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TECH INTERVIEW

Optimal use of resources can make a difference

Insoft chief adviser tells The Daily Star

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
INSOFT Limited, a local information and communication technology (ICT) company, plans to launch its own Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) service by the end of this year. The company also plans to initiate Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and establish Call Centres along with its PSTN service. The company's Chief Advisor Henk V. Metelen told StarTech in an exclusive interview.
"The firm has the potential to be a key player amongst the long line of already existing PSTN service providers with their previous experience as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Domestic Data Communication Service Provider (DDCSP)," said Metelen.
Metelen, who has worked with global brands such as Philips
and Lucent Technologies earlier in his career, currently has his own company in Netherlands. The Dutch advisor to Insoft is quite hopeful about the future of the overall progress of Telecom mu-n ication in Bangladesh.
"With the current trend of privatisation in Bangladesh, the ICT sector will certainly flourish at an unthinkable pace. Despite the fact that Bangladesh currently has only 3 percent telecommunication lines as opposed to 120 percent of the same category in Europe, the nation will surely increase its existing number within the next 2 to 3 years," hoped Metelen.
He commended the government's current plans to provide licenses to PSTN providers as it will increase competition, the fruits of which will be enjoyed by the customers of these services.
He pointed out that the
Henk V. Metelen
ongoing progress could be paced up with desired amount of commitment and dedication from the private firms and the concerned government departments.
"Usually the private firms blame the government for not generating enough funds in order to stimulate the ICT
industry. But these firms should try to take the initiative themselves and once they succeed, the government will surely try to invest in their latter projects," he said.
He cited the example of the four existing cell-phone operators of the nation.
"The services being offered by these operators are more or less the same as the services provided in the USA, Canada and in the European countries," he said.
He complimented these initiatives taken by the Bangladeshi cell phone operators and further stated that the imitation and introduction of other such services into Bangladesh will further boost the overall ICT progress.
When asked about the anticipated submarine cable's arrival in Bangladesh, he suggested that the government
should formulate a definite policy immediately after its arrival.
"This is one sector which the government should not privatise after implementation," sugge-sted Metelen. He explained that privatisation when added to the immense anticipated demand would bid up prices that may affect the overall ICT and Telecom infrastructure of the nation.
He further speculated that with the arrival of submarine cable, the existing IT firms would flourish through better and innovative services.
"The people of this nation should no longer wait but plan their efforts systematically with whatever resources are available to them currently, and prepare themselves for future changes. As these changes are likely to be very drastic, lack of dynamic plans and efforts may result into inefficiency and overall wastage of resources, time and money," he concluded.