Telecommunication Sectors Drop Down in Bangladesh

The first telecom company in Bangladesh was Telenor's affiliate company Grameen Phone, in late 1996. A long way this sector fought and emerged however the current situation is absolutely dreadful. Last year, around 5k people lost their job/careers due to a massive change in the telecom sector. The situation now is chaotic, no further vendors or customers are involving or investing here. How and why all the messed up situation occurred, I'll try to elaborate some throughout this article. Stay tuned with a cup of coffee and go through it. 

In-brief History

Cellular communications background in Bangladesh isn't that old or primitive we think of. Rather it is a new provision in this region where India developed a lot in this telecommunications sector. The first approved telecom company was BTCL (Now Teletalk) and they had their license in 1995. Due to technical perspectives and manpower, somehow they couldn't launch cellular technology earlier.

Grameen Phone launched their business in 1996, before Teletalk. Within a short time, the Swedish Telenor company split into Grameen Phone with the assistance of local investors, more precisely the Grameen Bank.

Later, another telecom company named Aktel (Now Robi), a Chittagong based investment company launched their business in late 1999. Superfast network, new technologies, and smart employees made a gigantic boost in this Aktel. Later on, they sold shares to a Norway-based Axiata company and renamed Robi.

Egypt oil investors invested manpower and technology in Warid telecom Ltd. Soon they went into the shadows, a new buyer from Dubai bought all shares, renamed Warid telecom to Dhabi Telecom. A classy network, better speed, and capacity made this Dhabi telecom perfect than Robi. But, in 2010, the Indian Airtel company grabbed Warid and is known as AirtelBD.

Few more telecom companies existed though. From the millennium to 2010, Citycell, DhakaPhone, Novotel, Jubok, Rangstel- these 5 companies launched their project. Due to license issues from the BTRC (Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission), these companies lost their approval to keep their business on. However, the performance of Citycell was great, sometimes better than Airtel. Not only license issues but also technical issues affected severely these lost companies.

Telecommunication Studies in Bangladesh

Due to emerging victories in this telecommunication sector and as a new technology, few educational institutes started studying telecom as a subject. Specifically, renowned public universities launched telecommunication studies program for 4 years- pursuing graduation. The first telecommunication study was started at Khulna University in 1997. In the same year, top-ranked engineering varsity like BUET, RUET, KUET, NSU started telecom studies.

Program Structure

Study structure or syllabus was the same in all pursuing varsities. Four-year graduation in engineering and additional 1.5 - 2 years for post-graduation degree.

In these four years, a student learns cellular technology, trends, structures, antenna engineering, microwave engineering, fields & waves, discreet control system for radar & satellite, and networking. For example, Khulna University and KUET have the same syllabus where they provide electronics fundamentals to advanced technologies, cellular generations, bio-medical, optoelectronics, optical fiber sensing, and modern applied physics.

In RUET, they called their cellular department- Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering (ETE). Not only the cellular technology but also the most fabulous term- Robotics is studied by their students as well. Most smart drones in Bangladesh are made by RUET students.

Private universities like NSU, AIUB, AUST, BUP have successfully launched telecommunication studies and provided numerous graduates to this nation. After the completion of a four-year graduate program, a student can take post-graduate courses for the betterment of their skills. Flexible optional courses, lab works, thesis, webinars, and conference proceedings have been provided by these graduates so far.

Telecommunication Drop Down

Last year a severe drop down occurred in the telecommunication sectors of Bangladesh. Due to lack of investment and no vendors, topmost companies fired their employees, even long-term employees have been sacked without any cause. The following sketch shows the devastation of this sector and related personnel.

Chaotic, isn't it? An exponential employee sacking/firing in the last 5 years. And the most awkward situation is, no job offers in this sector now. According to the internal gossip and rumors, we've been informed of a serious issue behind this reason. All superior personnel and executives have to pay a certain percentage of income to the government, to the company provident funds, to local development, and security money. Besides, approximately 12 - 23% of total income is deducted every month. This would cause severe losses to the company's net income. And to mitigate this unnecessary stage, authorities took action plans on employees. It is better to hire freelancers than outsourcing organizations. Moreover, internal employees can work extra time on some projects, getting extra benefits from companies.

So, obviously, a question should have arisen- is it necessary to keep studying telecom in our educational institutions? Every year at least 400 graduates are coming to this unemployment arena, making a lot of calamities by applying everywhere. But in the end, no work at all in these sectors. What would they do now?

Another fabulous and interesting thing is- these universities don't provide extra options or working provisions. For example, Texas University graduates who fulfilled their degree in telecommunication; works as top-class programmers or web developers. Because their syllabus is updating from time to time, with lots of variable technologies. On the contrary, our varsities are stuck into some conventional electronic logic gates and GSM-CDMA elaboration; nothing more than that. 

No updated programming languages, no technical skills, no ideas on freelancing. Nowadays, around 40% of people in Bangladesh are totally unemployed due to the lackings of proper innovative skills. This would cause a severe depression stigma within years.

Steps to Move Ahead

It is hard to revive from this current condition of telecommunication sectors in Bangladesh. However, we propose some smart moves for our newbie graduates, employees, and employers. We call this- seven strikers to develop yourself. Here they are-

• Newbie graduates shouldn't look for a job before skills development. Try some technical skills like CCNA, CCNP, Solaris, Linux, AutoCAD, MCSE, CompTIA A+, and some web developing ideas.
• Employers shouldn't recruit any people with a low budget or less salaries. The more you seek lower budgets, the more you get worse ones. You should follow some international recruitment rules and set your company strategy like that.
• Employees should never break down or think of him/herself ineligible. Every person has some specialty, we just need to show those off. Find relevant posts and positions that suit you.
• Digital technology is emerging in Bangladesh. You can learn some technical skills to get into. For example, if you learn how to make an eCommerce website or how to run an online business; surely you don't need to look backward. I strongly recommend technical graduates to be a web developer or have some CMS skills to run a business.
• Make yourself an entrepreneur, not an employee or boring executives. Nothing is better than a profitable business unless you got a government job or stable ones.
• Authorities in the educational provisions should revise the syllabus and curriculum of telecommunication studies. See the recent scope of it- mostly frustrating and decaying. You should make some changes in these curriculums and syllabi as well.
• The government should create more entrepreneurship scopes, industries, investments to recruit more people there. If we demand us a Digital Bangladesh and nothing innovative at all, it would be sarcastic and pathetic. Decentralize dense areas to make more factories, technical fields, hubs, and so on.

Bottom Line

Started with the telecommunication sector drop down and we've figured out the problem, remedies, and future works. Many people can criticize or many can applaud however the true story is depicted here. A harsh truth is- within 5 years, 55% of people will be workless in Bangladesh IF we don't take any outstanding actions or quick strategies now. It is our duty to make the nation worldwide. Technology knows no limit, we have to chase it synchronously. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask me. Furthermore, share your ideas in comments as well as share this article with your friends, social media accounts for better ideas. See ya soon, take care. Good day!