BTRC wins WSIS prize for biometric SIM registration project
This is the first time BTRC participated in this annual contest, and its project became one of the champions after receiving more than 15,000 votes
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has won the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) prize for successfully carrying out SIM registration through the Central Biometric Verification Monitoring Platform.
WSIS Forum 2021 handed over the prestigious award to the BTRC at a virtual ceremony organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), announced the commission at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
This event represents the world's largest annual gathering of the "ICT for development" community and is co-organised by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line facilitators and co-facilitators.
The forum has been an efficient mechanism for coordination of multi-stakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge, sharing of best practices, and continues to provide assistance in developing multi-stakeholder and public-private partnerships to advance development goals.
WSIS has been giving the award since 2012 and more that 3 lakh stakeholders have participated in the contest so far. The event is open to all government and non-government organisations, individual citizens and international agencies, including WSIS stakeholders.
Following an online voting process and rigorous scrutiny on projects submitted from across the globe, the forum finalises the names of 18 winners, one from each of the 18 categories.
This is the first time BTRC participated in this annual contest. Shyam Sunder Sikder had taken the initiative to participate here after he became the incumbent BTRC chairman.
The commission's Systems and Services Division submitted its Central Biometric Verification Monitoring Platform (CBVMP) to the WSIS on 25 January under the Action Line C5 category. Online voting began on 1 March, and the CBVMP project received more than 15,000 votes.
Following the counting of votes and judges' evaluation on 19 April, BTRC's platform secured its place among the top five projects under this category and then became a champion.
At the conference, BTRC chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder said, "The CBVMP has been recognised across the world as a successful project. It has brought a rare honour for Bangladesh. I want to share success with the people of Bangladesh and I want to thank Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for making this feat possible.
"The BTRC is working on a number of projects, and the customers will soon reap the benefits."
Many senior BTRC officials were present at the programme, including the commission's Managing Director (Administration) Delwar Hossain, Director General (Spectrum) Brig Gen Md Shahidul Alam, and Director General (Engineering and Operations) Brig Gen Md Ehsanul Kabir.
Legal & Licensing Division's Director General Ashish Kumar Kundu and its Commissioner Abu Syed Dilzar Hussain, Director General (Finance, Accounts and Revenue) Engineer Md Mesbah Uddin and Commissioner (E&O) Engineer Md Mohiuddin Ahmed were also present there.
