Grameenphone - a Major Contributor to ICT and Development

The conference was organised by the Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and ran from March 7 to March 9, 2007. This bi-annual conference presents scientific results, emerging ideas, practical applications, topical issues and new trends in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The conference brings together researchers, scholars and industry representatives to exchange opinions and ideas on ICT.

GP provides EDGE technology to rural areas

One of the speakers, Kafil H.S. Muyeed, Director of New Business Division at Grameenphone, highlighted Grameenphone's contributions in the ICT sector of Bangladesh.

"Bangladesh is the only "Least Developed Country" in the world with GSM networks covering more that 90% of the country and Grameenphone has managed to deploy EGDE technology to rural Bangladesh, giving people access to all the latest information on the Internet. This has enabled people, who were previously out of touch with communication technologies, to have access to all kinds of information," he said.

Village Phones and Community Information Centers

In his speech, Prof. Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, who is Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, stressed GP's contribution in the ICT sector and highlighted programs like Village Phone and Community Information Center. He also stated that: "while a lot of thoughts and dreams were shared by the government and other organizations in the past years by identifying ICT as a powerful sector, it was only GP which, with 300,000 Village Phone operators and more than 500 Community Information Centers across the country, that made it a reality."