Bangladesh’s government has put a number on its digital ambitions: one million new jobs in the technology sector over the next five years. Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Minister Faqir Mahbub Anam set out the target at Bangladesh TechConnect 2026, a conference that opened in Dhaka on Tuesday, and said the aim is to turn the country into a regional hub for IT and artificial intelligence.
The event was organised by the Posts and Telecommunications Division together with Huawei and drew officials, operators, academics and business leaders. Alongside the jobs pledge, senior officials outlined a national AI policy, a plan for cheaper locally made smartphones and a list of infrastructure gaps that still stand in the way.
What the government is promising
The minister tied the jobs goal to a familiar set of conditions: modern telecom networks, fast internet that ordinary people can afford, stronger digital skills, more investment and home-grown innovation. He also stressed cybersecurity, personal data protection and responsible use of technology, arguing that AI tools can lift productivity and create work rather than simply replace it.
ICT Division Secretary Md Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan listed five priorities for his division: a clearer legal and policy framework, reliable connectivity, digital public infrastructure, AI and cybersecurity, and domestic manufacturing. Work on a national AI policy has started. Reports of his remarks differ on timing, putting completion anywhere from three to six months away, so a final document is unlikely before the first half of next year.
The most concrete consumer promise was on handsets. Bhuiyan said the government wants smartphones made in Bangladesh at Tk4,000 to Tk5,000. At present the cheapest feature phone sells for about Tk999, while the most basic smartphone costs around Tk10,000, a gap that keeps millions of people on devices that cannot run modern apps. No timeline, manufacturer or subsidy model for the cheaper phones was announced.
Posts and Telecommunications Secretary Md Kamruzzaman framed the issue in economic terms. “Digital infrastructure is now a key foundation for an investment-driven, knowledge-based economy,” he said, adding that Bangladesh trails the global average on digital capability by about 10 points. He called for affordable devices and data packages with Bangla-language services, dependable networks, 5G investment based on real demand, and public trust built on data protection and accountable AI.
What it means here
Targets like this are easy to announce and hard to measure. A credible plan would need to say what counts as a digital job, how freelancers and outsourcing workers will be tracked, and which agency is accountable for progress. None of that was spelled out on Tuesday.
The industry also raised older problems. Robi’s chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer, Shahed Alam, said guidelines on sharing towers and other telecom infrastructure have failed for 15 years because they were never properly enforced. Without shared infrastructure, operators duplicate costs, and those costs end up in data prices.
The handset plan connects to a separate proposal from the telecom regulator, reported earlier this month, to phase out 2G networks by the end of 2029. An estimated 60 to 70 million people still rely on 2G phones. If that switch-off goes ahead, a genuinely affordable local smartphone would decide whether low-income users move up to 4G or are simply cut off.
For startups and software firms, the AI policy is the item to watch. Clear rules on data use, public-sector procurement and Bangla-language AI could open real business. A vague policy, or one that arrives late, would leave companies guessing for another year.
