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He says 4G and 5G services are not the same. While 4G deals with connectivity, 5G’s application is industry-based. “So, the two should not be compared.”

The first 5G network was launched in April 2019 by South Korea and the US. Commercial 5G is now available in 1,336 cities across 61 countries, said Arizona-based VIAVI, which offers lab-based network test solutions, in June in its “The State of 5G” report.

Abu Saeed Khan, senior policy fellow at LIRNEasia, a think-tank based in Colombo, says the introduction of the 5G service is primarily a political decision, not based on the market demand.

“Through this, the taxpayers’ money is being wasted. In the backdrop of poor 4G service, talking about 5G is nothing but a stunt.”

He says the penetration of smart phones in Bangladesh is not more than 35 per cent. And as there is a shortage of 5G-enabled phones, there will be no service, he said.

“We don’t need 5G as per market demand. We need full 4G service.”

The market desperately needs a conducive policy pertaining to infrastructure sharing for a modest quality of 4G services, the telecom expert said.

“Therefore, the government must overhaul the anti-broadband policy regarding optical fiber infrastructure. Infrastructure sharing should be mandatory.”

According to Khan, Teletalk is still a defaulter in terms of payment for the spectrum. So, it is utterly unethical to glorify the operator using taxpayers’ money for such a politicised farce of technology.

Teletalk Managing Director Shahab says the operator has urged the finance ministry to convert the spectrum fee into equity as the government is the owner of spectrum.

Responding to the absence of smooth service for its subscribers, he says the number of towers, also known as base transceiver stations (BTS), of Teletalk is a third of Grameenphone’s. And, it could not invest to expand BTS for a lack of investment.

“The service will improve following an increase in investment.”

In March, the GSMA called for improving affordability by adopting appropriate policy and regulation in areas such as tax, subsidies and business innovation to increase mobile internet adoption in Bangladesh.

It urged the government to equip individuals with digital knowledge and develop an ecosystem to produce contents locally.