Robi Axiata launched its 3.5G services in Sylhet on Monday, the company said in a statement

NM Zeaul Alam, divisional commissioner of Sylhet, inaugurated the network with a video call from Sylhet to Robi's Chief Technology Officer AKM Morshed in Dhaka.

"3.5G is going to change how we do a lot of things in this country," said Matiul Islam Nowshad, acting chief executive and chief human resource officer of Robi.

A 3.5G network can accelerate socioeconomic growth by bringing education, e-health, e-commerce and other social services to peoples' fingertips, he said. Nowshad said

Robi would expand its network soon to test the efficacy of the 3.5G network.

The 3.5G network will be commercially available to Robi subscribers in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet by October.

Meanwhile, customers in Sylhet can visit the Robi walk-in centre at Zindabazar to experience firsthand the 3.5G network or experience 3.5G on their own 3G enabled devices at selected areas in Sylhet city.

The company expects to cover at least 40 percent of its customer base and 60 percent of its data users by the end of 2013, according to the statement. "Coverage is set to grow to more than 60 percent of the customer base within the first quarter of 2014."