The government is preparing a sweeping overhaul of the country’s telecom policy to break what it describes as a longstanding “syndicate of autocrats and mafias” that has dominated Bangladesh’s internet and telecommunications sector.
Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Special Adviser to the Chief Adviser on ICT and Telecommunications, announced the plan at an emergency press conference held at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on Sunday. Taiyeb alleged that the telecom industry remains heavily influenced by vested interests nurtured by past autocratic governments.
“There are licensing structures in Bangladesh that exist nowhere else in the world. These have enabled syndicates and mafias to siphon off hundreds of crores of taka from this sector,” he said. According to Taiyeb, companies that invested only Tk 5-10 crore to secure telecom licenses have been raking in up to Tk 400 crore annually.
He revealed that over the past 15 years, more than 3,400 licenses were issued under questionable terms, with the government receiving roughly half the revenue while the rest was allegedly misappropriated. “Our new telecom licensing framework will put an end to this looting,” Taiyeb asserted.
The adviser criticised the complex licensing process, which involves up to eight stages and has given rise to layers of middlemen. “These intermediaries effectively collect illegal tolls. When we move to clean up the system, we face baseless attacks,” he said.
Addressing concerns that the new policy might hurt local businesses, Taiyeb clarified that current licenses would not be revoked. “However, renewals will be subject to the new rules. Those resisting this change are simply trying to protect the corrupt practices of the past,” he said.
Taiyeb also painted a grim picture of internet quality in Bangladesh, noting that until recently, about 70 percent of the country’s bandwidth depended on India, with many providers even sourcing bandwidth illegally. To curb this, the government has mandated that at least half of Bangladesh’s internet traffic must come through its own submarine cables.
Plans are underway with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to implement Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will penalise providers for substandard service. Additionally, the government has urged ISPs to lift minimum broadband speeds from the outdated 5 Mbps to at least 12-15 Mbps. “Let’s be honest, 5 Mbps can’t be called broadband anymore,” Taiyeb said.
Turning to state-owned BTCL, he accused private operators of trying to edge out the company to monopolise the market. “BTCL’s Tk 300 crore fiber network upgrade must move forward—otherwise, it’s taxpayers’ money wasted,” he warned.
Taiyeb also disclosed that major corruption plagued the telecom and ICT sectors under previous governments. In response, separate white paper committees have been set up for each sector, working alongside the Anti-Corruption Commission to review past irregularities. “No new ICT projects have been initiated under the current administration; we are first addressing the mess we inherited,” he said.
He further assured that all feedback on the new telecom policy is being seriously considered and promised a fully democratic process to finalise it. “This is not about tightening control—it’s about reform. We are determined to dismantle entrenched corruption and build a transparent, efficient, future-ready digital Bangladesh,” Taiyeb declared.
