Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Japan’s largest mobile firm NTT DoCoMo is leaving Bangladesh after 12 years completely empty-handed despite injecting $350 million in the country.

In a rather surprising move, Uber Technologies yesterday announced that it is closing down the operations of its food delivery platform Uber Eats in Bangladesh from June 2 as Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi attempts to steer the ride-hailing giant through the coronavirus pandemic.

Red Dot Digital, a subsidiary of Robi Axiata, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, is set to roll a device on Friday that can possibly change the way Bangladeshis consume video content.

It was unimaginable for Robichandra Shil, a barber in Pingree bazar in Rajapur upazila under Jhalakathi, that he would receive Tk 2,500 on his mobile wallet from the prime minister as Eid gift.

The pandemic, it seems, was the big bang the digital Bangladesh charge needed to level up.

In an unusual development, Grameenphone’s active customer number came down to 7.53 crore at the end of March after falling for two consecutive months, as the operator could not get approval to sell new connections for a long time.

The telecom regulator has once again moved to impose restrictions on Grameenphone in line with its earlier declaration of significant market power (SMP) following complaints from the other operators that found the Telenor subsidiary’s recent offers and packages predatory.

In an unprecedented move, the country’s second largest mobile operator yesterday blew off its pent-up resentment against the market leader over its offer of free voice call minutes and bonus data packs on humanitarian grounds during the pandemic.

The government’s move to provide cash assistance to 50 lakh poor families hit by the coronavirus pandemic is finally taking off, with the four major mobile financial service providers set to deliver it from May 14.

Mobile carriers are bracing for a price war and this time it is centring on the coronavirus pandemic as they are offering free voice call minutes and bonus data packs through publicity gimmicks that are being overlooked by the regulator on humanitarian grounds.

Banglalink, once the most spirited operator in the market, seems to have gotten a spring back in its step in 2020 after two consecutive quarters of underwhelming performance.

As a matter of course, the coronavirus pandemic is leaving new lessons for all spectra of life and across all sectors. The mobile phone industry is no exception.

When workers enter Paramount Textile’s plant in Sreepur, Gazipur, they would need to go through a temperature testing procedure using a thermal scanner, wash hands properly and disinfect their shoes.

Mobile phones have long ago become an integral part of people’s life and its utility is being strongly felt every minute as people in Bangladesh have physically been cut off from their neighbourhood and from the rest of the country because of the movement control order put in place to contain the deadly coronavirus.

The government has put its best foot forward in using ICT tools to figure out the COVID-19 challenges and has already brought on board popular mobile applications and locally-developed solutions to control the damages caused by the pandemic.

Bangladesh is inching towards a major breakthrough in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as the Access to Information programme under the government’s ICT division has so far received 19 prototypes of ventilators developed by different organisations and individuals.

The government is working to develop a database of nearly 1.25 crore beneficiary families to ensure proper distribution of food aid and plug the loopholes in the current distribution system, said officials at two ministries.

With high hopes, on March 19, Washiqur Rahman, a resident of Sobhanbag, had placed an order with Chaldal, the country’s leading online grocery store. Three weeks in, he had failed to secure the delivery despite several back-and-forth with the company.

The quest for additional spectrum allocation proposal to manage the surge in demand for data during the protracted shutdowns has led to a faction among the four mobile operators.

Prisoners will now receive funds from their friends and family members through mobile financial service providers Nagad and bKash following a government move aimed at facilitating money transfer amid the countrywide lockdown.