INTERNET AND DATA COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN BANGLADESH - Special Emphasis for Education and Research

1
INTERNET AND DATA COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE
IN BANGLADESH- Special Emphasis for Education
and Research

• S. M. Lutful Kabir, PhD
• Professor and Director
• Institute of Information and Communication
  Technology
• Bangladesh University of Engineering and
  Technology

2
History of Internet in Bangladesh

• First, UUCP email in 1993
• IP Connectivity in 1996
• Present user 3,00,000 representing 0.24
  penetration

3
Research and Education

• Education in Computer first started at BUET in
  1984
• 83,796 primary level institutions
• 5694 secondary institutions
• 15748 secondary institutions
• 2339 higher secondary and degree colleges
• 30 numbers of Universities

4
IT Development

• Governments Emphasis to establish
• high capacity fiber optic telecommunication
  backbone
• Local Information and Infrastructure (LII)
• National Information and Infrastructure (NII)
• Global Information and Infrastructure (GII)
• Exemption tax from Computer items
• Distribution of computers to schools
• Computerization of government offices

5
Village Computer and Internet

• Familiarizing village people
• Providing computer training at a minimul price
• Providing email facility
• Easier access to relevant market information
• Enabling student contact for higher education
• Creating IT related Job opportunity

6
MEDINET

• Range of information resources related to health
• Doctors get help from the resources
• Connects to the Internet every hour through a
  commercial ISP
• Helps user to acquire articles from reputed
  journal

7
IP Telephony

• Much cheaper than conventional telephone system
• At present, illegal
• Individuals and commercial user still uses IP
  telephone
• Government considering the formal permission
  system for IP telephone

8
e-Governance

• Make significant contribution in establishing
  good governance in the country
• To stop the corruption by introducing
  transparency
• Government has given serious consideration for
  its introduction

9
e-Commerce

• is not progressing because
• poor network infrastructure
• lack of human resources
• absence of related rules
• Government has formed a committee to
• Standardization
• Interoperability
• e-Commerce facilitates business community

10
e-Banking

• Most of the bank use the computerized system
• But they do not yet offer online or e-service
• Standard Chartered Bank first launched Internet
  banking
• A seven bank consortium offers now e-banking

11
IT Policy

• A national IT policy has been drafted and under
  consideration in the parliament
• In the draft, the computer education has been
  given top priority

12
Intellectual Proprietary Rights (IPR) Laws

• In 2000, Government approved IPR Law
• The law enforcing agency being unfamiliar with
  the application
• So, still wide spread pirated software is used
• Data security and interoperability will be
  promoted
• through setting up encryption standard and
  international agreements on interoperability

13
IT (Electronic Transaction) Acts

• In May 2002, Government announced plan to
  legislate e-commerce
• Legislation of digital signature and electronic
  document is underway
• The Bangladesh Law commission has drafted IT act
• circulated among stakeholders
• designed to cover cyber crimes

14
Nationwide Internet and Data Network

• A variety of data network are slowly emerging
• Digital Switches capable of services such as ISDN
  have been installed nationwide
• Various organizations have, or are in the process
  of installing LAN
• Internet backbone required for data
  communication, software development, data entry
  require to be upgraded

15
Transmission System

• mainly composed of microwave, UHF and VHF radio
  links
• major links are star formation network structure
• use of optical fiber is presently limited within
  some city areas connecting local exchange and
  remote RSU
• all thana headquarters (smallest administrative
  units) are connected with their respective
  districts through radio links

16
Transmission System (continued)

• majority of the network is operated by
  Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB)
• amongst the private operators, BRTA have
  established a microwave link between Dhaka and
  Sylhet
• Grameen are upgrading fiber optic cable network
  of bangladesh railway
• established a 140 Mbit/s microwave link between
  Khulna and Chittagong via Barisal

17
International Communication Facility

• Standard A Satellite Earth Station in 1975 at
  Betbunia to work with INTELSAT system
• Second Satellite Earth Station at Talibabad
• International Subscriber Dialling (ISD) facility
  in December 1983
• Satellite earth station along with an
  International Trunk Exchange (ITX) was
  commissioned in Mohakhali, Dhaka in 1994.
• Direct Satellite Link between Sylhet and London
  in June, 1995

18
International Switching Center

• Three International Switching Center (ISC)
• One at Mohakhali
• Two at Mogbazar

19
International Maritime Satellite

• INMARSAT provides mobile communication services
  for ships and aircrafts.
• BTTB have five INMARSAT A terminals operating
  through (land Earth Station) LES located at Jeddah

20
International VSAT Services

• Communication established through geostationary
  satellite (in this region ASIASAT).
• Five-year BOT agreement with Pak DataCom
• Allowed for corporate data communication and
  cannnot be terminated to any public switched
  telephone network (PSTN)

21
Digital Data Network (DDN)

• In Dhaka and three other major cities
• Plans to extend for all of the 64 districts
• An X.25 Packet Switched Data Network (PSDN) in
  Dhaka and five other cities in 1994
• Inter-city connectivity through microwave link
• The cable TV network is being considered as a
  future option of data transfer

22
InfoBahn Project

• establish a national IP gateway
• interconnect the local Internet Service Providers
  (ISPs)
• connect ISPs to the PSTN through E1 trunks
• introduce packet switch along with the existing
  circuit switched PSTN
• offer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

23
Internet Service Providers

• In 1996, first provider is ISN
• Connection charge is as low as 50 paisa (1.2 JPY)
  per minute
• About 80 is email service
• Registered with ISP 1,00,000 users
• Total Internet users is 3,20,000
• Mainly Dhaka Based
• Few ISPs are at Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi and
  Khulna

24
Constraints on Internet Growth

• Underdeveloped IT industry
• Limited trained human resources
• Poor telecommunication infrastructure
• Low level of computer literacy
• Widespread poverty
• Limited point of presence of ISPs
• Lack of software and content in Bangla

25
Human Resources

• Government fixes top priority in developing human
  resources
• At present country produces around 2000 graduates
  in IT related field
• Target was to produce 10,000 programmer by 2001,
  but it did not achieved
• Renowned public Institutes are BUET, DU, JU,
  SUST, RU etc
• Private University NSU, AUST, EWU, AMA, UAP, etc

26
IT Training Institutes

• Short training specially vendor specific
• These training get obsolete as the product
  changes
• A strong background in IT is necessary
• Most of the institutes are just commercial
• No standard is maintained
• Lack of good trainer
• Lack of up-to-date Syllabus

27
Measures for HRD

• Uniform course curricula
• Adequate Internet facility
• High Speed campus backbone
• Qualified faculty appointment
• Strengthen PG programme
• Enhance laboratory facilities
• On line books/Journal facility
• Internship in industry
• More funds for good institutes

28
Connectivity in Educational Institutes

• Use of computers is not encouraging
• Most of the universities have their own VSAT
• BUET has its own, speed 512 kbps/128 kbps
• Internally most of the institutions are not
  networked
• Bangladesh Education and Research Network
  (BERNET) provides connectivity for nine
  universities

29
BERNET

• The central node of BUGC is connected to a local
  ISP
• Two universities are connected to BUGC through
  radio modem
• Nine other universities are connected through
  dial-up telephone link
• e-mail, www, ftp, remote log-in, database
  services are provided
• The maintenance is poor

30
Recommendation

• The connectivity through submarine cable should
  immediately be established
• IT training should be substantially encouraged in
  nation through formal and non-formal means.
• Government and private initiative should be
  realized and encouraged to establish cyber cafes
  to allow wide access to Internet
• VoIP and private international gateway for data
  and voice should allowed

31
Recommendation (continued)

• The fiber optic cable laid along railway tract
  should be further utilized
• BTRC should be allowed to work without government
  influence and control
• BTTB should be privatize
• Proper cabling should be done to avoid bandwidth
  limitation
• IT (Electronic Signature) Acts should immediately
  be implemented

32
Conclusion

• The present government has recognized IT as
  thrust sector
• A large number of bright students and
  entrepreneurs have shown interest in IT
• Strong data network within the country and
  between the country and outside world are
  necessary
• Not only equipment but also training is necessary
  for maintaining the system