Bangladesh ICT Roadmap (Draft)

National ICT Roadmap/Action Plan
PREPARED FOR
Ministry of Science and ICT

People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Support for Development of Public Sector use of ICT under EMTAP Project
Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC)
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
S2-ICT
Bangladesh ICT Roadmap (Draft)

Version 1.1 (17 September 2008)
PROJECT CONSULTANTS
Please address enquiries about this document to:

nurul.kabir@spinnovation.com.bd
elizabeth.muller@gov3.net
1
CONTENTS
1. Executive summary....................................................... 3
2. Introduction ................................................................. 10
Purpose of this document................................................................................10
Who should read it ..........................................................................................10
Context............................................................................................................10
3. Methodology................................................................ 11
4. Current state analysis ................................................. 12
5. Structure of the roadmap ............................................ 23
6. Prioritisation framework .............................................. 25
Mapping of existing initiatives..........................................................................25
Synthesis into policy clusters...........................................................................26
7. Prioritisation results..................................................... 31
Strategic fit ......................................................................................................31
Impact .............................................................................................................32
Feasibility ........................................................................................................32
8. Recommended thrust areas for Bangladesh .............. 35
Mission Critical Programmes...........................................................................35
Priorities for phasing the delivery of the Mission Critical Programmes ............36
Delivery priorities: Leadership and Coordination .............................................38
Delivery priorities: Empowering Citizens .........................................................41
Delivery priorities: Transforming Public Services ............................................43
Delivery priorities: Growing the ICT Sector .....................................................44
Delivery priorities: Enabling the Market ...........................................................44
9. The National ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh ............... 46
Appendix 1:
Mission Critical Programme Roadmap Delivery Plans …………… 50
Appendix 2:
Benchmarking the ICT Roadmap………………… ………………… 75
2
1. Executive summary
The report presents recommendations to the Government of Bangladesh on the National

ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh, an overview of which is set out in Figure 1.1 below.
Figure 1.1: Recommended workstreams for the ICT Roadmap
Figure 1.2 below shows how the five key workstreams in the roadmap are then broken
down into 14 Mission Critical Programmes, setting out the objective proposed for each
one and a summary of how the ICT Roadmap will deliver that objective.
Figure 1.1: Recommended workstreams for the ICT Roadmap
1 Empowering citizens
3 Growing the
2 Transforming ICT sector
Public Services Access
I have easy and affordable
access to ICT Hardware
E-democracy
Software
E-citizens
Users
Applications
E-business
E-Finance Telecoms
Citizens
SMEs
E-SME Digital content

Motivation Civil Confidence
E-Agriculture Servants I have all the skills I need
I see real benefits from
to use ICT, and I
ICT which are directly
E-education feel trust and security
relevant to my life
using it
E-health Legal framework
E-culture
Regulatory Fiscal
E-disaster and framework framework
climate change
4 Enabling the market
5
Leadership and Governance
This is then followed, at Figure 1.2, by a summary of timelines and major milestones for
each Mission Critical Programme, as they progress through the three strategic phases of
the ICT Roadmap over a five year period:
Phase 1: Building momentum
Phase 2: Achieving critical mass
Phase 3: Transformation.
3
Figure 1.2: overview of recommended workstreams within the ICT Roadmap
Work Stream 1: Empowering Citizens

1.1 Universal Community Based Access to ICT
Objective:
To ensure that by 2013, all Bangladeshi citizens and SMEs have access within their community
to ICT and the skills to use them.
How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

By building a national partnership to establish an inclusive system of information and knowledge
for all citizens through telecenters and other forms of public access, with special emphasis on
marginalized groups and disability, which will be delivered using a rich combination of different
business models, including
- Entrepreneur / Value adding sector
- Voluntary sector
- Schools computer labs opened up to the community out of school hours
- Government infrastructure ( e.g., many post offices having been enhanced as e-
post/Cyber Post/e-service hub for government/public service (e.g. direct foreign
remittance, money transfer, bill payment), local government institutions have big
establishments, public libraries are underutilized)
- Through creation of information access through mobile telephone and community radio.
1.2 e-Bangla
Objective:
To ensure that Bangladeshis are easily able to produce and upload digital content in Bangla and
that they are motivated and empowered to do so.

Through delivery of a new National Strategy for e-Bangla, which will ensure in particular that:
− All government web content is available in Bangla
− A wide range of cultural and educational content are digitised
− Local communities are producing rich, interactive, localised and relevant Bangla content
− Content is available through various channels, including mobile phone and community
radio
1.3 ICT in Education
Objective:
To ensure that, by 2013, all Bangladeshi secondary school children have access to ICT – not
only for the development of basic ICT skills, but also to use ICTs for e-Learning

By 2013, all secondary and higher secondary educational institutions will have an ICT Lab with
access to all the curriculum materials, teacher training and support needed to ensure that:
− All children are confident users of ICT and internet
− All teachers are able to use ICT for teaching
Work Stream 2: Transforming Public Services
2.1 Citizen-centric eServices
Objective:
By 2013, Bangladesh is one of the regional leaders for e-service maturity, and for the citizen
focus of those e-services, as measured by UN benchmarks. High levels of citizen take-up for
those services (through a rich mix of channels – including mobile phones, web, kiosks and
service centres) will contribute to economic development, poverty reduction, and better and
4
more transparent governance.

By assisting every Ministry to develop and deliver plans for e-service investments, which:
− Prioritise low-technology, low-risk improvements that maximize citizen benefit through
process redesign and by joining up services at the front-end
− Set targets for citizen take-up of the service, underpinned by clear plans for encouraging
take-up
− Include plans for integration with government-wide service delivery channels and
compliance with government-wide standards
− Plan for back-end automation of the full transaction over the longer term
− Give special emphasis on agriculture, needs of SMEs, disaster management and
climate change, and health care.
2.2 Development of a citizen-centric, multi-channel service delivery system for the
Government of Bangladesh
Objective:
To deliver a citizen-centric, multi channel one stop shop for government that will ensure that the
services prioritized for e-enablement are delivered in a way that is designed around user needs
and achieve high levels of uptake and user satisfaction

Through phased introduction of a multi-channel service delivery system that:
Presents the information and services that citizens want in a way that is easy to understand
and designed for them
Responds to the majority of citizen needs directly rather than requiring them to go to
channels managed by individual Ministries or agencies
Operates in an integrated way across multiple channels, leveraging in particular:
Bangladesh’s high level of mobile phone penetration
The national network of telecentres being developed in Workstream 2.1
Achieves high levels of customer satisfaction and high levels of uptake
Avoids duplication of ICT expenditure by Ministries.
2.3 eGovernment Standards and Policies
Objective:
To develop a comprehensive eGovernment Interoperability Framework for the Government of
Bangladesh, which has been fully adopted by all central and local government organisations and
their ICT suppliers, ensuring that e-services can be integrated efficiently and effectively around
citizen needs and that there is no waste or duplication in the Government’s ICT investments.

Through progressive development of an eGovernment Interoperability Framework based on
extensive industry consultation and open, internationally recognized standards.
Work Stream 3: Growing the ICT Sector
3.1: International ICT trade and investment Campaign
Objective:
To develop a globally-recognised brand for Bangladesh as a centre for ICT investment,
outsourcing and exports, which helps the Bangladesh ICT sector to grow its levels of exports,
turnover and Foreign Direct Investment by at least 50% each year between now and 2013.

Through a strong national brand and a highly effective international communications campaign
developed and delivered in partnership between the GoB and the ICT industry.
5
3.2. Access to finance for the ICT Sector
.
Objective:
To ensure that the growth of the ICT sector in Bangladesh is not constrained by lack of access
to debt and equity financing.

By:
refocusing the Equity Entrepreneurship Fund as a vibrant and effective source of VC funding
for ICT businesses
addressing market barriers to the effective provision of debt financing to the ICT sector
extending the corporate tax holiday for software and ITES sector for at least the five years of
the ICT Roadmap
3.3: Meeting the Skill Needs of the ICT Sector
Objective:
To ensure that Bangladesh is seen as a global source of high level ICT skills and that the ICT
sector has a ready supply of skills that meet its needs as the sector grows

By establishing a close partnership and dialogue between the ICT sector and the Higher
Education system to ensure that the supply of ICT skills is well matched to industry’s changing
needs as ICT technologies and markets develop; and by addressing the resource and capacity
constraints in the university sector needed to deliver this – including through linking all public
and private universities to a national broadband research network.
3.4: ICT cluster development
Objective:
To develop clusters of high-growth ICT companies based around Technology Parks in each
division of Bangladesh by 2013 (or federal states, if they are so upgraded by that time)

By using public private partnerships to establish at Technology Parks which have close links
with nearby Higher Education institutions, and are well-served by high-speed broadband and
wireless connectivity. ICT firms locating to the parks will benefit from preferential focus in
broader support schemes for the ICT sector, such as the Equity Entrepreneurship Fund.
Work Stream 4: Enabling the Market
4.1: Removing Legal Barriers to e-Commerce
Objective:
To ensure that all remaining legal barriers to doing business electronically in Bangladesh are
removed and that the necessary business changes are put in place in the public and private
sectors to take advantage of the new legal opportunities. In particular, to ensure that all
Bangladeshi citizens and businesses:
- Have easy access to electronic payment facilities for e-commerce including mobile
payments
- Are able to use email communications with all government agencies and ministries, and
to digitally sign electronic communications for any government transaction where a high
level of authentication is essential

By establishing a Certified Authority to oversee the provision of digital certificates enabled by the
ICT Act 2006, and development of a partnership with the banks to establish the business and
6
technical infrastructure needed to make e-commerce and e-government transactions a reality.
4.2: Accelerating development of a pro-competitive regulatory regime for

telecommunications
Objective:
To ensure that Bangladesh is a regional leader in availability, quality and cost of broadband
infrastructure and services
By establishing a liberalized and competitive marketplace for telecommunications in
Bangladesh, bringing widespread access to broadband at affordable costs. Specific actions
include:
The Government of Bangladesh to commit to full privatization of BTCL, publishing a clear

roadmap for sale within 18-24 months. International evidence suggests that privatised,
competitive telecommunications markets contribute more to GDP growth, to taxation
revenues for government, and to employment levels than do public sector monopolies.
BTRC to publish a strategy for development of the Bangladesh telecoms market, giving
current market actors and potential new entrants greater clarity about: BTRC’s strategy for
market development, key milestones, and the principles it will apply. We recommend that
the strategy should cover in particular:
Driving forward a transparent and cost-based interconnection regime
Increasing competition on the international gateway
Moving to a converged licensing regime, with greater use of class licensing
Introduction of a spectrum trading regime
Establishment of a Universal Service Fund to assist with broadband infrastructure
roll-out in rural areas.
MoPT to commission an Independent Organisational Review of BTRC aimed at

strengthening its capacity, enabling it to bring in more professional economics, legal and
telecoms expertise within a more flexible pay and grading structure.
Work Stream 5: Leadership and Governance

5.1 Establishing effective cross-government leadership and governance of the ICT
Roadmap
Objective:
To ensure that:
a) accountability for delivering all aspects of the roadmap and associated elements is clear to all
stakeholders
b) effective structures and processes are in place to ensure successful delivery.

Through a range of strengthened governance mechanisms, including:
− The ICT Taskforce taking overall responsibility for the ICT Roadmap
− Underpinning the ICT Taskforce with a full-time Government CIO (Chief Information Officer)
reporting directly to Taskforce and the Chief Advisor, and supported by a small ICT
Roadmap Programme Management Office
− Establishing formal public reporting processes to monitor progress on delivery of the ICT
Roadmap
− Reducing overlap and confusion in both the actual activities and the formal remits of a
7
number of the key bodies, by:
− Vesting overall strategic ownership, coordination and monitoring of the ICT
Roadmap with the ICT Roadmap PMO/ eGovernance Cell, reporting to the
Government Chief Information Officer and the ICT Taskforce
− Mandating BCC to provide delivery support and capability building for Ministries,
with a refocused agenda similar to India’s National Institute for Smart Governance,
and taking over the delivery and support projects previously managed by SICT..
5.2 Improving ICT strategy and delivery within Ministries
Objective:
To ensure that individual Ministries have effective governance structures and processes in
place, alongside with all the necessary skills, to ensure successful delivery.

− Improving ICT governance within Ministries, by:
− Defining the role, specification, and privileges of ICT Focal Points, including giving them
budgetary power over ICT expenditure in their ministries
− Creating close reporting links between the Focal Points and the Government CIO
− Developing an ICT Centre of Excellence in each ministry, reporting to the ICT Focal
Point.
− Addressing internal ICT skills shortages within the government by:
− Enabling the ICT Centres of Excellence to recruit staff at market rates
− Making “computer literacy” (basic ICT user skills) a compulsory part of all examinations
for government jobs
8
Figure 1.3: ICT Roadmap Timetable and Key Milestones
1. Empowering
National ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh
Multi-stakeholder Launch of communications 60% of Bangladeshis have 100% of
Citizens partnership launched campaign ICT access Bangladeshis have
1.1 Universal access ICT access All school
eBangla National leavers have
eBangla Partnership basic ICT skills
launched Strategy published All government web content now available in Bangla
1.2 e-Bangla
Vision document New ICT curriculum All secondary and higher secondary ICT labs in all higher ICT labs in all secondary schools.
published launched schools have Internet connectivity secondary schools ICT is mandatory part of curriculum
GoB is a regional leader in e-service sophistication
2. Transforming Vision documents All Ministries to have launched
and citizen focus as benchmarked by the UN
Public Services published for key sectors “quick win” e-services
2.1 eServices
Multi-stakeholder First release of One Second release of One Stop Majority of citizen and SME dealings with government
partnership launched Stop Shop Shop, including mobile channel now take place via one of the One Stop Shop channels
2.2 One Stop Shop
eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability
Framework v1.0 published Framework v2.0 published Framework v3.0 published Framework v4.0 published Framework v5.0 published
2.3 Standards
3. Growing Launch rebranding of Bangladesh and International business surveys show Bangladesh recognised
the ICT international ICT investment campaign as a regional leader for ICT services and outsourcing
Sector
3.1 International Campaign
ICT Finacial Taskforce Banking best Review of EEF ICT tax holiday
report published practice published completed extended
3.2 Access to Finance
Launch of industry/
academia skills partnership All universities part of broadband research and education network
3.3 Skills
Pilot Hi-Tech Phase 1 Technology Parks Technology Parks operating in
Technology Park Development
Park opened launched at Chittagong and Khulna every Division of Bangladesh
Corporation established
3.4 ICT Clusters
4. Enabling Certified Authority First Digital Certificates Bangladeshis able to transact through credit card over internet and mobile phone Bangladesh is a regional
the market established issued by CA BTRC publishes annual reports and leader in availability, quality
4.1 Removing legal barriers BTRC publishes strategic and cost of broadband
roadmap for telecoms competion updates of competition roadmap
Timetable published for BTCL privatisation
4.2 Competitive telecoms
5. Leadership & Chief Information Officer appointed Chief Information Officer publishes quarterly reports on delivery of ICT Roadmap
Coordination
5.1 Cross-government
New powers for All Ministries have ICT Computer Literacy compulsory for
ICT Focal Points Centres of Excellence all new government jobs
5.2 Within Ministries
1 Jan 2009 1 Jan 2010 1 Jan 2011 1 Jan 2012 1 Jan 2013
Phase 1: Building Momentum Phase 2: Achieving Critical Mass Phase 3: Transformation
9
2. Introduction
Purpose of this document
This document serves the purpose of:
- Describing the main findings of the S2-ICT project “Development of a National

ICT Roadmap / Action Plan for Bangladesh”, including the proposed ICT
Roadmap for Bangladesh
- Presenting a series of actions and next steps to be agreed and taken forward by
the Government of Bangladesh
Who should read it
The target audience is listed below
- All senior management at the Ministry for Science and ICT and the Bangladesh
Computer Council involved in management of the Support for Public Sector
Development use of ICT project
- Other government personnel in Bangladesh who are involved in ICT and related
projects (e.g. MOSICT, e-Gov cell in the Chief Advisors Office, etc.)
- All stakeholders who will be participating in the roadmap delivery, in particular:
Leaders from the Bangladesh business community

Non-governmental organisations and other representatives of
Bangladesh civil-society
Opinion formers in academia and the media
Decision-makers in the international donor organisations active in
Bangladesh
Context
In 2002, the Bangladesh government adopted a National Policy on ICT. Six years later,
however, progress has been disappointing. As stated in the RfP for this assignment: “In
Bangladesh, Government use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT),
especially those related to the Internet is still underdeveloped. The Ministry of Science
and Information and Communication Technology (MOSICT), the government agency
responsible for ICT related issues has not been able to achieve the goals set out for E-
Governance in the National ICT policy of 2002. The Government of Bangladesh has
inadequate capacity and infrastructure to harness the benefits of ICT in improving public
sector management and processes. Use of ICT within the Government is very limited
and only a small number of civil servants have Internet and email access. Furthermore,
strategic ICT planning skills are in short supply within the Government.”
10
Against that background, Gov3 Limited – together with Bangladesh partners,
Spinnovation and DNet – were appointed by the Government of Bangladesh to develop:
“A short, medium and long term National ICT Action Plan or Roadmap for
Bangladesh on the basis of the National ICT Policy 2002, that provides detailed
action plans for the (i) use of ICT in Bangladesh’s development efforts and (ii)
development of Bangladesh’s ICT sector”
3. Methodology
In preparation of this report, we:
- Conducted research on existing policy initiatives and programs related to ICT

development in Bangladesh
- Conducted extensive stakeholder consultations
- Developed an “Overview Report” reflecting the current state of ICT development in

Bangladesh and outlining a suggested approach for the ICT Roadmap
- Sought stakeholder views on the outline approach for the ICT Roadmap which we
had proposed in our Overview Report
- Conducted a prioritization exercise to evaluate the ICT policies and programs that
will have the greatest impact in Bangladesh (see Chapter 5 of this report for more
detail on this process)
- Developed a “Thrust Report” that described the outputs of the prioritization exercise
and suggested a way forward for the ICT Roadmap
- Collected stakeholder input on the Thrust Report
- Deepened the analysis of the Thrust Report to provide detailed priorities and
recommendations for each of the Mission Critical Programmes for Bangladesh
- Developed the ICT Roadmap / Action Plan for Bangladesh (this document), and are
currently conducting consultations on this document
This report is the first draft of the final output of the S2-ICT Project “Development of a
National ICT Roadmap / Action Plan for Bangladesh”. The final Roadmap document will
take account of input by stakeholders on this draft.
11
4. Current state analysis
In general, Bangladesh is falling behind a number of other countries in the region in use
of ICTs for development, knowledge economy and e-Governance, as illustrated by the
following five figures. The first three show the progress which Bangladesh has made
over the past five years against the three indicators developed by the United Nations to
track progress against Target 18 of the Millennium Development Goals: “In cooperation
with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially
information and communications”. The indicators are:
- Personal computers per 100 people
- Internet users per 100 people
- Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 people
These show a mixed picture. Figure 4.1 highlights a strong growth rate in PC
penetration since 2000 – but from an extremely low base of 0.15% of the population so
there are still only 1.2 PCs per 100 Bangladeshis. This growth has brought PC
penetration up to the level of countries such as India and Vietnam, but lagging behind Sri
Lanka, China and Malaysia.
Figure 4.1. Personal computers
Millennium Development Goals > Personal Computers
800%
Bangladesh
700%
600%
Growth
rate of
PCs, 500%
2000-
2004 400%
300% Sri Lanka
200%
India China Malaysia S. Korea
100%
Nepal Australia
0% Vietnam Singapore
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Pakistan PCs per 100 of population, 2004
Source: Gov3 analysis, using data from UN Millennium Development Goal Indicators site at tp://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Data.aspx
12
However, Figure 4.2 highlights that although PC penetration has caught up with or
overtaken some neighbours, Bangladesh has been far less successful in translating this
into significant Internet use by Bangladeshi citizens – with Bangladesh ranking lowest on
this measure among the countries highlighted, and also growing weakly.
Figure 4.2. Internet use
Millennium Development Goals > Internet use
7000%
Vietnam
6000%
5000%
Growth
rate of
Internet4000%
users,
Pakistan
2000-
2006 3000%
Bangladesh
2000%
India
1000%
China Malaysia S. Korea Australia
Singapore
0%
0 20 40 60 80
Nepal
Sri Lanka Internet users per 100 of population, 2006
Finally, Figure 4.3 highlights the area of greatest progress: access to telephony. Driven
largely by an explosion of demand for mobile telephony after the liberalising
Telecommunications Act of 2001, Bangladesh has seen the strongest growth rates of
the benchmarked countries by a significant margin, with over 1 in 3 Bangladeshis now
having telephone access.
13
Figure 4.3. Access to telephony
Millennium Development Goals > Fixed and cellular telephony
5000%
Bangladesh
4000%
Growth
rate, 3000%
2000-
2006
2000%
Pakistan
Vietnam
1000%
China Malaysia
Sri Australia
Nepal India S. Korea
Lanka Singapore
0%
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Fixed lines and cellular subscriptions per 100 of population, 2006
The following two charts then show progress by the same group of benchmarked
countries on the deployment and use of ICT within the government itself (looking first at
2002 and then 2007). The data comes from the United Nations’ annual surveys of
eGovernment, and shows how Bangladesh has been assessed by the United Nations
against two measures:
- The number and sophistication of e-services made available (that is, the “Web
Measure Index” shown on the horizontal axis); and
- The quality of the citizen experience of online engagement with government (that
is, the “eParticipation” index shown on the vertical axis).
14
Figure 4.5. UN e-Government Benchmark 2002
United Nations eGovernment benchmarking > 2002
0.7
Australia
E-participation maturity1
0.6
0.5
S. Korea Singapore
0.4
0.3
Sri Lanka India
0.2
Pakistan
Nepal Malaysia
0.1
Bangladesh Vietnam China
0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
E-service maturity2
Source: United Nations e-Government Readiness Report 2003. 1: e-participation index covering information, consultation and decision-making, 2: web-government
index covering interactivity, transactions and networked presence.
Figure 4.6. UN e-Government Benchmark 2007
United Nations eGovernment benchmarking > 2007
1.0 S. Korea
0.9
Australia
E-participation maturity1
0.8
0.7
Singapore
0.6
Vietnam
0.5
China
0.4
Malaysia
0.3
India
0.2
Bangladesh
0.1
Pakistan
0.0 Nepal Sri Lanka
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
E-service maturity2
Source: United Nations e-Government Readiness Report 2008. 1: e-participation index covering information, consultation and decision-making, 2: web-government
index covering interactivity, transactions and networked presence.
15
These charts suggest that, although Bangladesh has made progress in both the number
and the quality of its e-Governance services, it has not been doing so at the same pace
as other Asian countries (with the exception of Nepal, which it has overtaken on both
measures in the UN benchmark).
What is the reason for this relative lack of progress? In principle, it seemed to us in
approaching this assignment that there could be three potential explanations:
a) That Bangladesh faces a unique set of development challenges, which put it at a

significant disadvantage when compared with other developing countries in the
region
b) That there has been a lack of a strategic and policy focus on this area by the
government
c) That government strategies in this area have been less impactful in Bangladesh
because of weakness in the way in which delivery of these strategies has been
approached.
Our conclusion is that, although each of these potential explanations has an element of
substance, the key problems lie very much in the third area, around implementation.
Figures 4.7 and 4.8 substantiate this analysis.
Figure 4.7 gives a high level view of what – based on our desk research and stakeholder
consultation to date – we see as Bangladesh’s major strengths and weaknesses as an
Information Society.
16
Figure 4.7. Strengths and Weaknesses for ICT in Bangladesh
Sector Strengths Weaknesses

Society - Strong grass-roots - Low levels of income
entrepreneurialism and - Bangladesh is lagging behind its
innovation in civil society neighbours in ICT development and use
- Low cost of computer - Lack of effective market framework for the
hardware and accessories development of ICT is limiting its potential
- Widespread and growing for widespread use.
access to and use of mobile - Lack of infrastructure, including electricity,
phones fixed line telephones and Internet
- Use of intermediaries to allow - High cost of Internet connectivity, and
people to access information very low levels of access
who lack the skills to do this - Lack of local Internet content to drive
on their own (e.g. literacy and demand for ICTs
IT skills) - No policy on privacy and protection from
- Largely on track for meeting unsecured content
Millennium Development
Goals
Industry - Low cost of IT outsourcing in - Lack of international awareness of

Bangladesh in terms of Bangladesh as a possible source of
Investment in Human outsourcing
Resource - Shortage of higher-level skills needed for
- Good basic English language ICT sector
skills and IT skills among IT - Bank financing is in scarcity; no structured
graduates allocation for ICT sector
- Growing global demand for - Lack of competition in key areas of the
outsourcing market
- Regulatory framework restricting the
widespread adoption of new technologies
(e.g. VOIP, Wimax)
- Lack of project management and
marketing skills
- One-size fits all procurement policy, so
low levels of SME access to Government
of Bangladesh (GoB) procurements
Government - ICT designated as a “thrust” - Overlapping and uncoordinated
area for Bangladesh governance mechanisms
- National ID project has - Need for stronger ICT leadership from the
potential to enable integrated centre
citizen-centric service delivery - Some good early examples of e-
- Creation of Access to Government, but key building blocks (eg
Information (A2I) programme on interoperability, and common data
in the Chief Advisor’s Office sets) are missing.
with aim of coordinating ICT - Limited skills for ICT-enabled public
and e-Government efforts sector transformation
from across government - Parliament is non-functional, so weaker
- e-Governance Horizon Scan democratic legitimacy behind government
report provides a strong basis initiatives
for development - No critical mass of ICT users within
government
17
Two things emerge from this analysis. First, it is clear that although Bangladesh does
indeed face major challenges, these are not unique. Many other developing countries in
the region face similar or larger problems. Second, Bangladesh also has a significant
number of strengths to draw on, which in principle we would expect to have seen leading
through into greater progress in key areas where similar countries have made more
progress.
So if the relative lack of progress is not due to a lack of some significant national assets
for the Information Society, what of our second potential explanation: that there has
been a relative lack of government focus on this area, leading to those assets being
under-exploited?
Again, the evidence suggests that this is not the case. Indeed, as summarised in Figure
4.8 below, there is a significant history of strategic and policy focus on ICT in
Bangladesh, going back over two decades. Although Bangladesh has a history of ICT
use dating back to the 1960s, efforts started to accelerate with the formation of the
Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) in 1986. From this point, Bangladesh began a
series of policies and Acts to promote ICT development in the country. Major
developments included the 1997 recommendations on ICT development, and the 2002
ICT policy. More recently, an e-Government cell has been created in the Chief Advisors
Unit, and completed an e-Government Horizon scan in December 2007.
Figure 4.8. A brief history of ICT use in Bangladesh
Year Development
1964 Computer use started back in 1964 by Atomic Energy Center, Dhaka and
Universities, first main frame computer came to Bangladesh in 1964
1970s Growth of ICT was nominal due to turbulent political scenario and economic
depression
1980-1985 Introduction of desktop PCs (386 DX) in small numbers in some government
institutions
1886 Formation of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC)
1990 Formulation of BCC Act
1993 Internet introduced in Bangladesh. The Internet came late in Bangladesh, with unix
to unix copy (UUCP) e-mail beginning in 1993 by Pradesta Ltd
1996 In June, 1996 the government decided to allow private companies to act as Internet
Services Providers (ISPs) using VSATs (two-way satellite ground stations). Internet
Protocol (IP) connectivity established in 1996. By July 1997 there were an estimated
5,500 IP and UUCP accounts
1997 In June 1997, the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh appointed a

Committee to look into the problems and prospects of export of software from
Bangladesh. It was undertaken by JRC Commission in 1997 under the government
initiative. JRC commission came up with 45 recommendations
18
1998 The government decided on June, 1998 to withdraw all import duties and VAT from
all computer hardware and software, which fortunately coincided with global
reduction of prices of computer hardware. This has brought the prices of computers
down to a level affordable by middle income households.
1998 Telecom Policy 1998 introduced
2001 Telecommunication Act 2001 established. The Act led to the formation of the
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in order to serve
the goal of development and efficient regulation of telecommunication system and
service in Bangladesh
2001 Formation of Ministry of Science and ICT
2002 BTRC started operation on January 31, 2002
2002 First draft ICT policy was formulated in October 2002 by BCC. The objective of the
policy was:
- The creation of infrastructure facilities and an ICT legal framework to facilitate
the integration of ICT and the development of the software industry
- The provision of incentives to local and foreign entrepreneurs to promote ICT
sector development
- The development of an effective ICT infrastructure allowing the international
and national networks open access
- The promotion of ICT integration in all economic sectors to encourage
transparency, efficiency, and good governance
- The establishment of regulatory frameworks for a variety of key ICT issues, and
to ensure the provision and quality of private ICT education
- The creation of reliable and accessible national databases
- The promotion of ICT use, training, and culture in the public sector
- The development of a sizable resource of globally-competitive ICT
professionals able to meet local and global market requirements
- The continuous promotion of the ICT industry through the creation of an
effective ICT institution
- The enactment of laws and regulations that conform to World Trade
Organization stipulations to allow for consistent ICT growth
2002 MOSICT established ICT Incubator giving over 68000 sq. ft. space to IT companies
with all dedicated infrastructure facilities in 2002.
2003-2004 On 3 April 2003 National Taskforce Committee of MOSICT decided to implement

the Hi-Tech park project. Accordingly step was taken to establish Hi-Tech park on
231.385 acres of land. A memorandum of understanding was signed between
Ministry of land and MOSICT and the land was handed over to MOSICT on 24 April
2004 by the Ministry of Land. Project is still in progress.
2005 MoSICT assigned BCC to instigate 4 projects to foster a sustainable e-readiness in

Bangladesh. They are:
- S1-ICT Project [e-Governance]
- S2-ICT Project [National ICT Roadmap Policy]
- S3-ICT Project [Network Infrastructure]
- S4-ICT Project [Human Resource & Training]
2006 Submarine Cable connection to Global Information Superhighway (SEA-ME-WE-4)
19
established in 2006 with 1.28 terabyte data transfer capacity
2007 Formation of e-Gov cell under Chief Advisors Office (CAO) to coordinate all
ministries for successful implementation of e-Governance
2007 Establishment of focal points in each ministries through assignment of a Joint

Secretary to coordinate with the e-Gov Cell and within the ministry
2007 In a Gazette notification, the Government has instructed the allocation of minimum
2% of its ADP for each ministry
2007-2008 Voter ID and National ID Project taken by EC
December e-Government Horizon Scan report completed

2007
2008 S1-ICT, S2-ICT, S3-ICT and S4-ICT begin work
Against this background, our conclusion is that the relative lack of progress cannot be
explained by a lack of focus or political priority.
Instead, we believe the explanation lies in our third potential area: that government
strategies in this area have had less impact in Bangladesh because of weaknesses in
the way in which the delivery of these strategies has been approached. Based on our
consultations and our knowledge of successful approaches in other countries, our
analysis is that the weaknesses lie in five main areas:
1. A change agenda which is too broad to be effectively managed, with

insufficient prioritisation on where to focus budgets and management
attention
Much of the strategic work by the government which we have examined so far
takes a broad and ambitious approach to the scope of ICT policy change which is
desired in Bangladesh. For example, the 2002 IT policy contained 10 major
areas of focus, and 107 detailed recommendations for action. In January 2008, ,
the e-Governance Horizon Scan report undertaken by the Chief Advisor’s Office
sets out seven major areas of focus, and 31 priority lines of recommended
action. And most recently, the Bangladesh Better British Forum has been
working on a proposal for a new 2008 IT policy, which consists of broad
objectives, 58 strategic themes and 267 action items.
In all cases, the detailed actions themselves each represent significant

programmes of change in their own right. On the one hand, this breadth of
ambition is good. The danger, however, is that this leads to the government
seeking to do everything at once, with no clear sense of how the different
recommendations should be prioritised - and therefore results in under-
delivering.
20
2. Unclear and uncoordinated governance structures and processes
There are a wide range of bodies involved in ICT governance for Bangladesh, as
illustrated in Figure 4.9 below. Many of the stakeholders we have approached
have commented that it is unclear where accountabilities lie.
Figure 4.9. ICT governance structures in the Government of Bangladesh
Ministry A: Focal Ministry B: Focal Ministry C: Focal

A2I Project Points Points Points
The core Ministry and focal

point of government’s E-Gov Cell EC of ITF
activities related to science
and ICT. It is for coordinating
all ICT related activities taken Highest strategic
by various government bodies council with multi-
stakeholder
representation for
facilitating accelerated
PMO ICT Task Force implementation of ICT
related action plan
High-tech Park Project through quick decision
making
DIIA MoSICT Ministry of Planning SICT
BKIICT
BCC
Ministry of Commerce For supporting the EC of ICT
taskforce and coordinating
ICT Incubator implementation of ICT related
projects
IBPC
For fostering growth of
Knowledge economy primarily
growth of export of software
and ITES
3. Lack of effective cross-government programme management
As ICT is a cross-cutting area, it essentially involves more than one agency for
implementation. For this reason, a taskforce was established under the Prime
Minister’s office in 2000. However, the feedback we have had from stakeholders
is that it has not operated effectively. Relations between the Task Force and the
Ministry of Science and ICT were unclear; the key staff involved in supporting the
Task Force had other important priorities which conflicted with this role; and the
Task Force has met very infrequently. More generally, we have seen no
evidence of standard programme management techniques being applied to ICT
policy coordination: that is, clear assignation of responsibilities, measurable
21
targets and delivery plans for projects, and programme-wide risk management
and issue escalation.
4. Lack of skills and capability
Again, stakeholder feedback has been that limited skills and capability within the
government has been a factor holding back delivery. Although there has been
significant investment on training, it has had little impact, in large part due to
training content often having been divorced from the specific work responsibilities
of participants, with little opportunity or motivation then to deploy the skills in the
workplace.
5. An implementation approach which historically has tended to be focused

on government delivery, rather than facilitation and enablement of private
and voluntary sector solutions.
There is a clear sense in which much action previously has been taken forward in
a “government-centric” way, rather than in partnership with the private sector and
civic society. The successful expansion of the mobile telephony market is a good
example of the dramatic impacts that can be achieved when the government puts
in place an enabling framework for the private sector to work within, but too
frequently the feedback we are getting from private sector stakeholders is that
the government can be slow to let the market innovate (for example in new ICTs
such as WiMax). Similarly, feedback from NGOs is often that they see
government involvement with their work on ICT for development as something to
be minimised, rather than as a lead player in catalysing partnerships in the way
governments in some other countries are perceived.
22
5. Structure of the roadmap
A top-level view of the ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh is set out in the figure below. This
structure was originally discussed and agreed as part of the Overview Report, and has
served as a basis for the development of the roadmap and specific recommendations. It
was developed with the intention of learning from and addressed the five historic
weaknesses in ICT policy implementation that were identified during the Current State
Assessment and summarised in the previous chapter.
1 Empowering citizens
3 Growing the
2 Transforming ICT sector
Public Services Access
I have easy and affordable
access to ICT Hardware
E-democracy
Software
E-citizens
Users
Applications
E-business
E-Finance Telecoms
Citizens
SMEs
E-SME Digital content
Motivation Civil Confidence

E-Agriculture Servants I have all the skills I need
I see real benefits from
to use ICT, and I
ICT which are directly
E-education feel trust and security
relevant to my life
using it
E-health Legal framework
E-culture
Regulatory Fiscal
E-disaster and framework framework
climate change
4 Enabling the market
5
Leadership and Governance
The key workstreams shown in this ICT Roadmap are:
1. Empowering Citizens: embracing an integrated strategy to address the access,

confidence and motivation barriers to ICT adoption and use by citizens and
businesses:
o Access: both citizens and businesses need to be empowered to access
information and knowledge through ICTs. The growth of the use of
mobile phones has had an impact on people’s ability to access
information – and the Internet can offer an even richer experience. But
access to ICT, especially the Internet, is still far too low in Bangladesh.
More needs to be done to provide an environment in which the market for
ICT can flourish, and access to ICTs is more widespread.
23
o Confidence: additionally, users need the confidence to be able
effectively use ICT. Where people do not have the skills to access ICT
directly (e.g. literacy and basic IT skills), intermediaries have proven to be
a useful way of allowing them to access information.
o Motivation: the lack of local content relevant to Bangladeshis is a serious
issue. Without relevant content, there is little benefit to the use of ICT.
While some progress has been made in developing relevant local content,
there is still not enough. More can be done to foster the development of
content, including content development at the grassroots level and from
government.
2. Transforming Public Services: some progress has been made in government

use of ICT, including the development of a national portal, and the publication of
the Gazette online. However, the application of ICT to government has largely
been to computerise existing systems, and there has been little in the way of
transformation of government to meet user needs. While computerisation and
informatisation also provide real benefits to customers, the most significant
benefits from e-Government are from transformation – which requires significant
changes to business processes and working culture, which in turn requires the
leaders and deliverers of public services to be motivated and incentivised to
change.
3. Growing the ICT sector: the ICT sector is a potential success story in
Bangladesh. The decision in 1998 to withdraw all import duties and VAT from all
computer hardware and software allowed a nascent industry to develop. The
ICT Incubator Project has fostered a number of companies, and companies that
have used Bangladesh for outsourcing recognise many benefits in Bangladesh.
Denmark, in particular, is expanding its investment quickly, and there is growth
potential from a variety of countries’ actions. However, growth of software
exports went into reverse in 2007, so further action is clearly needed. Within the
overall Roadmap, we need to ensure that growing demand for ICT products and
services by citizens, businesses and the private sector in Bangladesh helps to
underpin a thriving and growing supply side
4. Enabling the market: this workstream will cover actions to ensure that the legal,
regulatory and fiscal framework within which the demand and supply sides of the
Knowledge Economy in Bangladesh interact are supportive and enabling.
Bangladesh can do much to improve the market environment for ICT. Freeing
the market to greater competition and enabling a regulatory environment which is
more open would significantly improve market conditions and reduce the cost of
connectivity. Taking steps to enable the market framework will be one of the
highest impact “quick wins” for Bangladesh.
5. Leadership and Governance: actions to ensure that the overall roadmap is

delivered in practice, by addressing institutional and governance weaknesses
that resulted in slow and incomplete implementation of the 2002 IT Policy.
24
6. Prioritisation framework
Mapping of existing initiatives
To begin the options appraisal process, we carried out a mapping of existing

recommendations and policies in Bangladesh. We also looked at existing initiatives and
planned projects for Bangladesh. These maps are included in a set of Annexes to this
report (which are available as a separate document):
- Annex A – which maps out current GoB projects which are relevant to the ICT
Roadmap framework
- Annex B - which maps out existing GoB policies which are relevant to the ICT
Roadmap framework, together with new policies proposed by the GoB through the
recent Horizon Scan report by the eGovernance Cell of the Chief Advisor’s office
- Annex C – which maps out, against the structure of the ICT Roadmap, the
recommendations of the Horizon Scan Report published by the eGovernment
Cell in the Chief Advisors Office
- Annex D – which maps out stakeholders’ proposals for new policies which have
been made to us through the project, through the programme of stakeholder
workshops and interviews which we have conducted.
Together, these inputs gave us a long list of 262 possible priorities for Bangladesh in
total. We also reviewed the 267 recommended actions emerging from the Better
Business Forum in their recommendations to the government on a new 2008 IT Policy.
Figure 6.1. Inputs to the policy clusters
25
Synthesis into policy clusters
To assist with the analysis process, we then synthesised the 529 initiatives and
recommendations into 20 “policy clusters” – broad categories of actions of a similar
nature and purpose. The table below summarises these policy clusters, grouped under
the five main workstreams identified in the ICT Roadmap framework, and explains the
types of policies that fall into each category.
Figure 6.2. Policy clusters for Bangladesh
Empowering Users
1. Community-based - Community ICT access points / telecenters
access to ICT and ICT - Facilitated community access to ICT (e.g. through
skills mediators)
- Basic ICT skills for all
- Ensuring universal coverage of ICT access points and
telecenters
- ICT support for women
- ICT for disadvantaged groups
2. Bangla content - Fostering the development of new local content in the
Bangla language
- Digitising existing content (e.g. libraries, national
archive, government content, etc.)
- Translation of relevant content into Bangla language
- Fostering technical standards to facilitate rapid
development and diffusion of Bangla content
3. Open government / - Citizen rights to communicate electronically with
citizen access to government
information - Access to information act, giving citizens the right to
access all government content
- Policy for the free commercial re-use of government
information
4. ICT in education - ICT access in schools
- e-Learning
- Network for teachers to share information and course
material
- ICT infrastructure for schools
5. SME support on ICT - Small business ICT strategy
adoption - Information programme to inform SMEs about the
potential uses and benefits of ICT in their businesses
- Financial assistance for ICT adoption by SMEs
- Tax or other incentives for ICT adoption by SMEs
Transforming Public
Services
6. Citizen-centric - e-Services
government services - service delivery channels
26
- eGovernance standards and policies
ITEC Sector
7. International trade and - International marketing campaign for Bangladesh as a
investment campaign location for outsourcing
- Participation in international events and roadshows
- International collaboration and support for export
8. Supply of specialist - Specialist/advanced ICT education in schools
ITEC skills - ICT education in universities
- Adult ICT education
- Specialist skill training
- Incentives to encourage students to specialise in ICTs
9. ITEC cluster - High tech parks
development - ICT incubator
10. Access to finance - Government backed loans for ITEC investments
- Pump-priming venture capital funds for the ITEC sector
11. R&D and innovation - Government support of R&D
support - Fostering university / industry partnerships
12. Open Source - Policy for use of open source software
development - Incentives for open source development
13. Preferential - Policy for preferential treatment of local companies for
procurement policy for ICT procurement
local companies
14. Tax policy - Tax incentives for the purchase of hardware, software,
IT services, etc.
- Tax incentives to support the ITEC industry
Market framework
15. Pro-competitive - Regulatory policy to foster competition
regulatory framework - Removing advantages for incumbent operator
- Separation of wholesale from retail
- Class licensing
- Open spectrum allocation
- Increase capacity of BTRC
16. Removing barriers to - Legal recognition of electronic signatures
e-commerce - Work with banks to enable e-payments
17. Digital IPR - IPR regime for digital content
- International IPR harmonisation
- IRR enforcement
18. Consumer protection - Privacy
- Security
Governance
19. Strengthen and clarify - Clarify roles and responsibilities for ICT in government
cross-government - Strengthen cross-government programme management
governance capability
arrangements - Create a central leadership team within government to
(structures, processes take ownership for the ICT roadmap
and incentives)
27
- Put the necessary incentives and levers in place to
ensure cross-government coordination and improve
collaboration
20. Strengthen - Formalise the role of ICT Focal Points at the Ministry
governance and Agency level to ensure service delivery
arrangements within - Ensure the Focal Points have the necessary resources,
ministries recognition and incentives to be effective
- Strengthen programme and project management in
ministries
We believe that this list is comprehensive, with all specific projects, actions and priorities
fitting under one of the broad headings. This list also incorporates feedback from
stakeholders, who were consulted through interviews and workshops.
Having developed this list of 20 policy clusters, our next step was to evaluate each
cluster against six key assessment criteria, which we have then aggregated together to
give two overall summary measure of relative importance and feasibility, as illustrated
below.
Figure 6.3. Key assessment criteria
The scoring basis for each criterion is described in the table below. Each is based on a
relative rather than absolute assessment of the policy clusters: in other words, each
policy cluster is not assessed in terms of its impact, feasibility etc in quantified terms, but
in terms of whether or not it is likely to be higher or lower than the other potential policy
interventions.
28
Figure 6.4. Criteria for options appraisal
Criterion Scoring system
1. Extent of contribution to poverty reduction / Level 3 – Significant direct impact on poverty

social cohesion reduction and social cohesion in short to
medium term
Level 2 – Some direct or indirect
Level 1 – Little significant impact
Level 0 – No immediate impact
2. Extent of contribution to economic growth Level 3 – Significant direct impact on wealth

creation in short to medium term
Level 2 – Some direct or indirect impact on
wealth creation in short to medium term
Level 1 – Little significant impact in short to
medium term
Level 0 – No immediate impact in the short to
medium term
3. Breadth and Scale of Impact Level 3 – Cross cutting, impacts multiple

barriers in multiple sectors
Level 2 – Addresses a clear barrier to
Information Society development in BD, which
impacts multiple sectors OR addresses
multiple barriers in a single sector
Level 1 – Addresses a single barrier for a
single sector (note: sector defined as small
businesses, citizens, government, ITEC)
Level 0 – Little impact, or impacts a small
number of people
4. Size of potential multiplier effects Level 3 - Very strong multiplier effect

Level 2 - Strong multiplier effect
Level 1 - Some multiplier effect
Level 0 - No/little multiplier effect
5. Affordability Level 3 – Minimal direct cost

Level 2 - Low direct costs
Level 1 - Medium cost
Level 0 - High cost
6. Deliverability Level 3 – Immediately deliverable with current

capabilities; low risk implementation
Level 2 – Low intrinsic risk, but requires new
capabilities to be developed
Level 1 – Complex and risky; requiring
significant change management capability
Level 0 – Highly complex and high risk delivery
29
The judgements we have made in arriving at this relative assessment have been
informed by:
- Gov3 experience in other countries
- The analysis of drivers of and barriers to development of the Information

Society which was undertaken by the eGovernance Cell to inform the Horizon
Scan Report
- Our own analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

faced by the ITEC supply industries in Bangladesh (see Annex F)
- Extensive stakeholder consultation in Bangladesh
The final results of our appraisal have also been shared with stakeholders, and their
feedback has been incorporated.
30
7. Prioritisation results
In this chapter we describe the initial results we have obtained through this Options
Appraisal process – and which has been validated through stakeholder consultations.
Strategic fit
Strategic fit is an aggregate measure of the suitability of a particular policy for

Bangladesh. The two main priorities for Bangladesh, in light of the Millennium
Development Goals, are poverty reduction and economic development. We therefore
evaluated the possible thrust areas for Bangladesh against these two priorities, to
identify which elements have the best strategic fit for Bangladesh.
Based on these two scores, we were able to develop a matrix that shows each of the
priorities and how they fit against these two strategic goals for Bangladesh (see figure
7.1 below).
Figure 7.1. Analysis of Strategic Fit
Strategic fit Intermediate
How well does the initiative fit with Bangladesh’s priority goals of poverty reduction and
economic growth?
Citizen-centric Community ICT W orkstream
Bangla content
govt services Pro-competitive ♦ = Empowering Users
3
ICT in market
♦ = T ransforming Government
Poverty Reduction / Social Cohesion
education Governance
Ministry ♦ = Growing the IT EC Sector
Governance ♦ = Enabling the Market
SME support ♦ = Leadership and Governance
2
Scoring codes
Level 3 – Significant direct

IT EC campaign impact in short to medium
term
Consumer
protection Specialist skills
1
Level 2 – Some direct or

E-commerce
O pen indirect impact in short to
Government barriers medium term
R&D support Access to finance IT EC cluster Level 1 – Little significant

Open source development impact in short to medium
term
0
Procurement Level 0 – No immediate

T ax policy IPR impact in the short to
medium term
0 1 2 3
Economic Growth
31
Impact
Impact is an aggregate measure, combining two key indicators: the breadth and scale of
the impact on Bangladesh, and the multiplier effects associated with the policy.
priorities and how large their impact is for Bangladesh (see figure 7.2 below).
Figure 7.2. Analysis of Impact
Impact Intermediate W orkstream
What is the scale of impact of the initiative for Bangladesh? ♦ = Empowering U sers
Bangla content ♦ = Growing the IT EC Sector

Community ICT
Pro-competitive ♦ = Enabling the Market
3
Citizen-centric market
govt services ♦ = Leadership and Governance
Governance
ICT in edu
Ministry Breadth and scale of impact
Governance Level 3 – Cross cutting, impacts
Breadth and scale of impact
SME support E-commerce multiple barriers in multiple sectors

barriers Level 2 – Addresses a clear barrier
O pen to Information Society development
2
Government in BD, which impacts multiple

T ax policy IT EC clusters
sectors OR adresses multiple
barriers in a single sector
Level 1: Addresses a single barrier
Access to finance R&D support IT EC campaign for a single sector (note: sector
Consumer defined as small businesses,
Procurement O pen source protection
Specialist skills citizens, government, ITEC)
1
IPR Level 0 – Little impact, or impacts a

small number of people
Multiplier effect
Level 3 - Very strong multiplier
effect
0
Level 2 - Strong multiplier effect

Level 1 - Some multiplier effect
Level 0 - No/little multiplier effect
0 1 2 3
Multiplier effect
Feasibility
Just because a policy is potentially of high impact for Bangladesh, does not necessarily
mean it should be a priority. Also important is how feasible it is to deliver that policy
successfully. For this reason, we have also done an analysis of the feasibility of the
potential thrust areas, by combining the two criteria of deliverability and affordability.
32
priorities and how feasible they are for Bangladesh (see figure 7.3 below).
Figure 7.3. Feasibility Analysis
Feasibility Intermediate W orkstream
How practical is the initiative for Banlgadesh? ♦ = Empowering U sers

♦ = Growing the IT EC Sector
Pro-competitive Prog mgmt
Procurement ♦ = Enabling the Market
market Gov structures
3
E-commerce ♦ = Leadership and Governance

IPR
barriers
Consumer Deliverability
protection Level 3 – Immediately deliverable
Bangla content with current capabilities; low risk
O pen source
implementation
O pen
IT EC campaign Level 2 – Low intrinsic risk, but
2
Government requires new capabilities to be

Affordability
Ministry developed
Governance Level 1: Complex and risky;
requiring significant change
Access to finance management capability
IT EC cluster T ax policy Level 0 – Highly complex and high
development SME support risk delivery
1
Citizen-centric
R&D support
govt services Affordability
Level 3 - Minimal direct cost
Level 2 - Low direct costs
Community Level 1 - Medium cost
ICT in edu
ICT Level 0 - High cost
0
Specialist skills
0 1 2 3
Deliverability
Finally, we combined all three of these aggregate scores (strategic fit, impact and
feasibility) to develop a single combined summary matrix reflecting the priority areas for
Bangladesh.
An analysis of these priority areas is provided below, where “feasibility” is mapped

against “importance” – which is derived by taking the average score for each policy
cluster across the strategic fit and impact measures described above.
33
Figure 7.4. Priority areas for Bangladesh
Intermediate
Options appraisal > summary results
Procurement Cross-govt
1 governance
6
Ministry
IPR Governance
E-commerce
5
Key
Consumer
protection 2 barriers Bangla
content
T ax policy IT EC campaign
Pro- 1 Vital enablers
competitive
4
O pen source
market
Feasibility
Firm
2 priorities
Access to finance (high impact
SME support /high
3
feasibility)
R&D support O pen
Government Potential
3 Community
3 priorities (if
Specialist resourcing
ICT
skills and
2
IT EC cluster Citizen-centric capability

development govt services risks can be
addressed)
ICT in education
1
1 2 3 4 5 6
Importance
34
8. Recommended thrust areas for Bangladesh
For the ICT Roadmap to be successfully implemented, we believe it is vital that a more
focused and prioritised approach is taken than was the case after the 2002 IT Policy was
published. Rather than pursue a very wide range of initiatives on an equal basis, the
Roadmap should be built around a limited set of thrust areas or “Mission Critical
Programmes”.
In this section, we set out our recommended priorities – both in terms of:
- The Mission Critical Programmes which should be prioritised within each of the
five workstream areas in the ICT Roadmap; and
- Priorities for phasing the delivery of each Mission Critical Programme over the
five year duration of the Roadmap.
Mission Critical Programmes
As illustrated in Figure 7.4 above, three main groups of policy emerged from our option
appraisals process as recommended priorities for Bangladesh:
- First, a set of vital enablers in the “Leadership and Governance” workstream,

concerned with improving the capacity of the GoB to drive forward successful
implementation of the ICT Roadmap, through changes at both cross-
government level and within individual Ministries
- Second, a set of policy actions which we would recommend as thrust areas,

or “mission critical”, because they combine both high levels of impact and
strategic fit with relatively high levels of feasibility.
- Finally, an additional set of policy actions which are also potential candidates
for “mission critical” status, but where further work was needed to ensure that
affordability and deliverability risks can be effectively overcome.
Further consultation with stakeholders in the wake of our Thrust Report revealed that in
the final category there were indeed some high impact actions which could be taken
forward at acceptable levels of affordability and delivery risk.
As a result of that further analysis and consultation, our recommendation is that the
detailed structure of the ICT Roadmap should consist of the 5 overarching workstreams,
consisting in total of 14 Mission Critical Programmes, as summarised in Figure 8.1 below.
35
Figure 8.1. ICT Roadmap – Workstreams and Mission Critical Programmes
Workstream Mission Critical Programmes

1. Empowering Citizens 1.1 Universal Community Based Access to ICT
1.2 e-Bangla
2. Transforming Public 2.1 Citizen-centric e-Services

Services
2.2 Development of a citizen-centric, multi-channel
service delivery system for the Government of Bangladesh
3. Growing the ICT 3.1: International ICT trade and investment Campaign
sector
4. Enabling the market 4.1: Removing Legal Barriers to e-Commerce
4.2: Accelerating development of a pro-competitive

regulatory regime for telecommunications
5. Leadership and 5.1 Ensuring successful delivery of the ICT Roadmap

coordination
Further details of our recommendations for each of these Mission Critical Programmes
are set out below. First, though, we describe the approach we have taken to building the
implementation roadmap for each Project.
Priorities for phasing the delivery of the Mission Critical Programmes
Having identified the Mission Critical Programmes, the next step is to detail specific
actions to implement each one. Since everything can clearly not be done at once,
which elements of the Roadmap need to be started immediately, which can be done
later, and in what order?
Getting this right is not straightforward. For example, there may be some important
activities and investments which should sensibly be left until later in the Roadmap
process, but where it is essential to ensure that some critical initial decisions or actions
36
are taken now. We have therefore developed the framework illustrated below in order to
help judge the different strategic trade-offs that will be needed through the course of the
Roadmap.
Figure 8.2. Strategic trade-off model for the Bangladesh ICT Roadmap
Strategic
focus
1 Building
momentum
User
2 Achieving take-up
critical
mass
3 Transformation
Short term Medium term Longer term Years Time

Year 1 Years 2-3 4-5
In short, our proposal is that the roadmap should go through three major strategic
phases:
- In phase 1, the major strategic focus should be on building momentum. In

other words, the strategic priority should be put on:
o Actions which help to accelerate belief and confidence across the
Government of Bangladesh and the wider stakeholder community that
ICT-enabled change is possible and beneficial, by building on the
success of the existing eGovernance projects
o Prioritising projects which are low risk and yet can rapidly deliver high
levels of user benefit – in order to start generating a user base and to
reinforce political support for the Roadmap.
o Irreversibly embedding the ICT Roadmap in governance structures and
processes, in order to ensure continuity through the coming period of
government transition.
- In phase 2, the strategic focus should shift towards achieving critical mass:
that is, prioritising projects which, over a somewhat longer time period than those
prioritised in phase 1, can start to develop a critical mass of users.
37
- In phase 3, the strategic focus can start to shift towards transformation: in other
words, to start driving out some of the more significant transformational benefits
that widespread connectivity enables.
As the diagram makes clear, these strategic foci are not mutually exclusive, but overlap.
Thus in the Transformation phase, there will still be significant work needed to increase
adoption and use of ICTs across the government and Bangladeshi society. Similarly, in
the Building Momentum phase, there will also be some important initial steps needed in
order to plan for and enable the subsequent two phases. But the diagram shows how the
strategic weight between each consideration should, in our view, shift over time.
We have used this model to inform our recommendations on the phasing of delivery
plans in each Mission Critical Programme. Our thinking on how the “three phase model”
applies to each Mission Critical Programme is described below. Then, in Section 9, we
draw all of this together to set out the overall ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh.
Delivery priorities: Leadership and Coordination
Effective ICT development requires horizontal governance mechanisms, however all the
traditional governance mechanisms (budgets, accountability systems, management
structures) are vertical. This is a problem faced by all countries implementing ICT-
enabled change.
Our study has identified ineffective governance systems as a significant barrier to ICT
development in Bangladesh. Previous efforts to improve Bangladesh’s ICT
performance – notably the 2002 IT Policy – have been hindered by weaknesses in
moving from policy to actions capable of delivering sustainable change. The recent
relaunch of the ICT Taskforce provides a relevant top-level governance structure for
driving the ICT Roadmap, but additional changes are needed to make the Taskforce
more effective. Within Ministries, the ICT Focal Points provide a good starting point for
effective ICT governance, but their role could be strengthened, and additional support is
needed.
Capacity building is therefore urgently needed to enable the GoB to drive forward the
successful implementation of the ICT roadmap, and this we believe should form the
single most important priority in the initial “Building Momentum” phase of the ICT
Roadmap. Some initial proposals on actions to address each of these were set out in
our Overview Report, and more detailed proposals were discussed in the Thrust Report.
We have since discussed those initial proposals with a wide range of stakeholders, and
received useful feedback. As a result, our recommendations are that the Government of
Bangladesh should:
1) Request the ICT Taskforce to take responsibility for “owning” the ICT
Roadmap – monitoring its delivery and ensuring blockages are addressed effectively
38
2) Underpin the ICT Taskforce with a full-time “Government Chief Information
Officer ”, reporting directly to Taskforce and the Chief Advisor and taking responsibility
for driving the ICT roadmap. This person should have board-level experience of driving
change, in both the public and private sectors, and be empowered to act as the central
focus of leadership across government on ICT issues.
3) Establish a small ICT Roadmap Programme Management Office at the

Commission (3-4 people, with professional programme management and change
management skills, remunerated at market rates) to support the Government Chief
Information Officer, charged with:
− Identifying a Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for each Mission Critical Programme
in the ICT Roadmap – that is, a senior official in a lead Ministry with personal
responsibility for delivering each project and its intended benefits
− Working with the SRO for each Mission Critical Programme to establish detailed
delivery plans / trajectories in order to track progress against programme objectives
− Monitoring progress against the delivery trajectories - and challenging and
supporting the relevant Ministries when they fall behind
− Establishing a programme of regular external healthchecks of Mission Critical
Programme (at least every 6 months)
− Working with the donor organisations to ensure that they understand and buy-in to
the Roadmap, and will align their funding strategies behind it in an integrated, cross-
donor manner
4) Establish formal public reporting processes to monitor progress on delivery of

the ICT Roadmap:
− Publish the Government of Bangladesh’s ICT Roadmap Implementation Plan
(based on this plan prepared by Gov3, but signed off and owned by the ICT
Task Force)
− As part of this, publish the names of the lead officials responsible for each
workstream in the ICT Roadmap, along with their email addresses
− Commit to web-based public reporting by the Government Chief Information
Officer of implementation progress on a quarterly basis.
5) Clarify the roles of the key organisations involved in ICT policy, to reduce
overlap and confusion in both the actual activities and the formal remits of a number of
the key bodies. Typically, several types of central leadership and coordination are
needed in order to deliver a government strategy such as the ICT Roadmap. Figure 8.3
below sets out the three broad central roles which many governments have found
necessary to establish: summarized as Strategy Ownership, Capability Building, and
Delivery Support. While it is not essential that a separate organization be created to
fulfill each of these, it is essential to recognize that they are very different roles,
requiring different skills sets, different organizational cultures, and different relationships
with government Ministries and agencies. One of the problems in the current
Bangladesh governance arrangements is that several organizations (eg the
eGovernance Cell, SICT, BCC) all undertake elements of the three roles.
39
Figure 8.3 Central coordination of ICT policy – the different roles needed
In future, we believe there should be a much clearer distinction between:
− Overall strategic ownership, coordination and monitoring of the ICT Roadmap

(which should be done by the ICT Roadmap PMO, which should incorporate
the current eGovernance Cell, reporting to the Government Chief Information
Officer and the ICT Taskforce)
− Delivery support and capability building for Ministries (which should be done
by the BCC, with a refocused agenda more similar to India’s National Institute
for Smart Governance and taking on projects and responsibilities from SICT).
6) Improve ICT governance within Ministries, by:

− Defining the role, specification, and privileges of ICT Focal Points,
including giving them budgetary power over ICT expenditure in their
ministries, to ensure that these roles are consistently seen as senior and
empowered ones within Ministries
− Creating close reporting links between the Focal Points and the
Government CIO.
− Developing an ICT Centre of Excellence in each ministry, reporting to the
ICT Focal Point. These should be responsible for planning, monitoring
and evaluation mechanisms covering all ICT projects across the Ministry,
and ICT training and capacity building within the Ministry.
40
7) Address internal ICT skills shortages within the government by:
Enabling the ICT Centres of Excellence to recruit staff at market rates
Making “computer literacy” (basic ICT user skills) a compulsory part of all
examinations for Government jobs
Delivery priorities: Empowering Citizens
As described in Section 5 above, the strategy in this area should be to tackle, in parallel,
the three major barriers to citizen engagement with ICT in Bangladesh: lack of access to
ICT; lack of the skills and confidence to do so; and lack of motivation – that is, lack of
perceived benefits from CT which are of direct relevance to the individual’s life or
business.
Significant progress on all three of these can be made by the market itself – with
commercial providers vying to provide affordable ICT and affordable and compelling
services which can be accessed though ICT. That is why the Mission Critical
Programme on “Accelerating development of a pro-competitive regulatory regime for
telecommunications” emerged from our prioritisation exercise as such a high priority
area.
However, market action alone, however competitive the market framework, will not be
able to address all of the barriers to citizen engagement in ICTs. Three areas in
particular have been identified as Mission Critical: delivering universal community-based
access to ICT and the skills to use it; development of e-Bangla content, and ICT in
education. Recommended actions and milestones are set out in Appendix 1; below we
describe how these flow from our recommended strategic approach of focusing first on
building momentum; then on creating critical mass; and then on addressing the longer
term transformations made possible by a critical mass of Internet users:
− Universal community access to ICT

This is an area where significant progress is already in hand, under the aegis of the
Bangladesh Telecentre Network. Existing telecenters are providing real benefit to
their communities, and have been a real source of innovation in Bangladesh. The
use of intermediaries ensures that anyone can benefit from access to ICT,
regardless of literacy or language spoken, and other initiatives such as mobile ladies
and use of wireless infrastructure are helping to extend access to more people.
However, we see significant scope for early gains by bringing government and donor
organisation support behind the BTN initiatives in a more integrated way. The
existing initiatives are largely run by NGOs, and government coordination and
support could help ensure that there is more universal cover. Specific initiatives we
recommend (see Appendix 1 for details) include:
− Coordinated communication of the many different initiatives that are already in

place
41
− Government engagement with NGO and private sector community access
providers to help develop scalable and sustainable business models, including
through:
targeted financial support
defining a core set of government e-services that can be delivered through
community centres, and developing models to bring a revenue stream to the
centres for assisting citizens with these services (with long term funding
based on the cost savings to government of moving from paper-based to
electronic service delivery)
integrating the work and funding associated with the “eBangla Content”
project outlined below with the community centres.
- E-Bangla
There is currently not enough content available in the Bangla language to provide
enough motivation for a large scale shift in the utilisation of ICT among the general
public. A push for additional Bangla content would address this barrier to ICT uptake,
and also improve the quality of the experience of ICT for existing users. Additional
content hosted locally in Bangladesh will also have the advantage of reducing the
demand for international bandwidth, by transferring content and services to local
servers.1
We therefore recommend that an early priority in the “Building Momentum” phase should
be to bring the range of existing initiatives together into a single coordinated strategy,
with actions covering:
- Fostering the development of new local content in the Bangla language

- Digitising existing content (e.g. libraries, national archive, government content, etc.)
- Translation of relevant content into Bangla language
- Fostering technical standards to facilitate rapid development and diffusion of Bangla
content.
- ICT in education
ICT in education is a means of ensuring that everyone has the basic ICT skills needed to
take advantage of new technologies. Part of this is around providing ICT access and
infrastructure for schools, but over the longer term it is also about using ICT to improve
basic education.
However, we recommend that plans in this area need to be pragmatic and realistic.
While a number of leading eGovernments are now looking at how ICT can be integrated
with all aspects of curriculum delivery through all parts of the education system – as a
tool for improving educational outcomes across the aboard – we do not believe that this
will be possible in Bangladesh within a five year period. Our aim is therefore to establish
a critical mass of ICT enabled schools and teachers – by ensuring that by the end of the
5 year period of the roadmap, all secondary school children leave school with a basic
1
Source: “Regulatory Reform as a tool for Bridging the Digital Divide”, OECD 2004
42
level of ICT user skills. However, to ensure that this work is undertaken in a way which
sets the foundations for longer term transformation to the education system, we also
recommend that early on in the Roadmap the Government of Bangladesh should publish
its vision for ICT in education in the much longer term, going well beyond what is
possible in the 5 year Roadmap period.
Delivery priorities: Transforming Public Services
In parallel to this project to develop an ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh, the S1-ICT project
has been developing a National eGovernment Strategy for Bangladesh. Based on our
assessment of the Thrust Report prepared by the project, we believe it is on track to
deliver a comprehensive future vision of how eGovernment strategy in Bangladesh
should develop. It is less clear however on the roadmap for implementation. Based on
our own assessment of the eGovernment challenges faced by Bangladesh and
experience in other countries, our recommended phasing and prioritisation in each of the
three areas of the recommended strategy is as follows:
− Electronic services
The S1-ICT Thrust report recommends a set of 36 “target services” to be prioritised by
the Government of Bangladesh. Within each service area, our phasing recommendation
is that Ministries should not seek initially to invest rapidly in end-to-end e-business,
transactional capability for these services. Rather, they should prioritise low-technology,
low-risk improvements that maximize citizen benefit by simplifying services at the front-
end and making them available online (mobile as well as Internet). This prioritization
should build on the “quick wins” exercise with ICT Focal Points currently being managed
by the eGovernance Cell.

− Service Delivery Channels
As the priority electronic services are developed, it is essential that they are then
delivered in a manner which is:
a) multi-channel – recognising in particular the importance of the mobile channel
and local service centres as channels for e-services in Bangladesh, rather than
simply relying on PC-based Internet access
b) citizen-centric – recognising that citizens want services provided in a joined up
way, and that delivering services through integrated government-wide channels
will both make this easier and also significantly reduce cost and risk. Rather than
ask each Ministry to develop its own website etc, with its own transactional e-
service capabilities, it will be both cheaper and better for citizens to develop
channels on a cross-government basis. Many leading eGovernments, such as
the UK and Australia, are currently in the process of dismantling the expensive e-
channels infrastructure which they have built up over many years on a Ministry-
by-Ministry basis, and replacing this with government-wide “One Stop Shops”.
Bangladesh has the opportunity now to learn from this experience, and move
directly to a one-stop-shop model. International experience suggests that the
key to success is not to focus simply on integrating channels (such as through an
all-of-government portal), but also to create an integrated business structure,
based on small “franchise” teams which focus on aggregating content and
services for specific customer groups (such as farmers, the elderly, parents,
43
motorists etc). Governments currently adopting such a franchise-based business
model include the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and Croatia.
− eGovernment policies and standards2
The S1-ICT Roadmap sets out a wide range of standards and policies on eGovernment
that in principle would be very helpful to the Government of Bangladesh as part of the
planned eGovernment Interoperability Framework. In practice however, developing a
full suite of policies and standards such as this is a lengthy and time-consuming process,
which many leading eGovernments have not yet completed. Our recommendations is
therefore that, in the “Building Momentum” phase, the Government of Bangladesh
should focus on three aspects of the eGIF identified in the S1-ICT project which we
believe will be absolutely critical for success:
− establishing basic technical interoperability standards, based on open, international

standards and consultation with the ICT industry
− developing a cross-government identity management strategy, to ensure that key
data sets such as identity and address are managed as a utility resource across the
Government of Bangladesh. Without this, the government can expect to see major
inefficiencies as it invests in eServices, and also significant limitations to its ability to
join up services around citizen needs.
− Service channel interoperability (linked in particular to the delivery needs of the One
Stop Shop initiatives described above)
Delivery priorities: Growing the ICT Sector

Here, our recommendation is that priority is given in the Building Momentum phase to
improved international marketing of Bangladesh’s existing strengths as a low-cost, high-
skill partner for exporting, outsourcing and for Foreign Direct Investment. Priorities as
the roadmap then develops should include improved industry/academia partnership (in
order to better match the supply of skills from the university sector with the needs of the
industry), and development of high growth clusters of ICT innovation around High-Tech
Parks in every part of Bangladesh. Key tasks and milestones in each of these areas
are described in Appendix 1.
Delivery priorities: Enabling the Market
Ensuring a legal and regulatory regime which encourages growth of ICT adoption is
essential for success of the roadmap. Some of the actions needed to take this forward
are simple and can deliver early benefits: for example, completing the regulatory
changes needed to remove legal barriers to e-commerce, and confirming continuation of
the favourable tax regime for the ICT sector.
2
This third area of the S1-ICT draft National eGovernment Strategy is in fact titled, more broadly,
“Enabling Environment”. Since many of the issues raised there (eg on governance and capacity
building) are addressed elsewhere in our ICT Roadmap, we focus here on their standards and
policies recommendations.
44
The key challenge in order to establish real critical mass of users and longer term
transformation, however, will be to ensure that the telecommunications market is fully
opened up, giving new entrants a genuine level-playing field on which to compete with
BTCL and a predictable and consistent regulatory framework within which to make
investment decisions. Establishing a strong, pro-competitive regulatory framework for
telecommunications is probably the single most important thing that Bangladesh can do
to drive forward growth of the Information Society. There is a strong body of evidence
(from organisations such as the OECD, World Bank, and ITU) showing that privatisation,
liberalisation and effective competition regimes drive down prices, drive up choice and
innovation, and result in significant levels of market growth. And that privatised,
competitive telecommunications markets contribute more to GDP growth, to taxation
revenues for government, and to employment levels than do public sector monopolies.
Bangladesh has already made some significant steps towards establishing a pro-
competitive market framework, notably with the establishment of BTRC as an
independent regulator on 31 January 2002 , and with the “corporatisation” of BTCL
during 2008. We believe, however, that this is an area where there is scope for
Bangladesh to move more rapidly and aggressively.
BTRC is currently working on its own strategy and action plan, and our recommendation
is that that plan should be incorporated as part of the National ICT Roadmap / Action
Plan for Bangladesh.
Appendix 1 sets out key tasks and milestones in two mission critical areas:

− Removing Legal Barriers to e-Commerce
− Accelerating development of a pro-competitive regulatory regime for

telecommunications
45
9. The National ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh
Roadmap Overview
The top-level view of our recommended ICT Roadmap is set out at Figure 9.1 below.
This shows:
- the five key workstreams in the roadmap

- the 14 Mission Critical Programmes recommended across these workstreams
- timelines, major milestones, and key dependencies for each Mission Critical
Programme, as they progress through the three strategic phases recommended in
Section 8:
o Building momentum
o Achieving critical mass
o Transformation.
Figure 9.1: ICT Roadmap Timetable and Key Milestones

1. Empowering
National ICT Roadmap for Bangladesh
Multi-stakeholder Launch of communications 60% of Bangladeshis have 100% of
Citizens partnership launched campaign ICT access Bangladeshis have
1.1 Universal access ICT access All school
eBangla National leavers have
eBangla Partnership basic ICT skills
launched Strategy published All government web content now available in Bangla
1.2 e-Bangla
Vision document New ICT curriculum All secondary and higher secondary ICT labs in all higher ICT labs in all secondary schools.
published launched schools have Internet connectivity secondary schools ICT is mandatory part of curriculum
GoB is a regional leader in e-service sophistication
2. Transforming Vision documents All Ministries to have launched
and citizen focus as benchmarked by the UN
Public Services published for key sectors “quick win” e-services
2.1 eServices
Multi-stakeholder First release of One Second release of One Stop Majority of citizen and SME dealings with government
partnership launched Stop Shop Shop, including mobile channel now take place via one of the One Stop Shop channels
2.2 One Stop Shop
eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability eGovernment Interoperability
Framework v1.0 published Framework v2.0 published Framework v3.0 published Framework v4.0 published Framework v5.0 published
2.3 Standards
3. Growing Launch rebranding of Bangladesh and International business surveys show Bangladesh recognised
the ICT international ICT investment campaign as a regional leader for ICT services and outsourcing
Sector
3.1 International Campaign
ICT Finacial Taskforce Banking best Review of EEF ICT tax holiday
report published practice published completed extended
3.2 Access to Finance
Launch of industry/
academia skills partnership All universities part of broadband research and education network
3.3 Skills
Pilot Hi-Tech Phase 1 Technology Parks Technology Parks operating in
Technology Park Development
Park opened launched at Chittagong and Khulna every Division of Bangladesh
Corporation established
3.4 ICT Clusters
4. Enabling Certified Authority First Digital Certificates Bangladeshis able to transact through credit card over internet and mobile phone Bangladesh is a regional
the market established issued by CA BTRC publishes annual reports and leader in availability, quality
4.1 Removing legal barriers BTRC publishes strategic and cost of broadband
roadmap for telecoms competion updates of competition roadmap
Timetable published for BTCL privatisation
4.2 Competitive telecoms
5. Leadership & Chief Information Officer appointed Chief Information Officer publishes quarterly reports on delivery of ICT Roadmap
Coordination
5.1 Cross-government
New powers for All Ministries have ICT Computer Literacy compulsory for
ICT Focal Points Centres of Excellence all new government jobs
5.2 Within Ministries
1 Jan 2009 1 Jan 2010 1 Jan 2011 1 Jan 2012 1 Jan 2013
Phase 1: Building Momentum Phase 2: Achieving Critical Mass Phase 3: Transformation
46
Roadmap Detail
Appendix 1 to this report sets out further details on each of the 14 Mission Critical
Programmes, covering:
- the current position in Bangladesh

- our future vision for progress in Bangladesh by the end of the five year period of the
Roadmap
- delivery accountabilities for the Mission Critical Programme within the Government
- the major tasks that need to be delivered, with their timetable
- key milestones
- dependencies with other Mission Critical Programmes.
Measuring progress on the Roadmap
We have developed a dashboard to assist the Government of Bangladesh in measuring

the impact of its Roadmap implementation, by drawing together key data and statistics
from authoritative international sources such as the World Bank and the United Nations
into a performance benchmarking index for each of the main Roadmap areas.
Details of the methodology used are set out in Appendix 2, but the top level results are
shown below. Figure 9.2 gives an overall summary, showing how Bangladesh
compares in each Roadmap area to the highest and lowest performing country in each
Roadmap area; Figure 9.3 then gives the detailed results for each country.
Figure 9.2: ICT Roadmap Dashboard - summary
Empowering Citizens
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
Enabling the Market 0.0 Transforming Public Services
Growing the ICT Sector
Highest in benchmark group Lowest in benchmark group Bangladesh India
47
Figure 9.3: ICT Roadmap Dashboard - detail
We recommend that this analysis should be updated on an annual basis by the

Government Chief Information Officer, and used as a benchmark of the extent to which
Bangladesh is improving relative to other countries in the region.
Next Steps
Further consultation will now be undertaken with stakeholders to test and refine the
delivery plans set out in Appendix 1 and also to cost the plans in more detail, including
through a major public consultation workshop during July. The results of this further
consultation and analysis will be brought together into a final and revised version of the
Roadmap, to be presented to the Government of Bangladesh by the end of July.
48
PREPARED FOR
Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology (MOSICT)
S2-ICT
Bangladesh ICT Roadmap

Appendix 1: Mission Critical Programme Roadmap Plans

49
Workstream 1: Empowering citizens
1.1 Universal Community Based Access to ICT
Mission/Objective
To ensure that by 2011, all Bangladeshis have access to ICT and the skills to use them
Current Position Future Vision
Over a thousand (1055 as of February, By 2013, all Bangladeshi citizens and

2008) telecentres in Bangladesh provide SMEs will have access within their
access to ICT and information on community to ICT and the skills to use
agriculture, employment, health and basic them (either through direct personal use,
ICT utility service. However, this resource or facilitated by an intermediary).
is fragmented, with no common messaging
or common network support A national partnership will have
established an inclusive system of
information and knowledge for all citizens
through telecenters and other forms of
public access, with special emphasis on
marginalized groups and disability, which
will be delivered using a rich combination
of different business models, including
Entrepreneur / Value adding sector

Voluntary sector
Schools computer labs opened up to
the community out of school hours
Government infrastructure ( e.g.,
many post offices having been
enhanced as e-post/Cyber Post/e-
service hub for government/public
service (e.g. direct foreign
remittance, money transfer, bill
payment), local government
institutions have big establishments,
public libraries are underutilized)
Creation of information access
through mobile telephone and
community radio.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of Post & Telecommunication
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: Ministry of SICT, Ministry of Finance, BTN,

Ministry of LGRD, Ministry of Agriculture,
Ministry of Food and Disaster
Management, Ministry of Fisheries and
50
Livestock, Ministry of Education
Tasks
1.1a Building on the current BTN structure, develop a national multi-stakeholder

partnership to drive forward the universal community access to ICT programme
Multi-stakeholder partnership in place by January 2009
1.1b Define a minimum set of service standards requirement for a telecentre to become
accredited under the National Telecentre Network
1.1c Develop and fund a “core offer” from government to potential telecentre operators
(from the public, private and value adding sectors) including:
Access to common messaging and marketing, a common “quality mark” to be
deployed by accredited telecentres alongside their own branding, and a collaborative
communications effort
Access to best practice materials, training and support
Ability to receive a service charge for every Bangladeshi that telecentre assists in
accessing specified GoB e-services
Clear and simple process for achieving accreditation (including no need for approval
from BTRC)
1.1d Marketing and communication campaigning

Develop collaborative marketing and communications material (January 2008)
Begin common messaging for participating telecentres (March 2009)
1.1e As part of the community access partnership, establish a Connectivity Task Force
charged with:
Ensuring full visibility by the broadband industry of the emerging demand for
connectivity by community-based ICT access venues
identifying solutions to any barriers faced by the industry in supplying that demand,
including potential for establishing a Universal Access Fund with support from BTRC,
the donor organizations and other stakeholders (see Mission Critical Programme 4.2
for details).
Milestones
January 2009: Multi-stakeholder partnership in place
March 2009: Collaborative communications material developed
End 2010: 60% of Bangladeshis have access to ICT within their community
End 2012: 100% of Bangladeshis have access to ICT within their community
Dependency: Bangla Content, ICT in Education, Citizen

centric government, pro competitive
regulatory environment
51
1.2 e-Bangla
Mission/Objective
To ensure that Bangladeshis are easily able to produce and upload digital content in
Bangla and that they are motivated and empowered to do so.
Currently very little Bangla language A wealth of new eBangla content has
content is available on the web, which helped to motivate high levels of Internet
represents a major barrier to growth of the use across Bangladesh society. In
Internet user base in Bangladesh. particular:
Technical Standards and interface issues
have inhibited the easy production of web All government web content is
based Bangla content. Most government available in Bangla
websites are in English only and there are A wide range of cultural and
very low levels of community-driven educational content are digitised
production of Bangla content. Local communities are producing rich
and interactive localised and relevant
Bangla content
Content is available through various
channels, including mobile phone and
community radio
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of SICT (BCC)
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: Bangla Academy, eGovernance Cell

Tasks
1.2a Introduce and sensitise stakeholders to unicode system

1.2b Establish an e-Bangla Partnership with all relevant stakeholders and jointly
develop and publish an e-Bangla National Strategy, to include:
Migration of all current government web content into dual language
Creation of an “e-Bangla Library” - a repository of e-Bangla content established
with participation of all tertiary educational institutions and research institutions
and non-government initiatives
Incentives to create low-cost, affordable Bangla processing tools, software to
develop searchable text and voice content with special attention to disability and
specials needs
Research on Bangla language processing including Bangla text to speech, OCR
and other software for ensuring universal use of Bangla language in all platforms
Stimulation of local community content development through:
A National e-Bangla Awards programme
Best practice guidance on local content stimulation by telecentres
grants for local language content development
52
Milestones
E-Bangla Partnership launched (March 2009)

E-Bangla National Strategy published (June 2009)
All government web content available in digital bangla by September, 2009
Dependency: Universal community access to ICT
53
Mission/Objective
To ensure that, by 2013, all Bangladeshi secondary school children have access to
ICT – not only for the development of basic ICT skills, but also to use ICTs for e-
Learning
Some schools in urban area have By 2013, all secondary and higher
computers but they tend not to be well secondary educational schools will have
supported with teacher training and digital an ICT Lab with access to all the
curriculum materials curriculum materials, teacher trained and
support needed to ensure that:
All children are confident users of ICT

and internet
All teachers are able to use ICT for
effective teaching
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Primary

and Mass Education
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: University Grants Commission
Tasks
1.3a Publish long-term vision for ICT-enabled transformation of education by [April,

2008]
1.3b Redesign and launch new ICT literacy curriculum for secondary and higher
secondary schools
1.3c Roll out of kit and connectivity in all secondary and higher secondary schools and
development of business model which enables ICT labs to serve the community after
school hours
1.3d Launch Model School for ICT Learning Programme for each UP
1.3eComprehensive Teacher Training programme in collaboration with global ICT
companies and other institutions
1.3 f Launch ICT acquisition campaign for teachers at subsidized price
1.3 g Launch multimedia and online educational content development programme
Milestones
54
February 2009: publish long-term vision for ICT-enabled transformation of education
January 2010: New curriculum introduced
December 2009: Teacher training on how to use ICT for e-Learning to begin
December 2009: Launch first model school ICT Learning
December, 2010: All secondary and higher secondary schools to have internet
connectivity
September, 2011: All higher secondary schools equipped with full fledged ICT Labs;
all high school teachers educated on how to use ICT for e-Learning
January, 2013: All secondary schools are equipped with full fledged ICT labs; all
secondary school teachers educated on how to use ICT for e-Learning
January, 2013: ICT is mandatory subject in curriculum both in secondary and higher
secondary
Dependency: Universal community access to the Internet
55
Workstream 2: Transforming Public Services
2.1 Citizen-centric eServices
Mission/Objective
By 2013, Bangladesh is one of the regional leaders for e-service maturity, and for the
citizen focus of those e-services, as measured by UN benchmarks.
The e-Service maturity of the Government High levels of citizen take-up for GoB e-
of Bangladesh is currently very low. The services (through a rich mix of channels –
annual eGovernment Benchmarking including mobile phones, web, kiosks and
surveys undertaken by the United Nations service centres) is contributing to
rank Bangladesh very low, both globally economic development, poverty reduction,
and compared to other countries in the and better and more transparent
region. A major survey of 27 departments governance.
and agencies undertaken in 2008 by the
S1-ICT Emtap Project found no examples
of transactional online services, and with
very few services ready to be quickly
provided online.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Chief Advisors Office
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: MoSICT, BCC, all Ministries with service
delivery responsibilities
Tasks
2.1a Publish long-term visions for ICT-enabled transformation of public services in
priority areas - Education, Health, Agriculture and Local Government (by February 2009)
2.1b Every Ministry to publish plans for its priority e-service investments, drawing on
the “quick wins” exercise being coordinated by the eGovernance Cell, the list of 36 target
services priorities by the National eGovernment Strategy developed through the S1-ICT
Emtap project, and e-service priorities identified by the Bangladesh Better Business
Forum in their review of the Bangladesh ICT Policy. These plans should:
Prioritise low-technology, low-risk improvements that maximize citizen
benefit through joining up services at the front-end
Set targets for citizen take-up of the service, underpinned by clear plans
for encouraging take-up
Include plans for integration with government-wide service delivery
channels (see Workstream 2.2) and compliance with government-wide
standards (see Workstream 2.3)
Plan for back-end automation of the full transaction over the longer term
Give special emphasis on agriculture, needs of SMEs, disaster
management and climate change, and health care.
Milestones
February 2009: Transformation Vision documents published for key sectors
March 2009: Each Ministry publishes plans for its e-service investments
December 2009: Each Ministry to have launched at least one “quick win” e-service
56
Dependency: National e-Government Strategy
2.2: Citizen-centric multi-channel service
delivery system
57
2.2 Development of a citizen-centric, multi-channel service delivery system for

the Government of Bangladesh
Mission/Objective
To deliver a citizen-centric, multi channel one stop shop for government that will ensure
that the services prioritized for e-enablement (see S1-ICT) are delivered in a way that is
designed around user needs and achieve high levels of uptake and user satisfaction

There is an existing initiative for a national A single, citizen-centric “one stop shop”
portal, which would benefit greatly from service that:
being made citizen-centric.
Presents the information and services
Some ministries and agencies have that citizens want in a way that is easy
websites, but these tend to be fragmented, to understand and designed for them
and are not designed around citizen Responds to the majority of citizen
needs. needs directly rather than requiring
them to go to channels managed by
Many telecentre initiatives are under way, individual Ministries or agencies
but there is no strategy or business model Operates in an integrated way across
in place for how these could be used as an multiple channels, leveraging in
integrated front-end for e-services, serving particular:
as an intermediated channel for all Bangladesh’s high level of
Ministries. mobile phone penetration
The national network of
telecentres being developed in
Workstream 1.1
Achieves high levels of customer
satisfaction and high levels of uptake
Avoids duplication of ICT expenditure
by Ministries.
Accountabilities
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: MoSICT, BCC, all Ministries with service
delivery responsibilities
Tasks
Develop detailed strategy and plan for the citizen-centric government One Stop
Shop– taking into account the outputs from S1-ICT, and incorporating international
best practice on successful national One Stop Shops (by March 2009)
Establish the governance and business structure for the One Stop Shop
development and delivery (by June 2009)
Define the business model for telecentre “intermediation” of the services available
through the One Stop Portal
Customer research to ensure the portal responds to citizen needs and will achieve
high levels of uptake
Technology delivery
58
Content delivery
Marketing and communication activity to raise awareness of the One Stop Shop
Develop business case for enhancement of One Stop Shop with a call centre
operation (ie launch of a “311 service” for the GoB)
Milestones
Decision taken to develop a citizen-centric one stop shop for citizens by January
2009 – using the services prioritized through S1-ICT and an internationally proven
business model
Roadmap for citizen-centric one stop shop developed by March 2008
First release of citizen-centric one stop shop (an web-based service developed using
the existing technology supporting the current government portal) delivered by
December 2009
Second release of citizen-centric one stop portal, including content and technology
optimization for mobile phone users of the service, delivered by December 2010
By end 2013: the majority of information and transactional interactions between
citizens and the government now take place via one of the One Stop Shop channels.
2.1: e-Services
1.1 Universal community access
59
Mission/Objective
To develop a comprehensive eGovernment Interoperability Framework for the
Government of Bangladesh.
There is a commitment to develop an eGIF The Bangladesh eGovernment
for the GoB, but this is not yet in place. Interoperability Framework has been fully
Without it, there is a high risk that planned adopted by all central and local
e-service investments by different government organisations and their ICT
Ministries will be technically incompatible, suppliers. It ensures that e-services can
making it costly to join them up through be integrated efficiently and effectively
integrated service delivery channels such around citizen needs and that there is no
as the government portal. There is also a waste or duplication in the Government’s
high risk of duplication of investments. ICT investments.
Accountabilities
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: MoSICT, BCC
Tasks
Launch public consultation of first version of eGIF in autumn 2008, with the resulting
Version 1.0 published in January 2009
Do not aim for this to cover all of the areas set out in the S1-ICT report. Focus
instead on three key areas
o Technical interoperability
o Service channel interoperability (linked in particular to the delivery needs of the One
Stop Shop initiatives being taken forward in ICT Roadmap Workstream 2.2)
o Identity Management and Authentication
Annual updates and expansions of the eGIF, which progressively address the other
areas identified in the S1-ICT report.
Training and communication programme to ensure that officials and industry
understand eGIF and its benefits
Milestones
January 2009: v1.0 of Bangladesh eGovernment Interoperability Framework
60
Workstream 3: Growing the ICT Sector
3.1: International ICT trade and investment Campaign
Mission/Objective
To develop a globally-recognised brand for Bangladesh as a centre for ICT investment,

outsourcing and exports, which helps the Bangladesh ICT sector to grow its levels of
exports, turnover and Foreign Direct Investment by at least 50% each year between now
and 2013.
As of now, there are close to 500 software and Bangladesh is recognized

ITES companies in Bangladesh, employing over internationally as a source of high
12,000 ICT professionals. The size of the IT quality and highly price-competitive
market excluding telecom in Bangladesh is ICT products, services and
estimated to be US$300 million in total; of which outsourcing. This recognition is
the software and ITES industries share 39% underpinned by a strong national
(US$117 million). The software/ITES sector is brand and a highly effective
growing particularly rapidly – with exports up by international communications
over 620% in the last 5 years to $26million US$. campaign developed and delivered
in partnership between the GoB
Despite this increasing success, Bangladesh is and industry.
suffering from a lack of international awareness of
its benefits as a outsourcing location and ICT The international recognition of
trading partner, which include: Bangladesh as a source of high
quality ICT products leads to high
- Close proximity to fastest growing economies, levels of investment, and significant
Far East Asia and Middle East growth of the ICT Industry in
- Large pool of highly-skilled young adult Bangladesh.
resources
- English language
- A very price-competitive labour force
- Significant tax and VAT exemptions provided
to IT industry
The ICT Business Promotion Council, formed

under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Commerce,
has the mandate to promote the ICT sector
abroad, but activities so far have tended to be
piecemeal rather than strategic, with limited
government involvement and backing.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of Commerce
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: Ministry of SICT, CAO, Ministry of Post &
61
Telecommunication, Chambers, BASIS,
BCS
Tasks
3.1a Refocus the ICT Business Promotion Council (BPC) as a public private
partnership to drive growth of the ICT sector, with sufficient funding and resources to
develop and deliver an effective marketing, communications and outreach campaign
3.1b ICT Business Promotion Council to develop and publish its strategy for delivering
a brand-led campaign for the Bangladesh ICT sector by February 2009, including:
Brand values and core campaign messages - these should:

− Build on Bangladesh’s current strengths as identified above and described
in more detail in our ICT Sector Analysis
− Not “overclaim” – that is, they should recognise the current weakness in
Bangladesh’s current ICT environment, and show how these are being
aggressively addressed by the government through the ICT Roadmap
− Be thoroughly researched: to get this right, the branding and communications
should not be invented by a committee, but developed through a professionally
managed process of engagement and research with existing and potential
investors/customers for the Bangladeshi ICT sector
Audience segmentation: further work on this will be needed as part of the ICT
BPC’s strategy development process, but based on our research and consultation
through the Roadmap process, we recommend that there should be four core
audiences for the communications campaign:
− Overseas businesses wishing to outsource services: because of limited
capacity in Bangladesh for large-scale outsourcing operations, there would be
benefit in targeting the ITEC awareness campaign initially at SMEs, while
continuing to improve Bangladesh’s capacity. When local capacity is large
enough to support large-scale operations, the awareness campaign can be
expanded to include large companies.
− Potential export customers: focus in particular on developing partnerships with
companies in other countries as channels to market, rather than seeking direct
export sales (building on the success of the Basis/Danida matchmaking service
between Bangladeshi and Danish ICT companies)
− Potential inward investors: the campaign should set out the benefits to Multi-
National Companies of locating future investments in Bangladesh, including
through interaction with the regional Head Quarters of the target companies, and
leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility activities of eg Microsoft, Intel as
references.
− Bangladeshi ICT professionals working abroad: explaining the growth of
opportunities for them in the domestic sector now, and their ability to contribute to
a key thrust area for Bangladeshi national development.
Delivery mechanisms - including:

− Expanding the role of Bangladesh embassies into a more formally-managed
marketing/lead generating service for the Bangladesh ICT sector, with sales
62
targets and benchmarks linked to the overall ICT Business Promotion Council
strategy, and staff evaluated against these targets
− Partnerships with foreign chambers/trade bodies
− A programme of trade fairs and inward and outward missions, with
government funding to support this.
Milestones
Rebranding of Bangladesh – launched in June 2009
Dependency:
ICT in education
Increasing the supply of specialist ICT skills and better matching supply to demand
ICT cluster development
Access to finance for ICT sector
Pro-competitive regulatory framework
Removing legal barriers to e-commerce and e-government
63
Mission/Objective
To ensure that the growth of the ICT sector in Bangladesh is not constrained by lack of
access to debt and equity financing.
Venture capital firms are almost non-existent in The EEF has become a vibrant
Bangladesh, let alone technology industry oriented and effective source of VC funding
VCs. The only general source of investment for ICT businesses. Commercial
funding for the ICT industry is from the banks understand the needs of the
Bangladesh Bank under the scheme commonly sector thoroughly, and it has
known as EEF (Equity Entrepreneurship Fund). become one of their highest valued
fund where 7 billion taka is allocated. But sectors.
management problems, coupled with the fact that
the fund is for Agriculture as well as the IT industry
(although IT has been separated in the last
Budget), have meant that the EEF has had limited
impact.
Moreover, there is also not an effective market in

the provision of commercial loans to companies in
the ICT sector, with most banks having little
experience or risk management frameworks for
assessing/evaluating a lending/financing proposal
from knowledge-based industries such as the ICT
sector.
The Government of Bangladesh in its 2008-09

budget, has extended the corporate tax holiday for
software and ITES sector by a further 3 years, but
with no commitment beyond that.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of Finance
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: Ministry of SICT, Bangladesh Bank

(representing all schedule banks), Ministry
of Commerce (other financial institutions,
e.g. leasing firms, general insurance)
Tasks
3.2a Undertake a detailed review of the operations and governance of the Equity
64
Entrepreneurship Fund, to ensure that it is effectively geared to the needs of the ICT
sector (to be completed by November 2009). The scope of the review should include:
The possibility for the fund to be increased through matching funding from
donor organisations, and/or through partnerships with foreign venture capital
funds
Improvements to risk assessment and speed of decision-making, including
through involvement of private sector organisations such as BASIS in
management of the scheme (in the way that such organisations are already
involved in managing related government schemes for the sector such as SME
incubators)
3.2b Establish an ICT Finance Taskforce, comprising Bangladesh Bank, IBPC, ICT
Task Force (CAO) to address the particular issue of loan financing, publishing its reports
and recommendations by April 2009. The task force should:
Review current lending and risk-assessment practices applied to the ICT sector
by commercial banks in Bangladesh
Compare these with international practices in selected benchmark countries
Identify best practices for commercial adoption by the banking sector, and any
regulatory changes that may be needed to enable these.
3.2c Commit to extending the corporate tax holiday for software and ITES sector for at
least the five years of the ICT Roadmap
Milestones
Establishment of ICT Financial Taskforce by April 2009

Identify best practice for commercial adoption by the banking sector by September
2009
Review of EEF completed, November 2009
1 April 2011: Tax holiday extended
Dependency:
None
65
Mission/Objective
To ensure that Bangladesh is seen as a global source of high level ICT skills and that
the ICT sector has a ready supply of skills that meet its needs as the sector grows
Bangladesh currently produces roughly Bangladesh has a global reputation for

2500-4000 IT graduates each year. This is high-level ICT skills; close partnership and
insufficient to meet growing demand for IT dialogue between the ICT sector and the
employees. Additionally, the academic Higher Education system means that the
curriculum that most graduates acquire is supply of ICT skills is well matched to
not effectively geared to industry needs. industry’s changing needs as ICT
technologies and markets develop.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of Education
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: Ministry of SICT, UGC, National Skills

Development Council
Tasks
3.3a Establish a new organisation co-funded by government, ICT industry and the Donor
community with a mandate to map out industry skill needs and engage in dialogue with
academia to ensure that these are built into ICT curriculum on an ongoing basis (“e-
Skills Partnership for Bangladesh”). This should build on the ICT Professional Skill
Assessment and Enhancement (IPSAEP) project of the National Skills Development
Council, which has recently been accepted by the government, but with a broader remit.
3.3b Identify (through dialogue described above) any staffing or infrastructure gaps in
universities/Polytechnics needed to deliver industry’s skill needs and prioritise these in
funding decisions for 2010 awards
3.3c Establish a broadband research and education network for all public and private
universities
Milestones
March 2009: Launch e-Skills partnership program between industry and academia
September 2009: Staffing and infrastructure gaps identified, plan in place to address
them for the 2010 awards
June 2009: Establish a broadband network between all universities
Dependency: None
66
Mission/Objective
To develop clusters of high-growth ICT companies based around hi-tech parks in each
division of Bangladesh by 2013 (or federal states, if they are so upgraded by that time)
Many countries (for example, South Korea, Technology parks are flourishing in every
India, Vietnam), have successfully used part of Bangladesh. They have close links
public private partnership investment to with nearby Higher Education institutions,
develop clusters of ICT businesses in and are well-served by high-speed
specific geographical locations – and there broadband and wireless connectivity. ICT
is significant evidence that the multiplier firms locating to the parks also benefit from
effects associated with such cluster preferential focus in broader support
development lead to higher levels of sector schemes for the ICT sector, such as the
growth. Equity Entrepreneurship Fund.
In Bangladesh, however, there has been

limited success in this area. At present,
there is some clustering of the ICT sector
in and around Dhaka, but without the
infrastructural support and close
industry/academic links seen in most
successful clusters. Government
intervention has been limited:
The Ministry of SICT has 47 acres of

land at Mohakhali C/A out of which 17
acres of land is proposed to be allotted
for the establishment of an ICT village
under PPP
Currently there is one ICT incubator at
Kawran Bazar (where BASIS is also
located) to provide assistance in
infrastructure and logistics for start up
and small ICT companies.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of SICT
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: CAO, Ministry of Establishment, Ministry of

Land, Ministry of Public Works & Housing,
Ministry of Post & Telecommunication,
Ministry of Commerce, BASIS, BCS,
ISPAB
67
Tasks
3.4a Establish (by April 2009) a Hi-Tech Park Development Partnership, between
IBPC, MoSICT and Chambers (CCCI, FBCCI), and the relevant City Corporations, to
establish and promote ICT incubators. The aims of the partnership should be to:
Identify GoB funding and assets which can be contributed to the PPP
(including allocation of land, such as the MoSICT owned land in Mokakhali,
and of building space – such as spare space in the BCC building at
Agargaon, Dhaka which could be converted into an ICT Incubator)
Agree matched funding from donor organisations
Establish by March 2010, on a PPP basis, a Hi Tech Park Development
Corporation charged with building and managing the hi-tech parks. The
private sector partner who would manage this Corporation would be selected
on competitive tender, based on a an assessment of a) the best value for
money offered in the use of the public resources being made available and b)
the innovation and entrepreneurship shown in bringing in additional resources
and revenue streams.
Milestones
Pilot Hi-tech Park launched by BCC: at Mokakhali (January 2009)

Hi-tech Park Development Corporation established (April 2009)
Phase 1 Hi-tech Parks launched Chittagong and Khulna (January 2011)
Hi-tech Parks operating in every division of Bangladesh (2013)
Dependency:
Meeting the Skill Needs of the ICT Sector (in order to ensure effective links with
Higher Education)
A pro-competitive regulatory environment for telecoms (in order to assure availability
of affordable broadband infrastructure)
68
Workstream 4: Enabling the market
4.1: Removing Legal Barriers to e-Commerce
Mission/Objective
To ensure that all remaining legal barriers to doing business electronically in Bangladesh
are removed and that the necessary business changes are put in place in the public and
private sectors to take advantage of the new legal opportunities
The 2006 ICT Act makes most of the All Bangladeshi citizens and businesses:
necessary provisions to ensure that
electronic ways of doing business (such as - Have easy access to electronic
electronic documents, electronic payment facilities for e-commerce
signatures and electronic payment including mobile payments
systems) are legally valid. However, some
steps are still needed to finalise the - Are able to use email
regulatory regime envisaged by the Act. communications with all
Moreover, ministries and the banks have government agencies and
not yet made the business process ministries, and to digitally sign
changes that are needed to make a electronic communications for any
practical reality of the possibilities opened government transaction where a
up by these legal changes. high level of authentication is
essential
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Ministry of SICT
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: BCC, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Law,

Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh Bank
Tasks
4.1a Implement ICT Act 2006 regulations in order to establish the Certification Authority
(CA)
- Frame rules
- Agree in principle with the Bangladesh Bank that it should take on the role of CA,
and identify the staff and resource requirements needed
- Establish the organisation
- Initiate Operation
- Issue license
4.1b Frame rules & regulation in coordination with Ministry of Finance to enable mobile
payment gateway
69
4.1c Establish Payment Gateway in Bangladesh Bank. Ministry of Finance and
Bangladesh Bank enact and implement the action
4.1d Establish e-Payment Working Committee with all scheduled banks, both NCB and
private
Milestones
February 2009: Certified Authority (CA) established
June 2009: First Digital Certificate issues by CA
June 2009: Frame rules and regulation in place to enable mobile payment gateway
September 2009: Bangladeshis, especially SMEs are able to transact through credit
card over the internet and/or mobile phone
Dependency: None
70
Workstream 4: Enabling the market
4.2: Accelerating development of a pro-competitive regulatory regime for

telecommunications
Mission/Objective
To ensure that Bangladesh is a regional leader in availability, quality and cost of

broadband infrastructure and services

The fixed telephony market in Bangladesh By 2013, Bangladesh has one of the
is dominated by BTCL, a state-owned highest levels of Internet use in the region,
enterprise (formerly BTTB), which has driven by one of the lowest costs of
almost three-quarters of the subscriber Internet access. This has been achieved
base. The country’s fixed line penetration through aggressive promotion of
is low, with more than 90% of subscribers liberalised, pro-competitive
being in urban areas. The mobile telecommunications regulatory regime.
telephony market is very different. Driven
largely by an explosion of competition after
the liberalising Telecommunications Act of
2001, Bangladesh has seen the strongest
growth rates in the mobile sector in the
region, with over 1 in 3 Bangladeshis now
having telephone access. Internet use is
low – and growing much less rapidly than
in countries of similar size and income.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: MoPT
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: BTRC
Tasks
5.1a The Government of Bangladesh should commit to full privatization of
BTCL. MoPT should publish a clear roadmap for selling 100% of the government’s
stake in BTCL on an aggressive timescale – we recommend within 18-24 months.
International evidence suggests that privatization (coupled with a strong competition
regime – see Task 5.1b below) will be a major factor in driving down prices,
increasing choice and innovation, and result in significant levels of market growth.
Privatised, competitive telecommunications markets contribute more to GDP growth,
to taxation revenues for government, and to employment levels than do public sector
monopolies.
5.1b BTRC should publish a clear strategy for development of the Bangladesh
telecoms market. A significant amount of action is already in hand to promote
competition in the Bangladesh market, but stakeholder feedback suggests that
industry would benefit from a much clearer statement from the regulator about: its
strategy for market development, key milestones, and the principles it will apply.
71
Such a statement would give a clearer basis for industry to develop investment
plans. We recommend that the strategy should cover in particular:
Driving forward a transparent and cost-based interconnection regime,
coupled with very aggressive regulatory action to ensure a level playing field
between BTCL’s retail business and its competitors
Increasing competition on the international gateway, ideally by licensing
at least one additional competitor in this space and by requiring the operators
to operate as wholesalers of bandwidth without their own retail businesses
Moving to a converged licensing regime – that is, where licences permit
the provision of any service enabled by a specific technology, rather than the
current situation where licences are focused around specific services.
Moving to class licensing for ISPs and mobile operators, to reduce costs of
entry
Introduction of a spectrum trading regime – to enable scarce spectrum
resources to be allocated flexibly to those best able to exploit them.
Establishment of a Universal Service Fund to assist with broadband
infrastructure roll-out in rural areas, following extensive consultation with
the industry, donor organizations and other stakeholders to agree a funding
model which promotes universal access without deterring new entrants or
damaging the business case for broadband investments.
5.1c MoPT should commission an Independent Organisational Review of

BTRC aimed at strengthening its capacity. BTRC has been widely acclaimed
for its work so far, but stakeholder feedback suggests that more professional
economists, lawyers and telecoms experts are needed within the organisation in
order to drive forward an aggressive programme of the type outlined above and to
respond in a rapid way to market and technological developments. A rapid review of
the organisational capabilities required should be undertaken, drawing on
international experience, with a view to a) increasing the size of BTRC and b) giving
BTRC more flexibility to set pay and grading structures separately from the standard
government structures
Milestones
March 2009: MoPT publishes timetable for full privatization of BTCL
April 2009: BTRC publishes 5 year roadmap for telecommunications
privatization, liberalization and competition.
August 2009: Organisational Review of BTRC completed.
2010-2013: BTRC publishes annual updates of the 5 year roadmap
Dependency: None
72
Workstream 5: Leadership and Governance
5.1 Establishing effective cross-government leadership and governance
of the ICT Roadmap
Mission/Objective
To ensure that:
a) accountability for delivering all aspects of the roadmap and associated elements is
clear to all stakeholders
b) effective structures and processes are in place to ensure successful delivery.

Previous efforts to improve Bangladesh’s By 2013, all elements of the ICT Roadmap
ICT performance – notably the 2002 IT have been successfully delivered. At a
Policy – have been hindered by cross-government level, the ICT Taskforce
weaknesses in moving from policy to has taken responsibility for “owning” the
actions capable of delivering sustainable ICT Roadmap – and has successfully
change. The recent relaunch of the ICT monitored its delivery, ensuring that any
Taskforce provides a relevant top-level key risks and potential blockages along the
governance structure for driving the ICT way were addressed effectively. In doing
Roadmap, but additional changes are so, it has been supported by a full-time
needed to make the Taskforce more “Government Chief Information Officer”
effective. reporting directly to Taskforce and the
Chief Advisor, and by effective governance
structures and processes both at
government-wide level and within each
Ministry.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Chief Advisor’s Office and MoSICT
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: SICT, BCC, BTRC, MoP
Tasks
5.1a By January 2009, establish formal government-wide governance structures,
including:
ICT Taskforce taking formal responsibility for owning the ICT Roadmap
Appointment of a full time “Government Chief Information Officer” reporting to the
taskforce and to the Chief Advisor. (This person should have board-level
experience of driving change, in both the public and private sectors, and be
empowered to act as the central focus of leadership across government on ICT
issues.)
Establishment of a small ICT Roadmap Programme Management Office (3-4
people, with professional programme management and change management
skills, remunerated at market rates) to support the Government Chief Information
Officer, charged with:
o Identifying a Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for each Mission Critical
Programme in the ICT Roadmap – that is, a senior official in a lead Ministry
with personal responsibility for delivering each project and its intended
benefits
73
o Working with the SRO for each Mission Critical Programme to establish
detailed delivery plans / trajectories in order to track progress against
programme objectives
o Monitoring progress against the delivery trajectories and challenging the
relevant Ministries when they fall behind
o Establishing a programme of regular external healthchecks of Mission Critical
Programme (at least every 6 months)
o Improving ICT data availability in Bangladesh, and monitoring and enhancing
over time the ICT Roadmap Performance Dashboard developed in this
report.
o Working with the donor organisations to ensure that they understand and
buy-in to the Roadmap, and will align their funding strategies behind it in an
integrated, cross-donor manner
5.1b By January 2009, establish formal public reporting processes to monitor progress
on delivery of the ICT Roadmap:
Publish the Government of Bangladesh’s ICT Roadmap Implementation Plan
(based on this plan prepared by Gov3, but signed off and owned by the ICT
Task Force)
As part of this, publish the names of the lead officials responsible for each
workstream in the ICT Roadmap, along with their email addresses
Commit to web-based public reporting by the Government Chief Information
Officer of implementation progress on a quarterly basis.
5.1c By February 2009, clarify the roles of the key organisations involved in ICT policy,
to reduce overlap and confusion in both the actual activities and the formal remits of a
number of the key bodies. In particular, introduce a much clearer distinction between:
Overall strategic ownership, coordination and monitoring of the ICT Roadmap
(which should be done by the ICT Roadmap PMO, including the current
eGovernance Cell, reporting to the Government Chief Information Officer and
the ICT Taskforce)
Delivery support and capability building for Ministries (which should be done
by the BCC, with a refocused agenda more similar to India’s National Institute
for Smart Governance).
Milestones
Government Chief Information Officer appointed (January 2009)
First quarterly report on ICT Roadmap implementation published by the
Government Chief Information Officer (April 2009), with ongoing quarterly reports
thereafter.
Dependency:
74
Workstream 5: Leadership and Governance
5.2 Improving ICT strategy and delivery within Ministries
Mission/Objective
To ensure that individual Ministries have effective governance structures and processes
in place, alongside with all the necessary skills, to ensure successful delivery.

Previous efforts to improve Bangladesh’s By 2013, all Ministries are effectively
ICT performance – notably the 2002 IT harnessing ICT to deliver their policy
Policy – have been hindered by objectives, and are joining up effectively
weaknesses in moving from policy to with other Ministries to deliver services in
actions capable of delivering sustainable an integrated manner focused on citizens’
change. Within Ministries, the ICT Focal needs.
Points provide a good starting point for
effective ICT governance, but their role
could be strengthened, and additional
support is needed.
Accountabilities
Lead Ministry: Chief Advisor’s Office and MoSICT
Supporting Ministries/Agencies: SICT, BCC, BTRC, MoP
Tasks
5.2a Improve ICT governance within Ministries, by:

Defining the role, specification, and privileges of ICT Focal Points, including
giving them budgetary power over ICT expenditure in their ministries, to
ensure that these roles are consistently seen as senior and empowered ones
within Ministries (by February 2009)
Creating close reporting links between the Focal Points and the Government
CIO.
Developing an ICT Centre of Excellence in each ministry, reporting to the ICT
Focal Point. These should be responsible for planning, monitoring and
evaluation mechanisms covering all ICT projects across the Ministry, and ICT
training and capacity building within the Ministry.
5.2b Address internal ICT skills shortages within the government by:
Enabling the ICT Centres of Excellence to recruit staff at market rates (from
April 2009)
examinations for Government jobs
Milestones
New powers for ICT Focal Points defined (February 2009)
First Centres of Excellence established by April 2009
All Ministries to have Centres of Excellence by April 2010
examinations for Government jobs (from January 2011)
Dependency: 5.1 Cross government leadership and
governance
75
PREPARED FOR
Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology (MOSICT)
S2-ICT
Bangladesh ICT Roadmap

Appendix 2: Benchmarking the ICT Roadmap

76
Appendix 2: Benchmarking the ICT Roadmap
Methodology
The four indices used in our recommended ICT Roadmap Performance Dashboard (the
Citizen Empowerment Index, the Transforming Public Services Index, the ICT Sector
Index; and the Market Enablement Index) were constructed as follows.
A list of key indicators of national performance in each area of the ICT Roadmap was
compiled based on a review of official data sources and authoritative published
international benchmarks. (Details of the indicators selected and their sources are given
in the section below).
Each of the variables were then scaled to a 0 to 1 range by first subtracting the
minimum of each variable's range thereby creating a new scaled value and then dividing
this resulting value by the maximum of scaled variable's range. Transforming all
variables in such a fashion allows the creation of summary measures as each variable is
comparable and on an identical scale. Average scaled values were therefore created to
summarize the average scaled access index, the average scaled confidence index, and
the average scaled motivational index. No weighting was applied – that is, each of the
variables was given equal weigh within the index. Both the individual scaled values as
well as the summary values permit one to rank the various nations on the items of
interest.
In the case of the Citizen Empowerment Index, this was created from an average of
three sub-indices (each of which was created through the process described above).
The three sub indices covered the three key barriers to engagement of Bangladeshis
with ICT which have been identified in the Roadmap: access, confidence, and motivation.
Data Sources
The table below gives details of the data sets used in constructing the ICT Roadmap
Performance Dashboard, and their sources. Unless otherwise indicated, the data refers
to 2006, or the latest available official figures for countries where 2007 data is
unavailable. The data modelling and statistical analysis of these data is the
responsibility of gov3 ltd, not of the data providing organisations.
# Core Index Sub- Indicators Data Source

indices
1 Citizen Access Internet penetration (per World Bank (World
Empowerment index 100 people) Development
Indicators)
77
2 Broadband penetration World Bank (World
(Broadband per 100 Development
users) Indicators)
3 PC Penetration (PC per World Bank (World

100 users) Development
Indicators)
4 Telecomes penetration World Bank (World

(fixed line per 100 user ) Development
Indicators)
5 Telecomes penetration World Bank (World

(mobile phone subscriber Development
per 100 user ) Indicators)
6 Quality of connectivity World Bank (World

(international internet Development
Bandwidth (Mbps) Indicators)
7 Internet cost (price basket World Bank (World

for internet in USD$) Development
Indicators)
8 Internet affordability World Bank (World

(internet cost as a ratio of Development
per capita monthly Indicators)
income)
Confidence Literacy rate, adult total United Nations (Human
Index (per 100 people) Development Index)
Gross enrolment United Nations (Human

(primary, secondary and Development Index)
tertiary education per 100
people)
Trusted ecommerce World Bank (World
infrastructure (secure Development
internet servers in Indicators)
numbers)
Motivation Internet Users (internet World Bank (World
Index users per 100 people) Development
Indicators)
Availability of local http://www.whois.sc/int

content (IP allocation ernet-statistics/country-
based on hosted domains ip-counts.html
per 1000 of population.)
Public Service Availability of online United Nations ( the UN
Transformation public sector content and eGovernment Survey
services (UN Web 2008)
measurement Index)
Quality of public sector United Nations ( the UN
online content and eGovernment Survey
78
services (UN e- 2008)
Participation Index)
ITEC Growth Size of sector relating to World Bank (World
GDP Development
Indicators)
Information an World Bank (World

communication Development
technology expenditure Indicators)
per capita
Total revenue from all ITU
telecoms. Services (US$)
Growth of Sector World Bank (World
Development
Indicators)
Market Business Environment Economist Intelligence

Enablement Score Unit (eReadiness
Report)
Legal Environment Score Economist Intelligence

Unit (eReadiness
Report)
Ease of doing business World Bank

index ( reverse rank) (http://www.doingbusin
ess.org/economyrankin
gs/)
79

Bangladesh ICT Roadmap (Draft) - 200809

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Bangladesh ICT Roadmap (Draft) - 200809

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

National ICT Roadmap/Action Plan

Ministry of Science and ICT

Please address enquiries about this document to:

Mission Critical Programme Roadmap Delivery Plans …………… 50

Benchmarking the ICT Roadmap………………… ………………… 75

The report presents recommendations to the Government of Bangladesh on the National

Figure 1.1: Recommended workstreams for the ICT Roadmap

Figure 1.1: Recommended workstreams for the ICT Roadmap

E-SME Digital content

Work Stream 1: Empowering Citizens

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

2.1 Citizen-centric eServices

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

4.2: Accelerating development of a pro-competitive regulatory regime for

 The Government of Bangladesh to commit to full privatization of BTCL, publishing a clear

 MoPT to commission an Independent Organisational Review of BTRC aimed at

Work Stream 5: Leadership and Governance

b) effective structures and processes are in place to ensure successful delivery.

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

5.2 Improving ICT strategy and delivery within Ministries

How the ICT Roadmap will deliver this:

This document serves the purpose of:

- Describing the main findings of the S2-ICT project “Development of a National

Who should read it

The target audience is listed below

- All stakeholders who will be participating in the roadmap delivery, in particular:

 Leaders from the Bangladesh business community

- Conducted research on existing policy initiatives and programs related to ICT

- Conducted extensive stakeholder consultations

- Developed an “Overview Report” reflecting the current state of ICT development in

- Collected stakeholder input on the Thrust Report

- Personal computers per 100 people

- Internet users per 100 people

- Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 people

Figure 4.1. Personal computers

Millennium Development Goals > Personal Computers

300% Sri Lanka

Figure 4.2. Internet use

Millennium Development Goals > Internet use

Millennium Development Goals > Fixed and cellular telephony

Fixed lines and cellular subscriptions per 100 of population, 2006

United Nations eGovernment benchmarking > 2002

Figure 4.6. UN e-Government Benchmark 2007

United Nations eGovernment benchmarking > 2007

a) That Bangladesh faces a unique set of development challenges, which put it at a

Sector Strengths Weaknesses

Industry - Low cost of IT outsourcing in - Lack of international awareness of

Figure 4.8. A brief history of ICT use in Bangladesh

1886 Formation of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC)

1990 Formulation of BCC Act

1997 In June 1997, the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh appointed a

1998 Telecom Policy 1998 introduced

The Government of Bangladesh to commit to full privatization of BTCL, publishing a clear

MoPT to commission an Independent Organisational Review of BTRC aimed at

Leaders from the Bangladesh business community