla Speedtest, a USA-based organisation that provides free Internet testing, data and analysis results, reported that Bangladesh's ranking in mobile Internet speed stood at 135 out of 137 countries in June this year.

Addressing the issue, SM Farhad said various factors impact the mobile Internet speed and population density is one of those reasons.

Quoting from the prime minister's ICT advisor's speech, he said, "Our mobile Internet speed is comparatively better than many European countries. But stakeholders' internal cooperation is also needed if we want to improve the current situation."

To improve the situation, the Amtob secretary general asked the authorities to ensure the business environment, ecosystem, and rationalisation of tax policy and spectrum allocation price.

Grameenphone and Robi Axiata Ltd also questioned Ookla's report in the virtual press meet.

"There are plenty of gaps in Ookla's report as it has not considered the geographical coverage of mobile networks where we are almost 100% covered," said Shahed Alam, chief corporate affairs officer at Robi.

"In speed ranking, it also considered us with the countries that already launched 5G technology which is a high-speed enabler. Apart from this, spectrum price and fibre optic cable are also factors behind the current Internet speed." 

"Our position in ranking will improve to 70 to 80 if the authorities address these small issues," he added.

Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer of Banglalink, spoke on carrying forward the unused data.

"We are providing the unused data with the renewal of the same package. But we are seeing no response from the regulator when everybody is claiming that we are not providing the unused data," he added. 

Hossain Sadat, chief corporate affairs officer (Acting) at Grameenphone, said it is not right to say irrespectively that no operator is providing unused data.

"If we say this way, it also questions the existence of any functional regulator," he said.

Hossain Sadat also claimed that as per the licence perimeter, Grameenphone is providing the unused data to its subscribers.