Many projects have been taken up in the telecommunication and technology sector in the last one and a half decades at the cost of huge sums of money. Initially, the Awami League government took these projects with the vision of digital and later Smart Bangladesh. Analyzing the list obtained from the ICT department and various related sources, it is seen that the work of these projects was mainly dominated by those close to power.
Ministry of Post, Telecommunication and ICT said; At that time, among those who got the most jobs in the ICT sector, a large part of them were the former Prime Minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and the former Minister of State for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak. Even Junaid Ahmed Palak himself has always maintained closeness with Sajeeb Wazed Joy. In various political speeches, ‘Joy Vaikei’ has given credit for the ‘progress’ of the country’s ICT sector.
Those concerned say that those who are known as close to these two have always been given priority in the matter of distribution of various projects of the ICT department. It is alleged that while Mustafa Jabbar was serving as the minister in the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, his close associates got the job of the ministry. Apart from this, the family members of Awami League ministers-MPs, Jubo League-Chatra League leaders are also included in this list.
Among the domestic entrepreneurs in the ICT sector in the last one and a half decades, Faruk Khan’s brother and the chairman of Summit Communication Limited are at the top of the list of those who have received the most work in terms of money. Farid Khan Others in this list include Chairman of Fiber at Home Mainul Haque Siddiqui, Chairman of Radisson Digital Technologies Limited Delwar Hossain Farooq, Waheed Sharif of Digicon Technologies Limited, E-Cab President Shami Kaiser, Former Director of National Data Center Tarek Barkatullah, Managing Director of Gigatech Limited Samira Zuberi Himika. , Jubo League Central Executive Member Mashrul Alam Milan, Flora System Limited Mustafa Rafiqul Islam etc.
Apart from this, Zaref Hamid, son of former State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid Bipur, Tarek Ekramul Haque, brother-in-law of former Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Employment Minister Imran Ahmed, Tamal, brother-in-law of Awami League and former Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, are also on the list.
When asked about this, information technology expert and founder of BdJobs, Fahim Mashroor, told Barta, “In the last five years, the allocation in the information technology sector has been increased several times. Industry has not benefited from this, and its impact is not even seen socially. Only Few politicians have benefited from it.’
Mostafa Jabbar, president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the top trade organization of the country’s software sector, was replaced by Delwar Hossain Farooq after taking charge in the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology. He is the Chairman of Radisson Digital Technologies Limited. Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications officials said that after Mustafa Jabbar took charge of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the dominance of Radisson Digital Technologies Limited was created in the ministry. The company was involved in the works, including supply of digital equipment, development of data wire housing and business intelligence system for government telecom operator Teletalk Bangladesh Limited, establishment of National Equipment Identity Registrar (NEIR) of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (BTRC), management of Minimum Wage Board including Govt. Providing all types of equipment including telecommunications equipment, laptops, mobiles etc. in the office.
Apart from that, Radisson Digital Technologies Ltd. has provided digital devices to Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, Roads and Highways Department, C Power Project of Information and Communication Technology Department, Information and Communication Technology Department, Post and Telecommunication Department.
After Awami League came to power in 2009, Summit Communication Limited and Fiber at Home became powerful business organizations in the technology sector. These two companies dominate every business including IIG, IGW, NTTN, ISP in the telecommunication sector of the country. Fiber at Home recently got NTTN license for another 15 years.
Mustafa Rafiqul Islam’s Flora System Limited is a technical service company in the country’s banking sector. He is also known as Mustafa Duke in the banking sector. While Flora System works in the development of core banking software, his company also works on the automation of various ministries. It is alleged that the direct procurement procedure was violated to get the work done by Flora Limited.
The trend of making any program live in government institutions in the country started in 2016. At that time ICT department, Asiatic and any government live broadcast work had to be compulsorily given to a video streaming company named Dhaka Live.
Tarek Barkatullah has played a role in the decision-making of the technology sector since the beginning during the Awami League government. The former director of the National Data Center gave a job worth 207 crores to the technology company Oracle. According to this, cloud services are to be taken from the company for three years. Even after setting up a national data center in the country, technology sector stakeholders are questioning the issue of taking cloud-based services from Singapore-based Oracle at the expense of a large sum of money.
The Bangla Language Enrichment Project in Information Technology through research and development of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) is known as Bangla Project. Several companies of the Beximco Group of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s advisor Salman F. Rahman got work on the project costing about Tk 159 crore. Beximco and its affiliates received work worth about 33 percent or one-third of the tender cost for 16 components.
Beximco Computers and Gigatech are subsidiaries of the Beximco Group. Sayan F Rahman is the son of Gigatech chairman Salman F Rahman. The managing director and chief executive of the company is Samira Zuberi Himika. He is the founder of a company called ‘Team Engine’. The ICT department bought optical character recognition or OCR software from A Team Engine in 2014 at a cost of Tk 6 crore 34 lakh. But that software was not functional later.
Many entrepreneurs and youth were supposed to be trained under E-Commerce Masterclass, LICT Outsourcing Training, Hi-Tech Park Entrepreneurial Training, Har Power, Idea Project. However, there is no trace of a large number of these trainees. E-CAB General Secretary and Women in E-Commerce (WE) Nasima Akhtar Nisha, E-CAB President and actress Shami Kaiser received these training tasks.
600 apps project was taken to bring government services to people’s doorsteps. MA Mubin Khan of Ethics Advanced Technology Limited was given the responsibility of this project. However, none of these apps have been sustainable.
The identity service was operated by Digicon Technologies Limited. From this service, the mobile operators are repeatedly sent letters to fill the customer form with the personal information of the people. Even if the operators are not interested, Digicon is being pressured to create a database to get business. Identity demands about 10 rupees per person from mobile operators to provide personal information of people. And the operators get verification service from the National Identity Card Division of the Election Commission (EC) at Tk 5 per person.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) is one of the most important responsibilities in the telecommunication service sector across the country. Officials of the organization alleged that various tenders of the organization were controlled by a syndicate of contractors who benefited during the previous Awami League regime. The contracting firms that dominated BTCL’s work included Nijhum Enterprises, Hamida Traders, Sky Limit Enterprises, KK Enterprises and Reliance Engineering.
After coming to power, the Awami League government started issuing telecommunication sector licenses to give facilities to the party leaders and workers. One of these licenses is the International Gateway or IGW license. Among them, Ratul Telecom in the name of Syeda Amreen Ankhi, daughter of Jahangir Kabir Nanak and wife Syeda Arjumand Banu, Vision Tel, the company of former Deputy Speaker Shamsul Haque Tuku’s son and former mayor of Pabna Bara municipality SM Asif Shams, Shamim Osman’s wife Salma Osman and son Imtinan Osman in the name of KK. Telecom licenses are issued.
BTRC and IGW sector sources say that the aim of these six organizations was to earn a large sum of money in a short period of time. It was not their goal to do business in the long term. Because of this, they make huge money by making calls at low cost. From there they left without paying BTRC dues and license fees. BTRC owes Tk 921 crore to six IGW institutions.
When asked about the overall issue, Nahid Islam, adviser to the government on postal, telecommunication and information technology and information and broadcasting, told Barta, ‘We have taken the initiative to evaluate all the projects that have been taken up in the ministry during the Awami League government. The implementation of the objectives of these projects taken at the cost of a lot of money and the benefits to the general public are being verified. A project evaluation committee has also been formed. Besides, a separate committee has been formed to investigate irregularities in Bangladesh Data Center Company Limited (BDCCL) under ICT department. We will take action based on correct facts and not just average complaints. Action will be taken very soon against those involved in these irregularities, corruption and loss of people’s money.