The Internet in Bangladesh has witnessed significant growth despite facing many constraints in expanding Internet access and use, development of the Internet and Information Technology are high government priorities. In 2025, Internet users in Bangladesh increased to 92 million with internet penetration at 53%. On 19 February 2018, Bangladesh started the 4G network service.
Statistics Internet users: 53% of the population (2024). Household penetration: 54.8% (2025). Fixed Broadband: 14.6 million (2025). Mobile Broadband: 89% (2026). Internet hosts: 109.3 thousand (2017). Mobile social media penetration: 77.3% (2025).
Evolution Starting in the early 1990s, Bangladesh had dialup access to e-mail using the Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) of a few local providers, but the number of users did not total more than 500. Users were charged by the kilobyte and email was transferred from the BBS service providers to the rest of the world by international dialup using UUCP. In June 1996 the first VSAT base data circuit in the country was commissioned and the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) granted licenses to two Internet service providers (ISPs). In subsequent years more liberal government policies led to a rapid expansion of the industry, resulting in over 180 registered ISPs by 2005. ISPs are currently regulated by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) through the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act. In May 2006 Bangladesh inaugurated new submarine cable optic fiber connectivity as part of the 16-country consortium SEA-ME-WE 4 project. The landing station is in Cox's Bazar, the southern city near the Bay of Bengal. In July 2008 the Submarine Cable Project was transformed into the company Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), which is now responsible for all services related to the submarine cable.
Recent Developments (2018-2025) The internet landscape in Bangladesh has transformed dramatically since the late 2010s. On 19 February 2018, Bangladesh officially launched 4G network services, marking a significant milestone in mobile internet connectivity. By June 2025, Bangladesh reached 188.45 million mobile phone subscribers, with Grameenphone leading at 86.51 million subscribers, followed by Robi (57.40 million), Banglalink (37.95 million), and Teletalk (6.59 million). Internet subscribers grew exponentially to 133.61 million by June 2025, comprising 119.29 million mobile internet users and 14.32 million ISP/PSTN subscribers. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reported in 2025 that 54.8% of households had internet access, a significant increase from 43.6% in 2023. Smartphone adoption saw substantial growth, jumping from 63.3% to 72.8% during the same period. Network coverage expanded significantly, with 4G coverage reaching 100% and 3G coverage at 99.80% by 2025. Internet penetration reached 44.5% in 2025. The communication services market revenue was projected to reach US$4.9 billion in 2025, dominated by mobile data with a projected market volume of US$2.5 billion. Infrastructure development continued to be a priority, with industry leaders at the TowerCo Build Forward Forum 2025 emphasizing the need for policy reform, infrastructure resilience, and cross-sector collaboration. The forum highlighted that TowerCos enable over 90% of the country's mobile network coverage and launched the Bangladesh TowerCo Association to drive collective advocacy and regulatory engagement. According to OpenSignal's February 2025 report, Grameenphone led in overall mobile experience with a video experience score of 57.6 points, followed by Robi (52.7), Banglalink (50.6), and Teletalk (50.0). Download speeds showed similar rankings, with Grameenphone at 23.3 Mbps and Teletalk at 11.8 Mbps.
Usage The number of Internet subscriptions in Bangladesh grew from 186,000 in 2000 to 617,300 in 2009. However, only 0.4% of the population used the Internet in 2009 giving Bangladesh one of the lowest usage percentages in the world, ahead of only North Korea, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone. This limited Internet penetration is due to many factors, including: unavailability in rural areas, high costs, little local content, limited or poor service quality, lack of infrastructure with the last mile often limited to dial-up, too many providers competing in a relatively small market, and low literacy rates. By 2011 however, the number of Internet users in Bangladesh had seen high growth of over 900% bringing the total number of users to 5,501,609 (3.5% of the total population) mainly due to wide availability of mobile Internet access. In April 2010, Akhtaruzzaman Manju, president of Internet Service Providers' Association of Bangladesh, said "we've estimated that nearly 10 million people in the country are using 800,000 Internet connections on sharing basis", adding the number of Internet users in the country is increasing roughly 15-16 percent a year. "This increased Internet penetration will result in a 2.6 per cent contribution to the country's GDP by 2020, while creating 129 thousand more jobs by the same year" the research added. The main obstacle to using the Internet in Bangladesh is its distribution. The Internet is still an urban privilege because telephone connections are more concentrated in urban areas, particularly in and around Dhaka. Mobile operators are providing substantial services in and outside urban areas using 3G/EDGE, there are also WiMax providers. However, recently Bangladesh has seen growth in internet usage. Due to government various initiatives known as a2i project (open Hotspot zone, government offices with internet facility, Reduce bandwidth price etc.) have impacted the growth of users. As of April 2019, internet subscribers have reached 93.702 million users.
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