Present ICT policy not friendly towards growth: BTRC chief
Star Business Report
Terming the present policy on ICT unfriendly towards growth of the sector, Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Syed Marghub Morshed yesterday said a new policy should be framed with invol~ement of all stakeholders for development of the sector.He said the stakeholders were not involved when the existing information, communications and technology (ICT) policy was being formulated. "As a result, this policy is not working at all. Those who play key role in this area must be involved in formulation of the new policy," said BTRC chairman at a discussion meeting yesterday. It will not be possible to explore the potentiality of the sector if views of the common people and stakeholders are not incorporated, he said. The BTRC chairman said Bangladesh should not limit itself for promoting the ICT sector for exports only. "We will not be able to make progress if we prioritise it only for exportable products," the BTRC chairman felt. Morshed was speaking as chief guest at a discussion meeting on 'The role of ICT in alleviating poverty and reducing unemployment in Bangladesh' organised by Jubo Karmasangsthan Society (Jubok). Jubok Chairman Abu Md Sayeed presided over the meeting held at the Engineers' Institution Auditorium in Dhaka. Dr AM Chowdhury, executive director of Bangladesh Computer Council, said computers have replaced typewriters but the value added works from more than 80 percent of the computers still remain unexplored. The 14 crore population should be properly trained and made assets to the country. Sarwar Alam, president of Bangladesh Association of [oftware & Information Services (BASIS), said if the government cannot act as facilitator then it should at least try to remove the barriers of the sector. Limited applications of ICT in banks and superstores have already made silent revolution in the country, he said adding computerisation in banks is saving time and productivity in superstores has gone up substantially. He said the government has set a target of exporting software worth US$ 2 billion by 2006 without making the required investment to reap the profi| from the sector. Jubok Chairman Abu Md Sayeed, Hossain Al Masum, executive director of Jubok, Sabbir Ahmed, country representative of Motorola and Golam Sarwar, managing director of Jubok Phone also spoke at the discussion.
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