5G finally arrived in Bangladesh on Monday after telcos Robi Axiata and Grameenphone reportedly launched 5G services within a few hours of each other, and 18 months after receiving licences to streamline 5G rollouts.
According to media reports, Robi launched live 5G services in Fakirapul, Maghbazar Chowrasta, parts of Dhaka University, Khulshi in Chattogram and Sagor Dighir Par in Sylhet on Monday morning.
Shahed Alam, Robi’s head of regulatory affairs, said at a launch event in Dhaka that the telco plans to deploy over 200 5G sites by the end of this year and 1,000 sites by the end of 2026. According to Financial Express, Robi will prioritise those rollouts in locations where smartphone penetration is at least 20%.
Robi’s 5G launch event on Monday was followed a few hours later by an announcement from Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman on Facebook that the telco has launched 5G across all eight divisional cities – Barishal, Chattogram, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh and Sylhet – albeit only in a few select areas. No other details were given.
The two 5G launches come a yeah and a half after the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued unified licences to Robi, Grameenphone, Banglalink and Teletalk that enable all of them to upgrade their current networks to 5G and 6G under the same licence.
In fact, 5G has been in the pipeline in Bangladesh for years. Teletalk launched the country’s first 5G trial in December 2021 in partnership with Nokia. In 2022, the BTRC auctioned off US$1.2 billion worth of spectrum in the 2.3-GHz and 2.6-GHz bands, which operators were expected to use to not only shore up their 4G capacity, but also lay the groundwork for 5G.
Last year, Grameenphone and Robi Axiata secured additional 2.6 GHz spectrum after two years of haggling over the price per MHz.
However, according to local newspaper Daily Star, however, the BTRC has been slow to develop guidelines for 5G rollouts. Meanwhile, telcos were hesitant to take the 5G plunge due to high rollout costs, low 5G handset penetration and no clear demand for 5G, the report said.
It hasn’t helped that Bangladesh was rocked by political turmoil last year that resulted in protests, crackdowns and multiple internet shutdowns until Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country in August 2024.
According to the Financial Express Express report, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, special assistant to chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, admitted at Robi’s launch event that 5G use cases are still underdeveloped. He urged regulators, government, and operators to work together to make 5G relevant for everyone, regardless of profession.
Taiyeb also said the BTRC is planning to release 700-MHz spectrum soon, and is considering releasing more spectrum in the 800-MHz and 900-MHz bands. He also called on the BTRC to implement a phased shutdown of 2G and 3G services to free up more spectrum for 4G and 5G.
As of this post, neither Banglalink nor Teletalk has announced plans to launch 5G anytime soon.
