Inclusive Internet Index: Our performance and way forward
According to BTRC, an internet user is one who has gone online at least once in three months, which for all practical purposes cannot be used for serious economic or social impact calculations
Abul K Shamsuddin
It is generally accepted that the present government has taken significant initiatives in setting the right vision and formulating policies action plans for transforming the country into Digital Bangladesh. However, the actual measure of our success in the arena and our relative position among the countries of the world in general, and our neighbours in particular, can only be gauged by various indices periodically published by international organizations such as the World Bank, ITU or the Internet.Org.
According to World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends by the World Bank, Bangladesh has been unable to reap the benefits of faster internet and penetration of mobile phones. It observed that Bangladesh can accelerate growth, create more jobs and deliver better public services by enhancing access to digital technologies.
Many of us were shocked by the low score (2.2 out of 10 and 144th position out of 167) attained by Bangladesh in ICT Development Index (IDI) which is one of the core features of the ITU report titled Measuring the Information Society Report 2015.
The recent report by Internet.Org titled The Inclusive Internet Index: Bridging digital divides puts us in 46th position among 75 countries with a score of 57.8. This index assesses and compares countries according to their enabling environment for the adoption and beneficial use of the internet. Its purpose is to outline the current state of internet inclusion around the world, and to help policymakers and influencers gain a clearer understanding of the factors that contribute to wider and sustainable inclusion. Internet.Org commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to bring together data from as wide a range of sources as possible to create a comprehensive index of internet inclusion.
The report indicates that 141.5 million Bangladeshis are offline which is in dispute with the number of internet subscribers as published by the BTRC but it appears that the discrepancy lies in the definition adopted by the two entities. According to BTRC, an internet user is one who has gone online at least once in three months, which for all practical purposes cannot be used for serious economic or social impact calculations.
The Inclusive Internet Index is built on categories and sub-categories as follows:
(1) Availability (Usage, Quality, Infrastructure and Electricity)
(2) Affordability (Price and Competitive Environment)
(3) Relevance (Local Content and Relevant Content)
(4) Readiness (Literacy, Trust Safety and Policy)
Physical access to infrastructure at an affordable price is where inclusion starts and this fact is reflected in the composition of the index. Availability score has the greatest impact on the overall index than the other categories.
Access alone does not guarantee inclusion, it must be affordable. While 94 per cent of the world can access a 2G network, only 43 per cent have access to a 4G signal and 3G technology is the minimum necessary for mobile internet experience. According to UN recommendations, to be inclusive, the cost of an entry level broadband internet connectivity should not exceed 5 per cent of ones monthly income. The Alliance of Affordable Internet (A4AI) is pushing this threshold to be reduced to 2 per cent.
Affordable access to the internet again does not guarantee its use. People would use the internet only if they believe that the content and available services are Relevant to their lives. Availability of content in local languages is extremely important.
Another important enabler of inclusion, Readiness, is the capacity of people to use the internet. It includes peoples skills to use internet content and services safely. The degree of access that women have to the internet also affects this category.
As described above, the index and the categories defining it are very comprehensive and the score attained by any country depends on multitude of factors where access and affordability alone do not guarantee a high score. Bangladesh lags behind India in all the categories but is ahead of Pakistan in all. We are ahead of Sri Lanka in two categories and behind in the remaining two but they are ahead of us in the overall ranking. The overall position and scores in the categories for Bangladesh and its neighbours are summarized in the table below:
Bangladesh has moved in the right direction and the achievements are significant. However, more needs to be done for inclusiveness. Availability will be increased if we introduce LTE mobile broadband technology starting with technology neutrality immediately followed by new spectrum auction as soon as possible and also by putting more emphasis on developing countrywide fiber infrastructure. Our Affordability can be further increased if more competition is introduced in the middle mile (inter-city transmission) and backhaul is made cheaper for the fixed and mobile broadband service providers.
To increase our score in Relevance, we need to focus more on developing local content and relevant content. Our score in Readiness will be further improved as our literacy rate increases, our skills to use the internet safely develops and we adopt policies making access to internet easy for women, among other initiatives.
Bangladesh has done well but we must not be complacent. As this Index is very comprehensive, it would be advisable not to trash it outright but study it in more detail and use it as a basis for aligning our policies and initiatives in order to improve our performance further.Leaving political rhetoric aside, we must focus on the real issues sooner rather than later.
The writer is a Telecom Analyst
