Govt to take steps to reduce internet price: ICT Minister

The government will take steps to reduce price of internet and bring the price in urban and rural areas at par to minimize digital divide.
“The government will expand the fibre optic cable line up to village level to ensure rural people’s access to internet service and step would be taken to bring the internet price in urban and rural areas at par,” Post and Telecommunications and Information and Communications Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui said this on Sunday while speaking a “C-Level Advanced Training Programme” held in the auditorium of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) here. Twenty five chief executive officers (CEOs) of IT industries who recently returned to Dhaka after completing training course on IT in Hong Kong under the auspices of Support to High-Tech/IT Park project under the ministry of ICT will conduct the 15-day C-Level Advanced Training Programme for the officials working in various IT industries.
The minister said if the price of internet remains high in the rural areas digital divide between urban and rural areas would be created and the people who live in village will be deprived of enjoying ICT facilities.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is relentlessly trying to reach the public services to the doorstep of the people by implementing Digital Bangladesh vision and a significant progress has been done during the last five years, Latif added. The minister called for expediting implementation of High-Tech Park and starting production soon as the court has cleared the path of its journey.
“Now we have to take investment-friendly actions like setting up railway communication with High-Tech Park,” he said.
ICT Secretary Md Nazrul Islam Khan who chaired the function called upon the CEOs to provide training and district and upazila level entrepreneurs to develop them as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) professionals.
The government will arrange training programme abroad for 630 mid-level officers of IT industries to develop them as master trainers who will work for flourishment of IT sector. The function was also addressed, among others, by Managing Director of High-Tech Park Authority Hosne Ara Begum, Support to High-Tech/IT Park Project Director A N M Shafiqul Islam, President of Bangladesh Association of Software Information and Services Shamim Ahsan and President of Bangladesh Call Center and Outsourcing Ahmedul Huq.