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ICT Policy Challenges for Digital Inclusion in Bangladesh: Evaluating Policy and
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 ICT Policy Challenges for Digital Inclusion in Bangladesh:
Evaluating Policy and Practice

MASTER THESIS

to obtain the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree

in Digital Communication Leadership (DCLead)

of

Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences

Paris Lodron University of Salzburg

Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences and Solvay Business School

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Submitted by
Abdul Aziz
Student Number: 0540922
Email: abdul.aziz@stud.sbg.ac.at
azizmonir7@gmail.com

Chikni Para, Kalarmarchara-4710, Maheshkhali

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Primary Supervisor: Prof. Leo Van Audenhove

Secondary Supervisor: Prof. Maier-Rabler Ursula
Tutors: Prof. Jean Burgess and Assoc. Prof. Michael Dezuanni

Department of Communication Studies

Salzburg, 28 July 2018

 Table of Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 3
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ 4
List of Figures............................................................................................................................... 4
List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................................ 6
1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 6
1.1.1 Bangladesh: Socio-economic Structure and Challenges .................................... 6
1.2. ICT Context: Bangladesh as a Digital Society ............................................................ 8
1.2.1 Vision 2021 and Digital Bangladesh ....................................................................... 9
1.2.2 ICT Policy Framework in Bangladesh .................................................................. 10
1.2.3 UISCs in Bangladesh .............................................................................................. 17
1.3 Background of the Study ............................................................................................... 18
1.4 Statement of Problem .................................................................................................... 18
1.5 Relevance of the Research ........................................................................................... 19
1.6 Research Question ......................................................................................................... 20
1.7 Outline of the Thesis ...................................................................................................... 21
Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspective .................................................................................... 22
2.1 Digital Inclusion ............................................................................................................... 22
2.1.1 Conceptualising Digital Inclusion .......................................................................... 22
2.1.2 Exclusionary Processes: Digital Divide and Inequality ...................................... 23
2.1.3 Measuring Digital Inclusion .................................................................................... 25
2.1.4 Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion ........................................................................... 27
2.2 Digital Inclusion Indexes ................................................................................................ 28
2.2.1 ICT access ................................................................................................................ 28
2.2.1.1 Connectivity....................................................................................................... 28
2.2.1.2 Location and platform ...................................................................................... 29
2.2.2 ICT Use ..................................................................................................................... 29
2.2.3 ICT skills ................................................................................................................... 30
2.3 ICT .................................................................................................................................... 32
2.4. ICT Policy........................................................................................................................ 33
2.6 ICT for Development (ICT4D) ....................................................................................... 35
2.7. Digital Inclusion and ICT4D.......................................................................................... 36

1
Chapter 3: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 39
3.1 Documents Analysis ....................................................................................................... 39
3.1.1 Goal-Means Tree Analysis ..................................................................................... 40
3.1.2 Close Reading ......................................................................................................... 41
3.2 Data Sources ................................................................................................................... 41
3.3 Research Design ............................................................................................................ 42
Chapter 4: Result & Discussion .......................................................................................... 43
4.1 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 43
4.1.1 Access: ...................................................................................................................... 43
4.1.2 Use: ........................................................................................................................... 46
4.1.3 Skill: ........................................................................................................................... 48
4.1.4 Union Information Service Centre (UISC) ........................................................... 49
4.2 Discussion: Theoretical Reflections ............................................................................. 53
4.2.1 What are the Policy Challenges? .......................................................................... 53
4.2.1.1. Is Digital Inclusion Well Addressed? ............................................................ 53
4.2.1.2 ICT Policy Goals and Means .......................................................................... 56
4.2.1.3 Impact of UISC on Society.............................................................................. 58
4.3 Digital inclusion and ICT Policy .................................................................................... 59
4.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 60
4.5 Further Research Directions ......................................................................................... 61
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 62
Appendix A ............................................................................................................................... 69

2
 ICT Policy Challenges for Digital Inclusion in Bangladesh
evaluating policy and practice

Abstract

The study explores a critical scrutiny of goals and means behind the ICT policies
assessing the policy impact and effectiveness for digital inclusion in Bangladesh. The
analysis takes place in two interlinked stages. The first phase is related to the national
ICT policies. It investigates to what extent the idea of digital inclusion is set consistently
and rationally in the respective objectives and their strategic themes and action items in
order to ensure digitally included and integrated society. Second, this part is related to
the UISCs (Union Information services Centres) project that has been operationalized
under the ICT policy objective of ‘social equity’. It explores to see whether the policy
claims of ensuring social equity, gender parity and equitable participation through ICTs
are matched with social reality or only rhetoric.

These considerations are followed by an interrogation of the literature that conceptualises

the digital inclusion. This firmly links the current conceptual debate and previous
researches and provides a comprehensive definition and a sound rationale for this study.
Theoretically, it also includes a range of interlocking concepts that are appropriate
considerations for the reviewing ICT practices and policy discourse involving digital
inclusion in Bangladesh.

The study is designed based on qualitative approaches using goals-means analysis and
close reading of relevant policies mainly National ICT Policy (NIP), which is a key legal
framework for ‘vision 2021’ and ‘Digital Bangladesh’. It analyses the appropriation of the
policy process in both claims and practices as well as examines in the context of critical
ICT for development discourses.

Having examined the policy challenges in relation to digital inclusion, the study concludes
that the ambiguity and inconsistency are visible in the suggested means that proposed
to attain desired policy goal. The policy is structured with the narrow digitisation frame of
reference (access manners), where techno-centric ICT mechanism of policy process
does not address the comprehensive issues associated with the inclusion, such as social
inequalities, gender disparity citizen rights and inclusion, while economic growth and e-
commerce are prioritised.

Key words: ICT Policy; Digital Inclusion; Bangladesh

3
 List of Tables

Table 1: the ICT policy initiatives and regulatory framework in Bangladesh………15-16

Table 2: Visitors/Service Seekers and Service Providing Activities in the Six UISCs…51

List of Figures

Figure 1: Government’s ICT development agenda in Bangladesh………………9

Figure 2: The definition of the ICT sector from the consumer’s point of view….32
Figure 3: Four Discourses on ICTD…………………………………………………37
Figure 4: fragmented goal-means tree of ICT access…………………………….44
Figure 5: fragmented goal-means tree of ICT use…………………………………47
Figure 6: fragmented goal-means tree of ICT skills……………………………….48

4
 List of Acronyms
ADB: Asian Development Bank
BBC: Broadcasting Corporation
BCC: Bangladesh Computer council
BSS: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
BTRC: Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
GSMA: Global System for Mobile Communications Association
HDI: Human Development Index
ICT4D: Information & Communication Technology for Development
ICT: Information Communication Technology
IDI: ICT Development Index
IS: Information Systems
ISP: Internet Service Provider
IT: Information Technology
ITU: International Telecommunication Union
MDG: Millennium Development Goals
SDGs: United Nations Social Development Goals
MoPTIT: Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication and Information Technology
NGO: Non-Government Organization
NIP: National ICT Policy
NIT: National Telecommunication Policy
PP: Prospective Plan
UN: United Nations
UP: Union Parishad
UISC: Union Information Services Centre
UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade & Development
UNDP: United Nations Development Programme
WB: World Bank
WEF: World Economic Forum
WSIS: World Summit on the Information Society

5
 Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

The government of Bangladesh places considerable emphasis on digital technologies to

lead the development process in the country. ‘Digital Bangladesh’ is a state sponsored
digital initiative to promote a number of ambitious ICT project aiming for a poverty free
and more inclusive society by 2021. In this context, certain ICT policies have emerged
with the cooperation of international agencies to accelerate the digitisation process for
economic growth and social development. ICT policy initiatives, such as endorsement of
the National ICT Policy 2009 (NIP) in July 2009, which is considered a flagship regulatory
framework for digital agenda in Bangladesh. As a policy promise, the Union Information
Services Centre (UISC), country’s largest ICT initiative was implemented across the
country in order to ensure rural empowerment and inclusion. However, Bangladesh has
a high level of inequalities along with a number of social problem such as lack of
resources, gender discrimination, overpopulation and lack of ICT skills etc.

1.1.1 Bangladesh: Socio-economic Structure and Challenges

Bangladesh is located in Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma
and India with a small land area of 147,570 km2 and 162 million of population that makes
Bangladesh world’s most densely populated country (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
[BBS], 2017). The Asian Development (ADB) reports, the country’s economic progress
has been strong over the past decade with a gradual Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
growth expected to grow by 7% in 2018 and 7.2% in 2019 while the government targets
for Bangladesh to reach the middle-income level by 2021. The population living below
the national poverty line dropped to 24.3% in 2016 from 31.5% in 2010 (ADB, 2018).
Bangladesh has made substantial progress in key Human Development Indexes (HDI)
and has met several targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)1. This

1
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were the world's targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many
dimensions (income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion) while promoting gender equality,
education and environmental sustainability by 2015.

6
progress has been underpinned by a sustained period of economic growth and achieved
lower-middle-income status in 2015.

However, the country has a significant social inequalities and production challenges.
Income inequalities, political instability and gender vulnerabilities with structural
constraint to employment are considered major problems in Bangladesh (Williams, 2018).
At the same time, Bangladesh mostly remains in ordinary habitations of rural settings as
66.2 per cent of the country’s population lives in rural areas (BBS, 2017). In other words,
‘the key to understanding Bangladeshi society lies in the appreciation of the dynamics of
its rural settlements’(Khan, 2015, p. 17). Although the ongoing rapid industrialisation,
shifting from agriculture towards manufacturing and industry– the country’s economy
largely remains dependent on agriculture. The Global System for Mobile Communications
Association (GSMA) reports there is also a growing polarisation of capital which has
resulted in the top 20% of the population seizing more than half of income. These trends
are more dominant in rural areas, where more than half of the total population live (2018).

Bangladesh has all indicators of an underdeveloped political environment where

democracy is yet to be institutionalized (Khan, 2015). In general, the state of governance
in Bangladesh can be categorised as an immature polity which is highly influenced by
those who have money and power. The recent dimension in dominant political narratives
mainly surrounding Bangladesh’s war of liberation debate continues to polarize the citizen
at social, political, and intellectual levels (Islam & Islam, 2018).Yet, Bangladesh is one of
the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world intensifying the socioeconomic
problems. According to World Bank report (2018), around 80% of the population are
possibly at risk of floods, earthquakes and droughts while more than 70 per cent to
cyclones. The country’s low-lying and climatic topographies, combined with its continued
population growth and economic situation, make it extremely vulnerable to many natural
threats, such as floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes.

7
1.2. ICT Context: Bangladesh as a Digital Society

Despite poverty, illiteracy and inequality, Bangladesh has the ninth largest telecom
market in the world with 150.727 million mobile phones and 86.872 million Internet users
(BTRC, 2018). Bangladesh has already marked as an exporting IT-enabled services and
products country as it exported around US$250 million ICT products to sixty countries
(Mamun, 2014). Recently, Bangladesh launches the country’s first ever communication
and broadcasting GEO satellite, the "Bangabandhu Satellite-1" with the technical
consultancy and services support by ‘Space Partnership International (SPI), USA and
‘Thales Alenia Space’ France (ITU, 2018).

In contrast, Bangladesh ranked 147th globally and 30th in the Asian countries in the ICT
Development Index (IDI). Many people remain out of ICT benefits for a few reasons,
primarily; poverty, poor infrastructure, lack of awareness, and digital literacy among
people, especially in the rural area (Ullah, 2016). According to the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU, 2017a) annual report, Bangladesh is the world’s eighth
largest population while having the fifth largest offline population in the world along with
about 148 million still unconnected to the Internet (World Bank, 2016).

Bangladesh has reached widespread telecommunications coverage through wireless

devices and is now looking forward to greater mobile-broadband coverage. However,
Internet penetration is eight times lower in rural areas than in urban ones, due to some
recurring setbacks including frequently disturbed power supply, poor location, lower
motivation and lack of awareness about the benefits of ICTs (Alam, 2014). The limited
allocation of 3G spectrum covering 93% of the Bangladeshi population mobile internet
usage is still low, at 21% in 2017. However, 4G services have just launched in February
2018, which indicates that Bangladesh has lagged in south Asian countries regarding
typical download speeds, and its price, having a significant negative impact on the quality
of telecommunication services in Bangladesh GSMA (2018).

8
1.2.1. Vision 2021 and Digital Bangladesh

The model of Digital Bangladesh is a long-term vision that plans ICT as a catalyst for
socioeconomic and human development by 2021. As an electoral pledge of the ruling
party, it has become the major political commitment of the government and the guiding
theme of all activities across the government administration (Hasan, 2012). The main
goal is to bring socioeconomic transformation through information and communications
technology (ICT) to become a middle-income country. Access 2 Information (A2I) reports
the key areas of Digital Bangladesh area are human resource development, connecting
citizens, digital government and the make private sector (ICT in business) more
productive (A2I, 2009).

According to Planning Commission under the Ministry of Planning, Bangladesh,2 the

long-term strategy for Vision 2021 was defined in the Perspective Plan (PP) (see Figure
1), while specific strategies and the task for implementation were articulated through two
plans: the Sixth Five Year Plan (6FYP) (2011–2015) and the Seventh Five Year Plan
(7FYP) from 2016 to 2020 (Commission, 2012). In September 2015, the United Nations
(UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched, accordingly, the
Bangladesh government has involved the SDGs in policy agenda and incorporated them
in its 7FYP.

Figure1: Government’s ICT development agenda in Bangladesh; source: GSMA, 2018

2
See http://www.plancomm.gov.bd/7th-five-year-plan/

9
One of the strategic outputs of Digital agenda is the Access to Information (a2i)
programme, which targets to ensure quality, easier access and decentralised provision
of administrative services to citizens of Bangladesh. The official site of the program
(https://a2i.gov.bd) introduces “A2i is a special program of the prime minister’s office that
catalyses citizen-friendly public services innovations simplifying government and bringing
it closer to people”. In relation to the ICT policy strategy, the Public-Private Partnership
(PPP) model was established to expedite development in ICT infrastructure and public
services. Recently, to ensure the ICT infrastructure, the government increased the ICT
investment from around 2% to 6% of GDP (GSMA, 2018).

1.2.2. ICT Policy Framework in Bangladesh

The recent initiatives in the ICT sector are comparatively better than any time before in
the history of Bangladesh. Until the early 90s, there was no substantial change as the
whole ICT and telecommunication sector was controlled by the government. Later,
liberalisation of the markets unlocks the private licensing to invest and offer ICT services
(Hasan, 2012). Formulation of Telecommunication Policy (1998); Telecommunications
Act (2001); National ICT Policy (2002); Access to information act (2009); establishment
of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) (2002); and the
linking with optic fiber submarine connection network as part of the 16 country3
consortium South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) (2006), are
such initiatives that have been taken in the ICT sector over the last ten years.

The number of acts, policies and strategies are initiated in the context of digitisation
process, which is guiding the country towards a digital agenda. The following sections,
therefore, provide a brief outline (see Table 1) of the major ICT policy strategies that have
been formulated in the last one and a half decades.

3The system that carries telecommunications between Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka,
Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.

10
1.2.2.1. National ICT Policy 2015

The National ICT Policy (NIP) strategy is structured as a hierarchical pyramid with a single
vision at the top as the ultimate goal, and the other linked parameters (ten objectives, fifty
four strategic themes, and 235 action items) are placed in the subsequent layers. The
vision and objectives are aligned with the general national goals and each objective has
a number of strategic themes4 are actions items5 (MoPTIT, 2015a).

According to the NIP, the policy vision is to “Expand and diversify the use of ICTs to
establish a transparent, responsive and accountable government; develop skilled human
resources; enhance social equity; ensure cost-effective delivery of citizen-services
through public-private partnerships; and support the national goal of becoming a middle-
income country within 2021 and join the ranks of the developed countries of the world by
2041” (NIP, 2015. P.7) and ensure an ICT driven nation based on ‘knowledge based
society’ (MoPTIT 2015a, p.6).

There are ten related objectives to achieve the policy vision are, Social Equity, Integrity,
Universal Access, Education and Research, Employment Generation Strengthening
Exports, Supports to ICTs, Healthcare, Environment, Climate & Disaster Management,
and Productivity. These objectives are covered by a substantial range of strategic themes
that outline a wide range of action items to be accomplished in the short-term (2016),
mid-term (2018) and long-term (2021).

The policy is formed based on the constitutional framework of Bangladesh (article19 of

the Constitution of The People's Republic of Bangladesh) that emphasised social
inclusion and citizen’s equal participation in the society. Acceding to article 19, social
equity is to promote “equality of opportunity to all citizens’ removing social and economic
inequality between man and man in order to confirm the equitable distribution of wealth
among all citizens” (MoPTIT, 2015a, p.2).

4
Strategic theme is defined in the policy as ‘a broad recommendation to guide the development and implementation of
specific action items’ (National ICT Policy, 2015, p.6)
5
Action item is defined in the policy as ‘a particular implementation task under a strategic theme with clearly specified
outcomes, time limits and actors’ (National ICT Policy, 2009, p.6)

11
National ICT Policy (NIP) was first adopted in October 2002 and later it was reviewed
and modified on 4 May 2008, as a result, the ‘National ICT Policy 2009’ was delivered.
With some minor revisions, finally, the 'National ICT Policy 2015’ was issued on 5 August
2015. The NIP is designed and formulated by the ICT division of the Ministry of Posts
and Telecommunication and Information Technology (MoPTIT) and Bangladesh
Computer Council (BCC) and Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission
(BTRC) are assigned as the key agencies for policy implementation.

1.2.2.2. National Telecommunications Policy 2015

The National Telecommunications Policy (NTP) was introduced in 1998 that laid the basic
strategy for a liberalized telecommunication sector in Bangladesh. It paved the way for
focusing on the distinction between the policy, regulation, and operational guidelines that
were centralized at that time. Based on the Telecommunications Policy 1998, the
government enacted the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Act, 2001. The
vision of NTP “provide affordable and universally accessible quality telecommunication
services to support the nation’s sustainable development goals and to integrate the
country with the global knowledge economy” (MoPTIT, 2015b, p. 5).

The NTP facilitates common telephone services, like cellular mobile telephones and data
services, access to the Internet etc. The Act has been revised and amended several
times so far, in order to address the growing needs in the telecommunication sector and
for improvement in the service delivery. To integrate telecommunications and ICT
initiatives, the government established the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and
Information Technology (MoPTIT) following the strategy of the 7th five year plan. The
policy was considered as a catalyst for the expanding private sector’s investment
minimising the government’s central control. The current telecommunication policies are
based on the Bangladesh National Telecommunication Act 1998, which reflected in the
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulating Act (BTRA) of 2001. With some
amendments, it was drafted in 2013 and finally, Policy was revised and formally adopted
in 2015.

12
1.2.2.3. Right to Information Act 2009

The Right to Information Act (RTI), 2009 was introduced with an objective to ensure a
free flow of information and people’s right to access to information. The Act also aims to
reduce corruption and ensure good governance, transparency and accountability in all
public and private organizations. In a response to a robust advocacy and campaign by
civil society representatives of NGOs, journalists demanding to pass the act, the
caretaker Government enacted the Right to Information Ordinance in 20th October 2008
and later, the following elected government passed the Right to Information Act, 2009
(Iftekharuzzaman, 2011). According to the RTI Act, it is mandatory to employ an official
in every government and non-government organizations to deliver the sought information
to the applicants. Failing to obtain information within 20 (twenty) working days from
getting the request, the applicant can file a complaint to the Information Commission. The
Commission, therefore, will imply the authority of the Civil Court to summon both sides
and resolve the issue (RTI, 2009).

1.2.2.4. Perspective Plan of Bangladesh 2010-2021: ‘Making Vision 2021 A Reality’

(2012)

The ‘Perspective Plan of Bangladesh (2010-2021: Making Vision 2021 a Reality’ is a

strategic delivery. It explains the vision, mission, and goals of the government in making
for a middle income country a reality in 2021. This Plan presents the broad framework,
allowing considerable latitude for the Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-2015) and the Seventh
Five Year Plan (2016 2020) to work out strategic and operational details on how the
country should move forward. This strategic document mainly emphasizes on the two
principal goals are “acceleration of economic growth and reduction of poverty” (Planning
Commission, 2012). In addition, after the tenure of 6FYP, the General Economics
Division (GED) formulated Perspective Plan (PP) to set strategic directions and provide
a broad outline for making Vision 2021 a reality (GED, 2012).

13
1.2.2.5. ICT (Amendment) Act 2016

Information and Communication Technology (Amendment) Act 2016 has been the most
contested and controversial law in Bangladesh since it was first introduced in 2006.
Several updates and amendment made (in 2008 and 2009) to the law until 2013.

Human rights activists and writers have long campaigned to repeal the ICT Act, especially
section 57, reasoning that it’s vulnerable to misuse by political opponents, enemies, and
law enforcement agencies. ARTICLE 19 reports (2016) that several provisions of this law
are too vague or unnecessarily criminalise legitimate expression. The daily star
(November 04, 2017) reports6 nearly 90 per cent of the cases were filed under section
57 and a majority of them by ruling party men. In the first seven months of 2017, the court
received 342 reports. From them, 300 were filed under section 57. New amendment of
Act allows the maximum jail term to 14 years and police can arrest just after the filing of
a case under the ICT Act on charges of defamation.

1.2.2.6. Digital Security Act-2018

Despite the high criticize from the civil society and media activists, the cabinet approved
the Digital Security Act-2018 on January 29, 2018, though the act was first introduced in
2016. The act was approved keeping a provision for revoking sections 54, 55, 56, 57 and
66 of the ICT act7. According to section 43 of the draft says a police official can search or
arrest anyone without any warrant issued by a court. The new law stipulates some crimes
under sections including 17, 28, 31, 32 and 34 as “non-bailable”, considering the severity
of crimes and level of punishment. The Government will form a Digital Security Agency
to ensure national digital security and combat cybercrimes.

The both ICT Act and Digital Security Act limit freedom of expression using vague
language to criminalise publishing information online that “hurts religious sentiment”,
“creates possibility to deteriorate law and order”, or prejudices “the image of the State”.
Journalists and social media users have already been harassed and arrested for

6 https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/section-57-ict-act-man-held-over-facebook-post-1486162
7
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/draft-digital-security-act-approved-gag-freedom-expression-1527013

14
expressing their opinion on social media platforms. The following table (1) outlines the
policy initiatives and regulatory framework in Bangladesh.

Policy/Acts Ministry/Agency Objectives Remarks

National (MoPTIT) and To ensure rapid growth of The policy was reflected in the Bangladesh
Telecommunic Bangladesh telecommunications Telecommunication
ations Policy Telecommunicatio services both in quality Regulating Act (BTRA) of 2001. Later, the policy is revised
(NTP) 1998 ns and quantity and the use and developed in 2013.
Regulatory of telecommunications
Commission technology to ensure
(BTRC) socio-economic
development
Bangladesh MoPTIT and Founding an independent The act was revised and developed in 2006(Amendment)
Telecommunic BTRC Commission to facilitate and 2010(Amendment).
ations for development and
Act 2001 effective regulation
telecommunication
services across the
country.

ICT Policy MoPTIT, BTRC, To promote and facilitate The target for ICT policy 2002 was to develop ICT
2002 Bangladesh use of ICT in all sectors infrastructure and services by 2006. Later, In 2008, the
Computer Council To ensure transparent policy was reviewed and drafted in 2009(amendment) with
(BCC) and Prime and efficient governance a ‘vision 2021’ and ‘digital Bangladesh’ digital agenda.
Minister’s Office Finally, in 2015, the policy was revised with the aim for a
(PMO) comprehensive framework and consistent works plan to be
implemented in three phase; short term (2016), mid-term
(2018) and long term (2021).
To ensure intellectual The Copyright Act, 2000 repealed the Copyright
Copyright Act, Ministry of Law, property rights for Ordinance, 1962 and was last amended in 2005.
2000 Justice and creative industries According to this Act, copyright registration is voluntary
Copyright Parliamentary and other related modes and not obligatory in Bangladesh. The registration gives an
(Amended) Affairs of evidence of ownership in case of copyright arguments. The
Act 2005 Electronic Act is similar to the Bern Convention and TRIPS
communication. Agreement.
ICT Act 2006 Ministry of Law, the legal recognition and The Act was revised and amended in 2009 and 2013 and
Justice and security of information 2016. The I Act known for article 57 and most contested
Parliamentary and communication and controversial law in Bangladesh regarding freedom of
Affairs technology expression and press freedom and political oppression.

Right to Ministry of Law, To provide legal power to The Information Commission was established under the
Information Justice and citizens to seek RTI Act on 1st July 2009. The Commission is a legislative
(RTI) Act 2009 Parliamentary Public service related independent body formed based on the Constitution’s
Affairs information fundamental rights mentioned in Article 39.

15
 National MoPTIT To ensure easy The policy was not successful and remained ineffective. A
Broadband and BTRC accessibility to the draft was mid in 2015 but not finalised yet.
Policy 2009 Internet and effective
service delivery
International To facilitate low-cost The policy was drafted in 2007 and remained inactive.
Long Distance MoPTIT service including VOIP
Telecommunic and BTRC services considering the
ations Services vision of Digital
(ILDTS) Policy Bangladesh
2010
Bangladesh Hi- MoPTIT, BTRC, To leverage hi-tech and The act was revised 2014 (Amendment). There is a move of
tech other miniseries, software industries in the term ‘park’ relating the Bio-tech park, Renewable Energy
Park Authority like finance, Bangladesh park, Green Technology Park. In 2017 Sheikh Hasina
Act 2010 Industries, Law Software Technology Park in Jessore and Hi-tech Park in
Justice Kaliakoir of Gazipur are built.
Digital Security Ministry of Law, the legal recognition and Similar to ICT act and section 57 of the ICT Act has returned
Act 2016 Justice security of information and as the section 32 of Digital Security Act. The act was revised
communication in 2018.
technology
Table 1: the ICT policy initiatives and regulatory framework in Bangladesh Source: ICT polices. Compiled by
the author

In addition to the act and policy, a number of ICT governing bodies and institutions were
established. In 2002, government formed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory
Commission (BTRC) as a self-governing commission under the Bangladesh
Telecommunication Act 2001. In 2011, the Ministry of ICT was established, later it was
merged with Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and named as Ministry of Posts
and Telecommunication and Information Technology (MoPTIT) in February 2014. The
ministry has two divisions Posts and Telecommunications Division and ICT Division. Now
all major ICT initiatives and digital agenda are being mostly implemented by two divisions
of MoPTIT, Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), and BTRC.

16
1.2.3. UISCs in Bangladesh

Union Parishad (UP) is the lowest tier in the local government structure at the community
level in Bangladesh, which was introduced in 2009 under the policy ‘the Local
Government Ordinance (Union Parishad)’8 to ensure public access to information and
government services to the rural and community level. Following the national ICT Policy
objective ‘social equity’, the union information service centres (UISCs) was implemented
to extend ICT benefits to remote and completely isolated rural areas. In general, the
initiative is considered as a public-private partnership (PPP), with the government of
Bangladesh along with the cooperation of donor agencies like USAID and UNDP.

The UISCs is the biggest initiative on ICTs and development in Bangladesh serve
nationwide to provide one-stop government services in order to ensure rural
empowerment. The centres facilitate job applications and commercial services such as
visa processing, assisting Bangladesh’s huge migrant workers, internet browsing, word-
processing and printing, photography and mobile phone credit refill are also provided.
Initially, the UISC concept emerged from a small enterprise, hosted by the UPs in rural
areas under a pilot programme supported by the UNDP’s Democratic Governance
Thematic Trust Fund in 2007. In 2010, the Access to Information (a2i) Programme of the
Prime Minister’s Office formally started working to improve UISC initiative (Ullah, 2017).

For this study, the UISC is selected for some significant reasons; first, UISC is the first
Public-Private sharing model in ICT sector directed to deliver ICT services to the rural
communities at marginalised level. Second, the UISC project is a unique project in
Bangladesh as it receives direct supervision from the Prime Minister’s Office, the highest
and dominant body of Bangladesh’s public administration. The government delivered the
initial and physical equipment through UP administrative units while private
entrepreneurs are responsible for maintenance and improvement. Finally, the UISC is an
outcome of the national ICT strategies and policies to include marginalised, women and
disabled people in the ICT framework. In relation to digital inclusion, the initiative is worthy
of research contributing to contemporary debates on the success and effectiveness of
such ICT projects in developing countries.

8
See http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/print_sections_all.php?id=1027

17
1.3. Background of the Study

In the discourse of international development, ICT is often seen as a catalyst for socio-
economic development in order to resolve social problems in developing countries.
Moving toward a ‘knowledge-based’ and ‘digital society’ has had economic and social
impacts that exacerbate the existing inequalities. The continuous gap between developed
and developing countries, as well as gaps domestically along socioeconomic,
geographic, educational and gender, have broadly come to be defined as a “digital divide”
(James, 2005; Selwyn, 2004). World Bank (2016: 171) reports that ‘digital technologies,
too, often fail to empower citizens’. Such a divide can be located across the societal levels
in many contexts. It creates barriers to employment and escalates social exclusion
among the low income, rural people and older or disadvantaged groups (Hilbert, 2011).

The case for digital inclusion as an ICT policy goal, inclusion can be defined as a freedom
(Sen, 1999) to contribute in the social, political, and economic activities in daily lives with
virtue of the choices or capabilities available (Sen, 1999) and have control over one’s
destiny (Warschauer, 2004). The argument for digital inclusion as a policy goal refers to
“the ability to access, adapt, and create new knowledge using new information and
communication technology is critical to social inclusion in today’s era” (Warschauer 2004,
p.9). However, the policymakers and social scientists have worried about the access and
equal distribution of ICT and Internet since the beginning of the Internet as a mass
medium in the mid-1990s (Epstein, Nisbet, & Gillespie, 2011).

1.4 Statement of Problem

Bangladesh is a country where every day starts with new challenges and people live in
continuous threats like climate change9, and social inequalities. The country just
upgraded from Least Developed Country (LDC) to developing county despite of having
lack of education, large and ever increasing population, limited resources, unskilled
manpower, insufficient employment opportunities etc. The elite and extremely rich class
secures their position and wealth by manipulating political and policy decisions that
deteriorate the rule of law, and limit citizens from accessing the policy decisions in their

9
Bangladesh has become known as being one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. For details
http://chimalaya.org/2014/01/08/climate-change-and-bangladesh/

18
daily lives. Besides, gender, social and income inequalities still remain as a major setback
for ICT for development in Bangladesh.

In this context, the Bangladesh government introduced several ICT policies, acts and
strategies to establish a transparent, inclusive and accountable government for economic
growth and social development following the vision 2021 and Digital Bangladesh. The
ICT policy along with multiple objectives are addressed where bridging digital divide
strategies are prioritized in the name of developing an equitable and inclusive society
through ICT. Bangladesh, in the past, has experienced both success and failure of
implementation of policy goals. A policy can be written on paper, but the success of a
policy lies in the transparent and coherent policy mechanism. A well written policy that
clarifies goals and outcomes consistently can be considered as a precondition for better
implementation. Therefore, it is significant to assess the ICT policy mechanism whether
the actions and resources are consistently and rationally presented. This study aims to
look into the National ICT policy strategies based on the concept of digital inclusion that
incorporates a broader understanding of inclusion beyond of ICT access.

1.5 Relevance of the Research

Like many other developing countries, the government is considering ICT as a potential
key for development and social change in Bangladesh. The government’ ambitious policy
goals for digital initiatives have been seen over the years. Since 2009, there have been
quite a number of government initiatives for implementing ICT driven activities in
Bangladesh. Nevertheless, so far there is no systematic assessment of progress made,
neither by the government or nor any other party. In addition, ICT research in Bangladesh
is in the formative phase, especially the empirical research in order to understand ICT
policy in different local contexts. The existing researches were conducted either on ICT
policy or government’s ICT driven UISC project while no significant studies addressed
the issue of digital inclusion in the ICT policy context and with the combination of its
implemented projects. I believe that this research may contribute to ICT policy research
bringing a new aspect to the field of ICT policy and digital inclusion that may help the
policymakers and reviewers to find the better policymaking process in Bangladesh.

19
1.6 Research Question

In most cases, the policy and strategic papers are an extensive document in rhetorical
settings that scarcely meet social realities. Many scholars, therefore, argue that such
policy statements remain ineffective and as diverse social groups and communities are
not benefited from such strategies. Therefore, the questions for this study emerge from
ICT policy strategies related to digital inclusion. The study explores the three components
of digital inclusion and how it has been addressed in national ICT policy (NIP) and other
related policy strategic documents of Bangladesh. As a policy outcome, the UISCs
initiative is chosen to examine the policy at the implementation level. Considering this
context, the thesis raises the following research questions,

How do ICT policies address digital inclusion in Bangladesh? What is the impact
of UISCs?

Sub questions

A.How digital inclusion is defined and measured?

B. How digital inclusion is proposed in ICT policy?
C. To what extent the UISC initiative has an impact on society?

20
1.7 Outline of the Thesis

This thesis is comprised of four chapters. Chapter one introduces the background of the
research topic, the research context and research questions. It also offers an overview
of the digital regulatory framework development and socioeconomic challenges in
Bangladesh. Chapter two outlines the relevant literature and concepts of ICT policy
related to research questions. It covers the answer to the first research question defining
the digital inclusion and how it has been measured. Followed by this section, ICT policy,
policy design and ICT for development (ICT4D) discourse are discussed under theoretical
perspectives. Chapter three provides research methodology and research design in
which the goal-means tree analysis and close reading and its application are discussed.
The two sections of result and discussion are placed in chapter four. The first part begins
with justifying three distinct indicators of digital inclusion; access, use and skills and
second sections explores the UISCs as a policy impact and ICT practices in Bangladesh
with discussion from theoretical reflections. Finally, it presents a conclusion and a
direction for the policy experts and researchers according to the author’s investigation.

21
 Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspective

In the following section, the review of literature focuses on the conceptualisation of digital
inclusion and related issues that go beyond ICT access, discusses some solutions how
to measure digital participation and concludes with three digital inclusion components
that are used as an analytical framework for the study. In the subsequent section, the ICT
policy concept and approaches of ICT for Development (ICT4D) discourse are discussed
from the theoretical perspective that helps to understand the policy process in the context
of Bangladesh.

2.1 Digital Inclusion

2.1.1 Conceptualising Digital Inclusion

The literature has underscored the relations between digital and social
inclusion/exclusion and has proposed that digital inclusion is “a practical embodiment of
the wider theme of social inclusion” (Selwyn, 2004, p.343). Many scholarly works have
significantly attempted to theoretically and empirically identify the complex relationship
between digital and social inclusion/exclusion. E. J. Helsper (2012) has proposed the
‘corresponding fields model’, which shows the impact of offline exclusion on digital
exclusion is influenced by more than one social factors, such as access, skill and
attitudes. Therefore, the concepts can be difficult to define and address exclusion-related
social problems with a lack of clarity over its definition.

Referring to the digital divide, social inclusion gives back to at least the 1970s and 1980s,
with specific interest increasing in Europe and the UK (Armstrong, 2010; Hayes, Gray, &
Edwards, 2008). Mark Warschauer (2004) indicates social inclusion as an effective way
to reframe the discussion of digital divide that remains relevant until today. Warschauer,
quoting Manuel Castells (1997), suggested that “one could argue that the concept of
social inclusion reflects particularly well the imperatives of the current information era, in
which issues of identity, language, social participation, community, and civil society have
come to the fore” (Warschauer, 2004, p. 9).

22
The recent researchers and policymakers seriously believe that the issues are much
more multifaceted and complex. Academic researches for digital inclusion have become
increasingly nuanced in the last few years and much less focused on the polarised ‘user’
versus ‘non-user’ distinctions of the past. (Selwyn, 2004; Warschauer, 2004). James
(2005) and Dijk (2006) noticed about the negative consequences of such a simplification
of the issues around the digital divide. At the same time, considering the limitations of the
digital divide, the digital inclusion started gaining importance as a way to focus on the
digital dimensions of social inclusion (Goggin, 2018; Sonia Livingstone & Helsper, 2007).
Robinson et al. (2015) claim there has been a rapidly common interest in digital inclusion;
including the initiative to propose a digital inclusion index (Thomas et al., 2017).

Following the Warschauer’s (2004) theory of social inclusion, the idea of digital inclusion
or e-inclusion was explained by the eEurope Advisory Group (Kaplan, 2005) referring the
inequality in digital participation with social inclusion. It refers to “the extent that
individuals, families, and communities are able to fully participate in society and control
their own destinies, taking into account a variety of factors related to economic resources,
employment, health, education, housing, recreation, culture, and civic engagement” (p.
7) and e-inclusion being “the effective participation of individuals and communities in all
dimensions of the knowledge-based society and economy through their access to ICT”
(p. 7).

2.1.2 Exclusionary Processes: Digital Divide and Inequality

Some scholars define the nature of the digital divide problem related to unequal
participation in a digital society (Helsper et al., 2008 (E. Helsper, 2008; Warschauer,
2004). Selwyn (2002) has noted that social exclusion and the idea of a digital divide were
integrated in the policy declarations of European governments through the 1990s, though
little attention was paid to how governments actually use ICT.

In addition to their studies, the sociological approaches to inequalities have established

a diverse set of views on the exclusionary process. Following Bourdieu’s (1986) work,
the aspects of exclusion have been considered as ‘capitals’. These “various species of
capital are resources that provide different forms of power” (Sallaz & Zavisca, 2007, p.

23
23). The capital can be seen in five broad groups: such as economic, social, cultural,
political or civic, and personal. Based on this categorisation, E. Helsper (2008) developed
a model underlying these five ‘higher level’ constructs some ‘lower level’ indicators that
can be used to measure different aspects. This approach is applied to social as well as
the digital exclusion that leads to resource-based links between social exclusion and ICT
engagement. She further argued that it is difficult to separate the different types of social
exclusion from digital inclusion as they are often mutually linked. For example, personal
wellbeing is related to economic as well as social resources. In addition, Robila (2006)
examines people's perceptions of poverty and social exclusion in 12 countries in Europe
and found the area of inclusion is multidimensional that exceed a single dimension
including poverty, deprivation, poor housing, disability, social rights discrimination,
education and social participation.

Mariën, Heyman, Salemink, and Van Audenhove (2016) have shifted the study of
technology and social inequalities beyond the socio-demographic features, relating to
patterns of technology access, adoption, usage, and skills to the idea of voluntary
engagement with ICTs. Likewise, E. Helsper (2008) claims digital inclusion explicitly
involves a ‘digital choice’ to become engaged and take part in the information society.
She further explains the exclusionary process of people who are socially included but
digitally excluded have intentionally made a choice not to involve in the information
society while having the ability referring it to as ‘voluntary exclusion’. However, all the
digitally excluded (but socially included) may not be appropriate to define theme as an
‘informed choice’, rather some might lack in skills, access or motivation to be engaged.
But, who are socially excluded are tend to be less possible to make a ‘digital choice’ while
their exclusion is more possibly the result of external reasons (i.e., social, economic etc.)
rather than an internal factor or a personal decision. On the other hand, there are some
ICT users are named ‘digital drop-outs’ or ‘ex-users’ of ICTs (Selwyn, Gorard, & Furlong,
2005) proposing that exclusionary processes are interconnected with other forms of
exclusion.

24
2.1.3 Measuring Digital Inclusion

One of the main problems is, the concept of digital inclusion has been conceptualized
and implemented in the context of the developed world, and therefore, the focus has been
on high-speed Internet access, while the level of access is more focused in developing
countries, thus, measurement of digital inclusion is better to be context-specific (Helsper,
2008). To measure digital inclusion, selecting the suitable ICT tools and indicators is
challenging. However, there is a number of ways to measure digital inclusion.

Recent studies argue that measuring digital inclusion are being used to focus on different
levels of access. As it is mentioned before, the early empirical researches conceptualised
the digital divide as a dualistic view of gap in physical access between those who ‘have’
or ‘have not’ in relation to the ownership and material access to internet and other digital
or computer devices (Hartviksen, Akselsen, & Eidsvik, 2002). Later, this simplified
definition of the digital divide was criticized by recent researchers as reductionist in nature
(Vehovar, Sicherl, Hüsing, & Dolnicar, 2006). Since the year 2002, the researchers start
suggesting to go ‘beyond access’, to redefine the too technical idea of the digital divide
and to focus more to social, psychological and cultural aspects (Van Dijk, 2006). Including
all these inequalities and gaps, he categorised four consecutive types of access:
motivational, physical, skills and usage. Other limitations may include ICT literacy or
digital skills (Hargittai, 2002) and psychological or motivational reluctance (Van Dijk &
Hacker, 2003).

In order to ensure equitable distribution of ICT initiatives, Notley and Foth (2008) argues
that the social inclusion and social capital need to be understood by policymakers to
define ICT engagement and internet participation. The Oxford Internet (OxIS) Surveys
(Dutton & Helsper, 2007) emphasises to differentiate between users who are fully
engaged, the flexible in-out users, and those who don’t use the Internet at all is important
to understand the mechanism that leads to exclusion. Bradbrook and Fisher (2004)
propose the ‘5 Cs’ model of digital inclusion: connectivity (access), capability (skill/ability),
content, confidence (self-efficacy/motivation) and continuity. Helsper (2008) claims the

25
continuity is related to digital engagement with the Internet and other ICT infrastructure
in everyday life.

Goggin (2018) categorises the Internet access, use, literacy, and implications of digital
inequalities in three level. In relation to digital inclusion, bridging the first level of the digital
divide (access to entry-level of the digital environment), the second level (skills, literacy)
and third level (socioeconomic profits gained from effective engagement) of the digital
divide. Especially, he found the third level is directly involved with digital inequalities leads
to ‘new forms of marginalization or digital discrimination’.

One of the recent worldwide efforts to measure digital inclusion or engagement includes
the 2018 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)10 by the European Commission (EC).
It summarises digital performance in European Union member states based on six main
factors: connectivity, human capital, use of the internet services by citizens, integration
of digital technology by businesses, digital public services and research and development
of ICT (EC, 2018). The EC claims that the DESI is a comprehensive index that
encapsulates most appropriate indicators on Europe’s digital performance and
development of EU member states. In addition, In the UK, the Digital Inclusion Outcomes
Framework (DIOF) indicates digital inclusion, with a focus on improving access, internet
use, skills and confidence, and motivation 11. Recently, in Australia, Australian Digital
Inclusion Index (ADII) 2017 is created to measure the level of digital inclusion across the
Australian population based on three key aspects of digital inclusion: access, affordability,
and digital Ability (Thomas et al., 2017).

European Commission (2018). ‘The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)’, https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-
10

market/en/desi
11
Go On UK ‘The Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework’. Go-on.co.uk.

26
2.1.4 Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion

The terms digital inclusion, exclusion and digital divide have been widely used in
discourse related to the Internet studies and ICT4D over the past two decades. However,
these terms are rarely defined, and their meanings seem to shift with changes in socio-
economic context and technology.

Based on scholarly thoughts mentioned above, it is important to understand that the

attention within digital inclusion debates moved from digital divides to same stages of
inclusion. The shift from universal access as the central focus of digital inclusion to an
importance on digital literacy and awareness around the benefits of ICT use for economic
social to personal wellbeing among the citizens. Yu et al., (2018) describe digital inclusion
as an ideal condition where regulatory agencies ensure ICT use for all individual citizens
to equally participate in digital society and fully utilise the available digital resources.

It can be seen that digital inclusion and digital divide are considered here as an
interrelated concept that indicates actual conditions of digital inclusion. Whenever the
issue of the digital divide is solved, consequently, digital inclusion is ensured; though
people still lag behind in engagement at any level (e.g. political, social, economic),
intensifies divide or inequality (Yu, Ndumu, Mon, & Fan, 2018).

To sum up, I can conclude by saying that, first, digital inclusion is primarily concerned
with addressing inequalities and a more critical (less binary) way of understanding.
Second, digital inclusion emphases not just on levels of access to ICTs but also on the
skill and opportunity to access, adapt and create new knowledge using ICTs (Dijk, 2006;
Selwyn, 2004; Warschauer, 2004). Therefore, this study defines digital inclusion to
ensure everyone to access and use digital technologies effectively, which is not only
simple owning a digital device, but also equal digital participation in the social and
economic environment.

27
2.2 Digital Inclusion Indexes

For this study, following Helsper (2008), digital inclusion is measured and grouped into
three broad categories. ICT access, ICT use (the nature and extent of engagement with
technologies), ICT skills. This study is analysed based on this three distinct areas of
digital inclusion to evaluate the ICT policy discourse.

2.2.1 ICT access

In many literatures, the indices of digital exclusion which focus mainly lack on accesses.
Regarding digital inclusion, the recent policy and theoretical debate on digital inclusion
have swiftly shifted from physical ICT access while it remains ambiguous which aspects
of access, such as quality or speed etc. play a significant role in ICT engagement. Helsper
(2008) argues that current research often recognises how people access the internet and
computer or other technological devices. Refereeing to the issues of quality and quantity
of access, she considers access in terms of quality, location and platform. Following the
Helsper’s view, for this study, we define access as enabling a user to access related to
connectivity, digital resources and platform including socially marginalised groups and
communities.

2.2.1.1 Connectivity

In the rapidly changing digital world, the broadband connectivity is seen as a very
significant gateway to the digital world. A study (Ofcom, 2006) indicates that access to
the Internet through mobile devices or wireless connectivity with high internet speed is
getting popular across the different locations. A. Asongu and Nwachukwu (2018) indicate
the importance of mobile and wireless technology for inclusive financial banking in
lower-middle-income countries (LMIC), upper-middle-income countries (UMIC). This
study, therefore, includes indicators of infrastructure technology used by individuals, with
a special focus on the broadband and wireless connectivity to measure how citizens are
‘digitally included’.

28
2.2.1.2 Location and platform

It is important to identify how and where an individual gets connected with ICT. For
example, having access at home or own place may give better chance to work efficiently
with the technologies than other locations (Buckingham, Banaji, Carr, Cranmer, & Willett,
2005; S Livingstone, 2003). In relation to ICT access, location is also important for
individual citizens with disabilities and for those who are unwilling to participate, may get
informal ICT access and education. On the other hand, different platforms including
variety in contents and themes can create more accessibility for ICT users. For example,
provision of different languages targeting the audiences in a different level of society. A
number of platforms, may, therefore be included to measure digital inclusion. The more
variation in platforms may lead to more diversity in content accessible to an individual.
Therefore, the more location and platforms are offered, the more citizen ICT participation
is ensured in the society. For this study, we identify the idea of multiple ICT locations for
public access in the policy strategies while digital resources or ICT platforms are
recognised whether an individual has the easy access to those platforms and resources
or not.

2.2.2 ICT Use

Access to ICTs is a required condition but not sufficient for successful engagement with
ICT. Likewise, a high level of literacy or and attitudes may not sufficient to ensure wide
digital engagement, unless if there is no easy accessibility or variety of digital choices. It
is important to know that there are several ways how an individual may use digital
technologies. There is no specific definition for digital engagement as different
researchers defined it from a number of perspectives. However, most of the research has
assigned to identify digital engagement is Internet centred. One of the limitations of this
is, the Internet as a concept has no specific borders while many studies have defined this
term in many ways (Helsper, 2008). For example, the internet might be defined narrowly
as ‘websites’ though, many types of websites can offer different forms of engagement.
From listening to music to playing games as well as offering different functions more than
traditional media (such as television and radio).

29
Helsper (2008) further argues that the internet needs to be analysed as offering digital
resources in many areas rather than focusing only on the users versus non-users types
but also pattern and scope of internet use. The categorisation of broader types of ICT
use is more constructive in a model of digital engagement that is related to many
platforms and technologies. For instance, from the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) to the United Nations Social Development Goals (SDGs), and beyond,
Internet and mobile phones are extensively seen as crucial indicators of social
development and participation. Online communities, the World Wide Web, blogs, mobile
apps, chat and messaging technologies, and social media platforms, interactive multi-
media file sharing and social networking sites offer a substantial contribution in
developing social identities and relations (Goggin, 2018; Tim, 2005). In addition, all these
types of use can be consumed through different technologies. For example, information,
entertainment and communication are all possible through digital TVs, mobile phones
and computers connected to the Internet. The scope of engagement can, therefore, be
measured across a choice of activities and technologies.

This study measures the scope of digital resources and platforms that people can use in
a different environment and a number of reasons. Therefore, this study defines ICT use
in the context of delivering different types of facilities and extending the scope of digital
technologies into different aspects of everyday life.

2.2.3 ICT skills

Digital exclusion can be considered to the lack of training or direct hands-on experience.
The World Summit on Information Society policy outcome strategies pointed that only
access cannot ensure digital engagement while “necessary skills and knowledge” as an
indispensable prerequisite for an “inclusive information society” (WSIS, 2016). Similarly,
Goggin (2018) claims lack of skills, literacy is a second level of the digital divide.

Several concepts or terms have been used to identify and describe how ICT user get
benefited from digital tools and technology (Ala-Mutka, 2011). For example, digital
competence (Calvani, Fini, Ranieri, & Picci, 2012), ICT literacy (Erstad, 2006), digital
literacy (Mioduser, Nachmias, & Forkosh-Baruch, 2008), Computer Information literacy

30
(CIL) (Fraillon, Schulz, & Ainley, 2013), 21st century skills (Binkley et al., 2012), and
digital skills (Zhong, 2011). One common feature of these concepts is that the term of
digital technology (e.g. ICT, Internet or computer, and information) is collective with
having the competences to involve or benefit through using it (e.g. skill, competence, or
literacy) (Ferrari, 2012).

Sonia Livingstone, Bober, and Helsper (2005) have argued that the best process of
measuring skill level is the expertise assessment on a variety of tasks and aspects of ICT
use. Helsper (2008) divided ICT skills into four broad categories; technical, social, critical
and creative skills. She classified it based on media literacy study that proposes that skills
and ability need to be measured beyond the elementary technical level enabling to deal
with communication technologies for social outcomes. After a review of existing studies
on digital engagement, Helsper (2008) finds typical ‘non-ICT’ based capabilities that
support individuals to join an ICT-based society.

In relation to digital engagement, general life skills (e.g. critical evaluation of sources,
self-efficacy, social skills and creative skills) may motivate any individuals to join in a
digital environment. A literature review claimed that computer self efficacy shows a crucial
role in students' learning in computer-based education environments (Moos & Azevedo,
2009). Besides, self-efficacy levels might also reinforce the motivation for ICT
engagement, therefore, individuals with low levels of self-efficacy are less likely to use
the Internet (Eastin & LaRose, 2000). Helsper (2008) named it as ‘transferable skills’.
This skill can be connoted with the knowledge that a learner can freely ‘adapt and transfer
to new contexts’ (Fraillon et al., 2013, p. 10).

To conclude the section of measuring digital inclusion, it is important to recognise the

subtle shift of attention from physical access to skills and usage. In the most developed
countries, the divide in physical access appears to be ending whereas, most
underdeveloped countries are still lag behind. Nevertheless, in relation to digital inclusion,
further research is needed to more clearly conceptualise the problems, as the divide
continues and perhaps deepens.

31
2.3 ICT

Defining ICT is challenging as it is found in diverse applications within different contexts.

There is no particular and universal definition of the term Information and communication
technology (ICT) or Information Technology (IT). In general, it focuses on the role of
integrated communications and telecommunications system which enable users to
access, store, transmit, and manipulate information (Zuppo, 2012). Accordingly, the ICT
sector comprises of ICT industry, ICT services, telecommunications and related media
content production. The following graph (2) explains the development of the ICT sector
along with its four components.

Mansell, Avgerou, Quah, and Silverstone (2007) indicate many scholars have discussed
that the way ICTs have been changed with key changes in society since the invention of
electrical telegraphy in the 1830s. In the late 1960s invention of the microprocessor has
revolutionised the ICTs as it created new forms of media and ICT production in society.
However, today’s ICT expansion is driven by the extent of mobile-broadband services.
The growing of mobile broadband gets popularity in developing countries while prices of
mobile-broadband have fallen by 50 per cent over the last three years (ITU, 2017b).

Figure 2: The definition of the ICT sector from the consumer’s point of view (Meristö et.al. 2002).

32
According to Mansell et al. (2007), there are many theoretical perspectives are presented
within the social sciences to study ICTs. One of the most leading approach in the literature
regarding ICTs is diffusion theory that has influenced the research on ICTs. In the
Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers’ (1962) aim was to clarify the level and trend of adoption
of new technologies such as ICTs. The Roger’s theory has been implied in many research
on ICT in the context of developing countries. ICT and development (ICTD) studies are
grounded on the idea that ICT can contribute to the development of socioeconomic
conditions in developing countries (Avgerou, 2010).

The following section further elaborates the concept and related approaches to ICT policy
and development.

2.4. ICT Policy

The policy research offers a number of definitions based on a social and philosophical
idea. Policies are specific documents set in advance by which government and
organizations in order to achieve a better outcome in the future. Adeyeye and Iweha
(2005, p. 203) define policies as “a purposive course of action followed by an actor or set
of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern”.

Referring to theoretical doubts in the meaning of a policy, Ball (1993) discusses policy as
text and discourse. As a text, a policy is written and represented in complex ways
comprised with experiences, skills and meaning with an effort and making effects on
readers. On the other hand as a discourse, a policy is considered as an agency of giving
the authority to decide what needs to be done. Ball mentions, “The way in which policy
ensembles, collections of related policies, exercise power through a production of 'truth'
and 'knowledge', as discourses” (P.14).

Therefore, policies are not only just some principles and standpoints taken by the
policymakers, but it also related to power and politics involving many stakeholders and
organisations. In other words, policies are “a set of interrelated decisions taken by a
political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and the means of
achieving them within a specified situation where these decisions should, in principle, be
within the power of these actors to achieve” (Jenkins, 1993 cited in Bound (2006, p. 108).

33
ICT policy is public policy. It is “an integrated set of decisions, guidelines, laws,
regulations, and other mechanisms geared to directing and shaping the production,
acquisition, and use of ICT” (Marcelle, 2000, p. 39). ICT policies are also related to
development policies such as media policy, telecommunication policy etc. ICT policies
are, therefore, considered as a guideline, an authorized decision by any government for
the ICT development in order to implement digital agenda.

2.5 ICT policy in Developing Countries

Many of developing countries have developed ICT policies in recent years. United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD (2008) reports about 44% of
developing countries have already accepted national plans for the development of the
ICT sector while another 20% are leading to adopt such plans. On the other hand, most
countries have developed their national plans to accelerate broadband adoption and
network connectivity plan with both policy goals and recommendation.

The governments in developing country have continued to develop their ICT policies, ICT
agendas and investments (Duncan-Howell & Lee, 2008). In the context of South Asian
countries, India and Pakistan have employed ICT policy and digital agenda in order to
tackle social problems and for economic growths. However, both countries have
experienced a number of success and failure cases in ICT projects.

Palvia, Baqir, and Nemati (2015) find many drawbacks and gaps between policy design
and outcome in the ICT policies of Pakistan. Using the ‘design-actuality gaps framework’
(Heeks, 2002) tool, their analysis shows along with policy gaps between policy
documents ( such as design, goals) and actuality (implementation level, outcomes) there
is also incompatibility of dimensions between policy design and actuality. For instance,
the lack of public involvement in policy design process and inadequate scope in
stimulating private sector in reality.

On the other hand, Dabla (2004) has found analysing the ICT policy of Andra Pradesh
(1994-2002) in India, there has been significant development in technical education, e-

34
commerce and creating more opportunities for employment, while different ethnic
minorities and other social groups are remained out of this benefits due to lack of
contextual appropriation.

Some other developing countries in South Asia, like Nepal, the national ICT development
and adopting similar policies have been experienced regional political instability and
financial limitations that inhibit implementation of ICT Policy (Rowan, 2003). Also,
Duncan-Howell and Lee (2008) finds Sri Lanka had similar problems with internal political
and social challenges, though they had introduced the National Computer Policy
(COMPOL) in 1983, no visible outcomes were seen for 18 years.

Finally, in the context of Bangladesh ICT policy development, it is appropriate to outline

that developing plans and policies can’t bring any change unless there is appropriate
design with local needs and clear development actions are met.

2.6 ICT for Development (ICT4D)

The concept of ICT for Development (ICT4D) or ICT and development (ICTD) emerged
in the 1990s with the availability of personal computers in a lower cost and the rising
diffusion of digital systems across the world (Walsham, 2017). However, the ICT4D field
has come a long way from the main focus of computers technologies and systems design.

The recent researches study ICT4D, not as a fixed destination but a multidimensional
and complex social practice, which is always situated in the challenging context of
different time and location (Avgerou, 2010). The researchers mostly agree that ICTs are
no longer a magical solution providing simple and linear formula to complex social
problems. In fact, even ICTs may worsen inequality while having high investments of
resources and time (Heeks, 2010).

Heeks (2010) argues that ICT4D study suggests that information technology (IT)
intervention has not created considerable and sustainable impact unless they are
implemented in long-term development strategies. Moreover, Zheng et al., (2018) see
from the beginning of the millennium development goals (MGD), the attention in ICT4D
research begun to shift to a more holistic view of development beyond economic

35
development. In addition to the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) and Amartya
Sen’s human development view, expressed through his Capability Approach, has been
largely adopted in the ICT4D framework. However, this holistic view is criticized to be
less critical on other related topics like, neoliberalism and its ramifications which is
predominantly exist as a development model across the world (Zheng et al., 2018).

Therefore, I think it is important to understand the contemporary debate on ICT4D as the

present study aims to explore ICT policy and inclusion in Bangladesh. The following
section develops a framework to study the links between digital inclusion and ICT policies
from a more theoretically nuanced perspective.

2.7. Digital Inclusion and ICT4D

Considering different theoretical discourses and conceptual arrangement, Avgerou

(2010) refers to as Information Systems (IS) Innovation is categorised into four
discourses. The discourses are have been framed with two axes (see figure 3); first, the
axis relates to the nature of the ICT innovation process and transformation while second
horizontal axis connects the diffusion and innovation of knowledge to either techno-
centric adaptation approach or socially and culturally embedded knowledge perspective.
The four discourses are described below.

The first discourse proposes that the top-down distribution of ICT infrastructure and
services will bring a positive outcome on people’s lives, economic growth and benefits in
developing countries. This discourse is formed by a combination of the transfer and
diffusion perspective of Information System (IS) innovation with the progressive
transformation perspective of development. The discourse often refers that developing
countries need to accept the technologies and institutions like how developed countries
are perceived for development and economic growth. This view can be related to the
modernisation discourse in the 1950/1960s and the digital divide debate of the 1990s and
early 2000s (Nulens & Van Audenhove, 1999; Sparks, 2007). Regarding this discourse,
policymakers likely to initiate supply-side interventions expecting for maximising the use
of technology and enabling the integration of marginalized people into ICT networks.

36
Second, the discourse is considered as a critical view of positive approach, realizing the
potential negative impact of ICTs on socially marginalised and poor people while the ICT
system is controlled and operated by the powerful elite. Generally, it challenges the
effectiveness of development policies such as globalization, liberalization, ICT and
productivity, and even doubts the intentions of powerful actors, such as the international
development interventions, policy makers, and corporate agencies. The preferred policy
mechanism is to liberate control of ICT intervention from the monopolistic corporation and
authoritative government in order to ensure inclusion and empowerment of marginalised
groups (Gurumurthy, 2010). It combines the transfer and diffusion perspective of ICT
innovation with the disruptive transformation perspective of development.

Third, it assumes that the ICT can contribute towards improving life while realizing the
local context and historically shaped power relation. It challenges over-centralised and
authoritarian policy mechanism and administration and addresses with democratic ICT
policies and appropriate professional practices, like user participation (Sahay &
Walsham, 2006). This discourse is cautious about ICT intervention with prevailing
development ideas and policies. This discourse is formed by combining the social
embeddedness perspective of ICT innovation and organizational change with the
progressive transformation perspective of development.

Figure 3: Four Discourses on ICTD. Source (Avgerou, 2010)

37
Fourth, this discourse is considered a critical discourse in the sociological aspect of
critical theory and concerned with power and inequalities in specific socio-economic
context regarding ICT intervention. In relation to ICT policy, it is likely to focus on local
context realizing the power inequalities in different communities and groups that increase
further exclusion, therefore, the power gap needs to be reduced through more
comprehensive policy mechanism with individual awareness and motivation. This
discourse combines socially embeddedness and disruptive prospective and criticises the
dominant interpretation about ICT and development.

Finally, now it is clear to distinguish all four discourses based on more micro/macro level,
and more inclusive/exclusive; and more state/market driven or more community oriented
policy approaches. In last chapter, the findings from ICT policies and UISCs are
discussed based on the Avgerou (2010) development discourses.

38
 Chapter 3: Methodology

This study employs a qualitative method to investigate the research questions and
explores the policy elements that are identified in the digital inclusion analytical
framework. After analysing the scientific literature the first sub question is answered in
the previous section. To solve the second and third sub questions, the method of close
reading and goal-means tree analysis are adopted, a type of qualitative document
analysis that can be deployed to uncover the appropriation of ICT policy process and to
investigate the policy impact on society.

3.1 Documents Analysis

Document analysis is a systematic process for studying or assessing documents—both

paper and electronics (computer-based and Internet-transmitted). Similar to other
analytical methods in qualitative research, document analysis requires that data be
studied and interpreted in order to produce meaning, understand and develop empirical
knowledge (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). There are different uses and definitions of the terms
of ‘document’ and ‘document analysis’ in recent communication policy research. The use
of documents in the qualitative research process, Jensen (2002) claims their ‘relatively
naturalistic and unobtrusive nature.’ ‘The data are “found” rather than “made” through the
researcher’s intervention in the field’ (p.243). The trend in communication policy research
is predominantly focused on written documents. However, analysing documents may
offer limited information, they can provide a contextual insight to understand the
procedure of creating political explanations, meanings and the policy process (Jensen,
2002). Document analysis includes different categories of data, such as excerpts,
quotations, or entire passages, which can be grouped into major themes, categories, and
case examples specifically through content analysis (Labuschagne, 2003).

39
There are two approaches of documents are complementarity between each other;
document as a study object (discourse, opinion and concept etc.) and document as a
source of information (facts, quote and policy). Further, regarding the policy , Karppinen
and Moe (2012) say “ it is assumed that documents somehow reflect the interests or
actions of their authors or in some other way represent the facts of the policy process
they refer to” (Karppinen and Moe, 2012, p185). Bowen (2009) summaries the overall
concept of document analysis as a process of “evaluating documents in such a way that
empirical knowledge is produced and understanding is developed” (p. 33). In relation to
credibility and validity, Bowen clarifies that document analysis is not just lining up a
collection of selected documents, rather a researcher needs to have utmost objectivity
and carefulness (Bowen, 2009). There are several methods for doing document analysis,
like close reading, goal-means tree Analysis; discourse analyses, argument analyses and
claims analyses.

3.1.1 Goal-Means Tree Analysis

A policy is a combination of a set of instructions including goals, objectives and other

related strategic actions plan to achieve the policy agenda. Kuypers (1980) explains
policy as a system of selected features of different means-ends relationships. The policy
usually is constructed with a high ambition while there is often a gap and incompatibility
within the text. Therefore, during policy analysis it is important to identify the actual means
in the textual policy process.

Policy Goal-means tree analysis is a method of qualitative document analysis that asses
these relationships between addressed goals, aspirations and actual means in the ICT
policy texts. It could be considered as a visualized technique to analyse texts that are
often rather confusedly arranged in a structured manner (Kuypers, 1980, cited in
Vanhaeght and Donders (2017). The method was developed by Kuypers (1980) and
further revised by Van de Graaf and Hoppe (1992). Like other methods, it also had some
advantages and disadvantages. From the positive side, this method gives a detailed
methodological approach uncovering whether the policymakers are aware and have
comprehensive policy plan to reach the policy goals. It gives a specific idea about the
significant features of policy text while the ignored aspects are also exposed. Thus,

40
anyone can easily find out the rationality and logic lies in the policy documents. On the
other hand, the method is seen to be more attentive to the policy content while normative
idea or the nature of problem remain unfocused. It also neglects the involved policy
stakeholders providing a partial (more content centric and less attention for organizational
context) idea of policy mechanism. However, it is also important to note that, a goal-
means tree analysis can never entirely analyse all the intended goal-means relations in
the policy texts (Vanhaeght & Donders, 2017).

The reason for using this the goal-means methods is an effective way as it reveals how
policy design is composed of its all components within and across the policy levels.

3.1.2 Close Reading

Close reading is a comprehensive type of interpretative studies, which allows a

researcher to carry out a detailed analysis of any phenomena (Kain, 1998). Theoretically,
close reading denotes analysis of words and interpretation of texts. Nevertheless, it is not
confined to the documents, rather can be applied to various other phenomena, such as
media texts, pictures and environments. Therefore, close reading is an effective tool to
analyse data from different policy sources. In this study, close reading plays a very
important part in understanding and analysing the context and existing ICT policy
practices in Bangladesh.

3.2 Data Sources

Policy documents are the legal framework for implementing ICT driven projects. I
selected a number of government official electronic and document sources which are an
important guide to implement the ICT projects. The initial set of prospective Policy
documents for analysis are: National ICT policy (NIP) 2015, National Broadband Policy
(NTP) 2015 and Perspective Plan of Bangladesh 2010-2021: ‘Making Vision 2021 A
Reality’ (2012).

However, this study is mainly based on National ICT policy (NIP) 2015 as it is considered
a key regulatory framework to all related ICT policies and UISCs initiative in Bangladesh.
Therefore, data are largely derived from the NIP (2005). The whole policy documents can

41
be found at MoPTIT, ICT division (https://ictd.gov.bd/) under the download section ‘acts
and policy’. The study has used the latest version (2015) which is only available in Bengali
and with the help of ICT policy (2009) that has English version to avoid any textual
misperception and doubt with regard the meaning and policy. The updated version of the
National Broadband Policy (NTP) 2015 is not available in government official sites but
can be found at following link https://bit.ly/2zQN8r2.

3.3 Research Design

The analysis takes place in two interlinked stages. The first phase is to the review the
ICT policies using goals-means methods with careful consideration of digital inclusion
indices. The purpose of this part is to see to what extent digital inclusion are set
consistently and rationally in the ICT policies. Second, it addresses how ICT policy things
are taking place in practice. This part is related to the UISCs project that has been
implemented under the national policy objective of ‘social equity’. The impact of UISCs is
analysed by close reading of policy documents and most recent UISCs researches. The
aim is to see whether the policy claims of ensuring social equity, gender parity and
equitable participation through ICTs are matched with social reality or only rhetoric.

For the goal-means analysis, this study follows a systematic procedure, first, to read the
entire policy text to understand the context while relevant texts are identified based on
the three criteria of an analytical framework. Next, to determine which provision in the
text can be identified as a means, objective or goal. It gives a visual idea where each
means is connected to respective goal. Afterwards, some of these fragmented goal-
means are incorporated pointing out with an arrow which is connected with which
direction. The arrows specify the goal-means oriented relationships towards the desired
outcome during policy implementation.

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 Chapter 4: Result & Discussion

4.1 Findings

The National ICT Policy (NIP) strategy is structured as a hierarchical pyramid with a single
vision and the other linked parameters (ten objectives, fifty four strategic themes, and
235 action items) are placed in the subsequent layers. For the data analysis, it is
important to clarify that the policy vision and objectives are aligned with the general
national goals while each objective has a number of Strategic Themes (ST) that can be
considered as a sub goals and each ST has a number of Actions Items (AI), which are
count as means to achieve intended objectives and strategic themes in the policy.

4.1.1 Access:

Enabling citizen for access is addressed throughout the policy text. The National ICT
policy (NIP) defines access as “ensure quality telecommunication technology and internet
connectivity to all as a public service obligation (MoPTIT, 2015a, p.7).

ICT access is presented under ‘universal access’ one of the policy objectives. This
objective is outlined along with multiple Strategic Themes (ST) and Action Items (AI). The
ST for ‘universal access’ reflects government’s dream to reach all citizen of the country
through extending ICT infrastructure. It offers Internet Protocol (IP-based)
telecommunication systems to ensure the same access cost as in the capital city. To
ensure ICT access a number of means are addressed. Some of them are; setting
‘submarine connectivity’ [AI: 5], increasing ‘broadband connectivity’ [AI: 2] and
‘teledensity’ [AI: 1], and creating ‘broadband wireless access network’ [AI: 14].

Another policy objective ‘social equity’ that ensures social equity, participation and gender
parity through “access to ICTs for all” (MoPTIT, 2015a, p 5). It also includes the ICT
access for physically challenged and also who require special needs. A number of STs

43
are stated to achieve this objective. Primarily, it highlights to bridge the digital divide,
ensure public participation and child issues.

The concept of access is largely addressed under the policy objective ‘social equity’ [NIP,
2015, P8], the first policy objective placed in the policy text. The multiple ST of this
objective explicitly depicts the advancement of marginalised people through the ICT
initiatives. It mentions, ‘mainstream social advancement opportunities for disadvantaged
groups as an immediate priority to bridge the digital divide and minimize economic
disparity for (a) lower income groups, (b) ethnic minorities, (c) women, and (d) persons
with disabilities and special needs’ (MoPTIT, 2015a,p8). To achieve this policy objective
several means are presented. Some of them are, ‘citizens will be able to access critical
services from their doorstep with reduced cost, time, and hassle’; ‘provide access to
critical services within easy reach to minimize time, cost, and hassle to citizens’; ‘provide
access to critical information through phone’ and ‘ensure affordable and reliable rural
connectivity’ [AI: 1. 2, 3, 5; p. 8].

Figure 4: fragmented goal-means tree of ICT access

However, there are some other conceptual claims and goals related issues are not well
addressed. For example, ‘bridge digital divide’ ‘citizens’ participation’ and ‘local digital
content development’ that are not addressed with proper explanation. Similarly, the
issues such as ‘access to critical service’, ‘access to critical information’ ‘critical
government offices’, ‘person with special needs’, ‘social safety net programme’, rural
connectivity’ [AI:1,2,3,5 8] are mentioned as means but no links are made to understand
how ICT access goal can be ensured through these means. In addition, there are some
more policy objectives and STs that can be related to ICT access. One ST of policy
objective (strengthening exports) mentions, “ensure access to finance for promising
software” (MoPTIT, 2015a, p7).

44
Regarding digital resources and platform to ICT access, a number of policy means are
seen throughout policy text. For instance, initiation of ‘citizens’ helpdesk’ in government
institutions , ‘provision and development of software’, ‘voice content’ for disabilities and
setting up ‘community e-centres’, which are dedicated to ensuring the access to ICT in
rural and hard to reach communities in Bangladesh. In addition, ‘introduce toll-free
numbering’ (AI: 8) and ‘make IP to IP calls charge free’ (AI: 11) are mentioned to
accelerate internet connectivity.

The National Telecommunications Policy (NTP) addresses mainly on liberalisation and

deregulation in the ICT sector. Specifically, giving licensee to private mobile network
companies to ensure mass telecommunications accessible to many people who were not
connected before in the urban and rural area. The policy defines access “is a function of
availability, affordability and capacity to use” (MoPTIT, 2015b, p12). It also mentions the
reason for ICT access, “affordable access to telecommunications services will extend to
all individuals, household and businesses in Bangladesh” (p.6). There are a number of
policy actions are mentioned to achieve the access goal such as provision of 4G mobile
services and fixed and mobile broadband services (NTP, p.4). The government promises
to ensure network across the country and support ICT market in order to improve ICT
‘affordability and accessibility’ (p. 6) removing all “regulatory barriers lead to efficient
accessibility” (P.9).

On the other hand, Prospective Plan (PP) mostly focus on government ICT initiatives.
For example, the Access to Information (A2I) Programme (based at the Prime Minister’s
Office) has over 53 e-citizen services providing technical assistance and support to
ministries and administrative divisions to develop their ICT related activities. The A2I
program is predominantly featured as key promotor for digital services and infrastructure
development to implement Digital Bangladesh projects across the country.

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4.1.2 Use:

Digital engagement or use is meticulously integrated into different policy themes and
actions under different policy objectives. However, there is no specific objective to
addressing the ICT use or engagement like previously mentioned ‘access’ as a policy
objective. In the policy text, the ICT practice is primarily referred for the economic growth,
health services and to tackle the environmental crisis.

Delivering different types of ICT options and the scope for digital use are identified
throughout the policy text. One of the NIP objectives is ‘productivity’, which outlines the
ICT usage to “achieve higher productivity across all economic sectors including
agriculture and small, medium, and micro enterprise (SME) through the use of ICTs”
(MoPTIT, 2015a, p.8). Following this objective, five STs are addressed to consider digital
engagement for economic growth. Primarily it highlights the agriculture sectors, SME,
sustainable productivity, and e-payment system [ST: 10]. There are a number of means
are measured to achieve the ICT usage for economic productivity. For instance, a
network development within the community to stimulate indigenous knowledge and
innovations [AI: 29]. It also shows the agricultural knowledge could be disseminated
through community radio, telecentre and web based networks.

The policy objective has significantly focused on the ICT engagement with environmental
issues saying to “enhance creation and adoption of environment friendly green
technologies…enable effective climate change management program through use of the
ICT…” (MoPTIT, 2015a, p.8). In order to achieve this, some technical initiatives as a
means are mentioned like the establishment of remote sensing technologies and GIS
(Geographic Information System) based system to monitor flood and cyclone shelter in
vulnerable areas. However, setting GIS doesn’t give a reasonable solution for all cyclone
or disaster prone area while any other alternative solutions are remained unfocused.

Similarly, health is one of the crucial factors has been stated in the policy as “ensure
quality health care to all citizens by innovative application of ICTs” (MoPTIT, 2015a, p
8). The ST under the ‘healthcare’ objective says, “Improve the community awareness and
access to healthcare facilities for all” (MoPTIT, 2015a, p7). Developing the national

46
health database system, telemedicine and audio-visual resources are delivered as
means to achieve the goal.

Figure5: fragmented goal-means tree of ICT use

Furthermore, another policy objective ‘Integrity’ to promote transparency, efficiency and

responsive delivery services to all citizens. Under this objective, six STs indicate how
integrity can be achieved through ICT engagement. Therefore, a number of means are
engaged while mostly focus on work efficiency within the government organisations like
“ICT based citizens’ services delivery” and ‘interconnectivity across government
organisations of effective data sharing” (NIP 20015, p 8). Some other policy means like
setting up a national data resources centre, the promotion of Public-private partnerships
(PPP) and web based and technical mechanism (i.e. video conferencing, IP telephony,
LAN) are also proposed.

In NTP the ICT engagement is mostly addressed from market driven perspective. The
policy indicates the ICT transformation to a ‘knowledge-based society’ in order to attract
the direct foreign investment and for domestic private investment. The manufacturing of
software and hardware design is proposed for economic growth. E-Government
programmes are suggested for efficient service delivery (MoPTIT, 2015b, p.6). NTP
addresses telecommunications services as a gateway and major input to other sectors
of the economy in order to develop existing national service coverage beyond cities and
refers to “enable national economic and social inclusion” (MoPTIT, 2015b, p.2). The
Perspective Plan also resonates the NIP actions plan to address ICT for bringing change
in agriculture, health and digital economy. No significant provision is made concerning
ICT use and scope.

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4.1.3 Skill:

There is no specific objective is employed to describe ICT skills, though a number of STs
are identified in the policy texts in relation to skills, literacy etc. One policy objective is
addressed as ‘education and research’ that relates to digital skills and literacy. The
objective states, “…ensure computer literacy at all level of education…adoption of ICTs
through appropriate research and development” (MoPTIT, 2015a, p7). It is presented with
a number of STs that refers to ICT research and education. Some of the means are also
explained how to achieve this policy objective. Such as ‘assessment of ICT skills’,
‘adoption of ICT education and professional skills’, ‘collaboration between industry and
markets’, ‘establishing ICT centre’, ICT literacy and courses in primary and secondary
education’ and ‘providing global level of ICT education’.

There are some other means such as computer, LAN Installation, internet connectivity
and setting up ICT based education centre. However, these means are repeatedly
proposed in the policy texts. Similarly, industrial collaboration with universities for ICT
research and development, market oriented ICT skills are also mentioned. These multiple
strategies are primarily related to ICT infrastructural development that has no specific link
with ICT skill improvement.

Figure 6: fragmented goal-means tree of ICT skill

On the other hand, the government proposes some initiatives like ICT skill assessment
during public services entrance exam creating an obligation for the public job to learn
basics ICT literacy, but it doesn’t promise to ensure effective ICT education for all.

48
The digital strategic section of Perspective Plan has outlined ICT skill to be adopted
through “a strong learning system consisting of pre-primary, primary, secondary, and
tertiary education; and through the application of research, science, technology, and
innovation” (P.13). The prospective plan refers to the skills for being ‘creative citizen’,
‘innovative people’ to ensure productivity and efficiency across all sectors of the economy
(agriculture, health, education etc.). There is no further explanation how these means can
be related to skill enhancement. The policy also promises for free primary and secondary
education that includes ICT knowledge. However, such ‘illiteracy eradication program’
with free primary education initiative and provision of financial help can’t be considered
as an effective tool to achieve ICT skills.

4.1.4 Union Information Service Centre (UISC)

The Union Information Service Centre (UISC) is the country’s largest ICT project, which
has already been implemented across the country. The initiative has been set under the
ICT policy framework in order to ensure bridge digital divide among rural and
marginalised poor people including women and physically challenged people. The
Government of Bangladesh established 4547 Union Information and Services Centres
(UISCs) across the country in 2010 targeting to provide one-stop public services to a rural
area. The main significance of UISCs is Union Parishad (UP, the bottom layer of local
government) centric grass-roots centres structured by the government with the financial
support from the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID).

Primarily, UISCs bridge three core e-governance modules: e-administration, e-service

delivery, and e-participation (Ullah, 2016). With the aim of ‘‘incorporating ICT in rural life’’,
the Government undertook this initiative to deliver ICT services in the rural areas by
founding 40,000 telecentres across the country by 2011, which is yet to be fully completed
(Ullah, 2017). In 2013, evaluating the whole projects UNDP found that UISCs have the
perspective to have sustainable networks with the rural poor in Bangladesh. However, a
number of studies found this ICT project largely fail to connect rural people. Some
reasons are people feel hesitant to use ICTs, often assuming that they are complex and
difficult to use and UISC facilities.

49
Mohammad Sahid Ullah (2016; 2017) studies the UISC in rural Bangladesh to understand
how ICTs enable people to actively participate in their societies in the context of
community empowerment. The study is based on ethno methodological observations of
UISC service delivery trends, along with 55 in-depth interviews with both users and non-
users in six UISC centres from the different area of Bangladesh. The study explores the
contribution of UISCs to bridge the inequalities and gaps between the power-rich and
power-poor in rural Bangladesh. He found relatively few older people, women, disabled
and/or poor people visit the UISCs for services. During the interviews, Ullah found that
people from poor, farming, labour and fisherman background, especially their female
family members, have poor knowledge about UISC and its functions, either due to their
own reluctant attitudes towards the government’s ICT initiative or due to the lack of
adequate local level campaigns to raise awareness about the UISC.

The following table (2) reveals his findings about UISCs services and the proportion of
services acquired by the people in six UISCs. According to the table information, among
the total of 1223 visitors (in some cases a single visitor is numbered several times)
received services from the UISCs while visitors 809 (66.15%) were male and 414
(33.85%) were female. The proportion of participation indicates the trend of male
domination across UISC users, making little change to the gender gap. Regarding all
services provided by the centres, computer training service is found in only two centres
among six centres while internet browsing services had lowest 25 recipients among all
services provided by the UISCs (Ullah, 2017). During centre observation, he found
nobody asked information services related to farming and health issues, important for
rural people, while UISC entrepreneurs paid little attention to deliver such information
services to visitors.

He also reveals that the influential elites have privileged access to rural resources and
get benefits from the UISC, while poorer communities have limited access to this service
leads to deprivation of benefits from the UISC effort. The situation is reflected by a
respondent Hori Kishore Jolodas, a poor fisherman and also a member of religious
minority (40) says, “everything is for the rich and powerful people; this is a tradition of
Bangladesh. Politicians sell poor in slogan; government sells poor for budgets; NGOs sell
our poverty to foreigners. Selling poor is a business. Nothing in fact is for the poor; poverty

50
is only for exploitation. Though I have no idea about the UISC, I am sure the UISC is just
for the poor on paper” (Ullah, 2016, p. 121).

Table 3: Visitors/Service Seekers and Service Providing Activities in the Six UISCs: source Ullah (2017)

The study further concludes that “ICT intervention through top-down models cannot bring
substantial change for those living at the bottom of the social pyramid. While
asymmetrical power relations in a given society continue to deprive marginalised groups
from receiving the benefits of ICT facilities that may well claim to target them as
beneficiaries” (Ullah, 2017, p.16).

Similarly, the study by Rahman and Bhuiyan’s (2016) based on 11 UISCs located in six
administrative divisions reports that the UISCs did not work much for the poor people
while the emerging middle class has been the central beneficiary of the development of
UISCs. The UISCs have partly succeeded to reduce the cost, time and hassles in

51
receiving information and services in rural area. According to their studies, this initiative
has reduced the digital divide between the urban and rural areas as students and
teachers of rural schools now have access to academic and learning resources through
the UISCs. It may help rural people become better prepared to be more engaged with
the ICT relates services in near future. The development of UISCs in Bangladesh is still
in its formative phase. Their study further concludes saying that “UISCs did not work
much for the hardcore poor—who live on less than $1 per day—as they lack the
willingness and ability to use the telecentre”. (Rahman & Bhuiyan, 2016, p. 17).

The almost same result was found in the study by Zainudeen et al. (2013) that reports,
the UISC only benefits rich people and may not be getting the most marginalised and
excluded people. The study also reveals that the proportion of women who use UISC
services is lower than that of men. They found 60% of men have used a UISC compared
to 35% of women. Similarly, Rashid (2017b) studies the telecentre in Bangladesh using
the inclusive capitalism approach to bring about socioeconomic development through
ICTs. He suggests that it is critical to have a closer empirical study to evaluate the use
and impact of the services offered at UISCs on society.

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4.2 Discussion: Theoretical Reflections

4.2.1 What are the Policy Challenges?

This section discusses contentious issues regarding ICT Policies based on the findings
from ICT policy strategies and policy claims in reality, reflecting the theoretical
perspective of digital inclusion and ICT development discourse in Bangladesh.

4.2.1.1. Is Digital Inclusion Well Addressed?

Access

The policy offers a number of actions or means (such as Internet connectivity, computer
laboratories) to ensure ICT access, but these are not articulated enough how rural people
will get benefited by overcoming socio-economic and local challenges. It also frequently
focuses on affordable accessibility without mentioning any actions plans like how to
minimize the cost and setting network coverage, especially in rural area.

The ICT access is positioned both as means and as ends, it proves that policymakers
are not sure about what they want to achieve with them. In addition, the proposed actions
and means are not consistently expressed creating ambiguity to participate in the digital
environment. In ICT policy and other strategy documents, access is addressed as a
concept and policy objective, which is often employed interchangeably. Like Prospective
Plan (PP) addresses it as means and as ends at the same time. In NIP, the government
claim that policy should further ensure digital inclusion through universal access, while a
different objective like social equity stimulates access as a goal to enhance inclusion
through ICT platforms. Even without considering the goal-means relationship between
access and other objectives, it is assumed the interdependency between access and
other objectives is problematic in relation to coherence and consistency.

In relation to ICT access, the NTP exceedingly focuses on infrastructural development

and growth of telecommunications sector across the country, stating its objective of the

53
rapid expansion of ICT networks and services accessible to all citizen with affordability.
These claims are proposed without considering the local aspects with regard to technical,
cultural and human resources. Rhetoric about setting community e-centre for ICT access
in the rural area and local content development is not sufficient to make the policy
contextual. The study defines access that ensures all users to access to quality
connectivity, digital resources and platform including socially marginalised groups and
communities, which is not fully covered by the ICT policies.

ICT Use

The nature of ICT use and its engagement offered in the policies may not reach the public
involvement as the policy and strategy formulation remains itself more confined within the
techno-centric approach. It’s important to note that all ICT scope and nature of digital
engagement are reflected from the government’s authorities and administrative aspects,
while the citizens’ interest and scope of people’s ICT engagement are entirely ignored.
For example, there is no specific policy items are employed for promoting cultural and
recreational activities or any other chance that gives a citizen for further social
engagement and participation.

The policy gives a very limited incomplete image of digital scope. There are a greater
range of ICT options that can be used in different situation for different purposes; like
online communities, the World Wide Web, blogs, mobile apps, chat and messaging
technologies, and social media platforms, interactive multi-media and social networking
sites etc. may offer a substantial contribution in forming and developing social identities
and relations. However, policy documents don’t address any of these ICT scopes and
options.

The study defines ICT use to deliver various types of options and scopes for ICT
engagement and digital participation. However, the ICT use for citizen involvement in
social, cultural, political and civic participation is explicitly missing in the entire policy text.
Therefore, regarding digital inclusion, there is no alternative to bring in a more user-
centered approach within ICT policy strategies. Policymakers should understand that ICT
should to be relevant to the person’s daily life giving the user a sense of empowerment
in positive norms in nature.

54
ICT Skills

Regarding ICT skills, none of the policy strategies links ICT skills and literacy
development to ensure inclusion and social participation. The NIP focuses on ICT skills
and knowledge to achieve foreign currency and income, while other policy documents
like NTP and Perspective Plan have no significant proportion on skill or literacy
development. This market oriented trend of ICT skills development may not have a direct
impact of the lives of poor and excluded people, rather may improve the professional
skills of government officials using the existing ICT infrastructure and training. In general,
the issues of skill development still largely absent in Bangladeshi ICT policy discourse,
while ICT access and use are comparatively more discussed. It may create an argument
for further research, rising the questions like: what are the ICT skills need to have for
digital participation? What level of ICT skills may create users’ positive attitudes towards
digital choice? What is the basic level to engage with technology?

Again, the proposition for ICT skills is not well articulated with any specific actions or
means to endorse what types of ICT skills and levels can be achieved. Similarly, ICT
skills can be seen in broad categories; technical, social, critical and creative skills.

The inconsistencies in the ICT skills are visible in the ICT policy documents. NIP suggests
ICT skill and literacy with some concepts like ‘applied computer and internet literacy’,
‘mass literacy and lifelong learning’ which remain vague without any proper explanation.
Moreover, no policy document presents any action plan to create awareness or motivates
to achieve ICT skills. Many studies propose that skills and ability need to be measured
beyond the elementary technical level enabling to deal with technologies for social
outcomes. It also relates to the awareness levels that motivate an individual for ICT
engagement. Therefore, in relation to digital inclusion in ICT policies, it is important to
bring more skill focused approach within ICT policy strategies. Policymakers should
understand that digital exclusion is considered a form of lack in training direct hands-on
experience and motivation.

55
4.2.1.2 ICT Policy Goals and Means

The ICT policy strategies are formulated without having any specific definition of core
concepts to map out ICT sectors and the policy scope. The definition of basic concepts
like ICT and ICT policy are missing while other key issues in ICT and development
discourse such as the digital divide, e-Governance and inclusion are addressed inter-
related in multiple policy themes. Following each policy objectives, some strategic themes
are presented that don’t give a good picture for better understanding of policy goals.

The incoherence in the policy text can be related to the language or specific jargons and
terms (such as digital divide) are used without appropriate explanation, which creates a
lack of understanding. The policy documents have integrated various topics related to
social and economic development, though they are presented in a scatted way. There
are a number of means are mentioned with no proper description like, ‘creating a
knowledge-based platform’. It has no specific criteria what types of knowledge for whom
the platform shall be implemented. At the same time, there is a range of stakeholders are
involved as a primary actor from both private and public sector without any proper
clarification of specific task to be carried out.

Overall, the findings show that ICT policy mechanism lacks a sound understanding of the
interconnected nature of goals-means’ and their relationship in different levels of the
policy process. Some of the major problems related to policy texts are the lack of
precision, reasonable actions and the overlapping of many policy means (such as
infrastructural development), the narrow focus of inclusion (such as access) that made
the goals related to digital inclusion inconsistent, therefore, difficult to implement.

This policy condition can be related to what Howlett (2009) refers ‘elements of a ‘‘nested’’
or ‘‘embedded’’ model of policy instrument choice’ (P.74). In other words, a practical
policy instrument involves ‘aims’ or ‘goals’; ‘objectives’ and ‘means’ in abstract form. The
means or strategy for attaining those goals may exist at many levels, such as from a more
abstract form to a more concrete (specific) level of policy implementation (Howlett, 2009).
For example, in the case of digital inclusion in ICT policy, the aim or goal is to ensure a
fair and inclusive digital society. A less abstract objectives are employed to achieve the

56
goal such as ensuring broadband connectivity across the country. Next, the objective
(broadband connectivity) need to be composed with a series of less abstract measures,
means or specific targets (such as curbing high price of internet connection), which allow
policy resources to accomplish the goals. Thus, policy goals and means may exist at
different levels of policy process and application that can be seen to include a number of
components.

Finally, the government’s promise to place ICT as a central component in the solution for
problems (such as health, economic and environmental crisis) may not effectively work
out in Bangladesh due to a number of inconsistencies occurred within ICT policy texts.
Therefore, the policymakers should focus on making a better policy design following what
Howlett (2009) suggests that a successful policy process requires (1) policy goals,
objectives and targets need to be clear in all levels; (2) implementation priorities, policy
means and tool settings should be consistent; and (3) combining the both policy
strategies, objectives with the tools across policy layers. Again, the crucial questions that
need to be addressed are the policies need to articulated with a coherent and consistent
links between policy goals and means, mentioning ‘how’ to establish of ICT access and
involvement, especially in rural area.

57
4.2.1.3 Impact of UISC on Society

UISC is the country’s biggest ICT project that has been implemented across the country.
The initiative is set under the policy objective, ‘social equity’ that underscores the
importance of UISC initiative in order to include all citizens, especially marginalised and
poor people in the digital framework. Particularly in Bangladesh, the limitation of ICTs in
socio-economic development environment mainly problematic when it comes to the
question of gender gap, discrimination and other social inequalities. To overcome such
problems, one of the main promises was to ensure gender equity and empowerment
through using ICT centres in rural areas. However, over the years, the government has
failed to keep the policy promise as there is no significant outcome that can be seen from
the UISCs realities. ICT policy aims to reach 75 per cent of the population by 2018
(midterm target), while Ullah (2016) finds it reaches only 1 per cent of the population in
2016.

The findings show that women have comparatively less participation than men to attain
UISC facilities. Gender disparity and power structure, political instability, cultural
prejudice along with other social inequalities are some of the major problems in
Bangladesh, which are ignored and underrepresented in the policy. The policy strategies
for UISC show no detailed actions plan to reduce the gender inequalities. In the South
Asian context, where conventional patriarchal norms are arguably more visible compared
to other developing regions, women face a number of obstacles in accessing and using
ICTs (Rashid, 2017a). Rashid finds a significant gender gap in digital participation, which
particularly in disadvantage women. He shows in a cross countries studies in Asia and
Africa, 60 per cent of men in Bangladesh use computers daily compared to 45 per cent
of women.

I think that the government did not reflect on the domestic and social capacity while
addressing ICT’s potential benefits in policy strategic themes. It is understood from the
findings that, the UISC operations has no effective impact challenging the realities
regarding rural power structures, social inequalities in Bangladesh. There key failures of
such initiative are First, the local power structure and inequalities are ignored while only

58
power elite and educated people secure benefits. Second, it fails to bridge the gender
gap having male dominance across UISC entrepreneurs and clients. The initiative is still
struggling to stay fully accessible and viable to all citizen, therefore, the UISC initiative is
considered unsuccessful and largely failed to fulfil the expected access and use of
technology.

4.3 Digital inclusion and ICT Policy

In the context of Bangladeshi ICT policy discourse, ICT practices are considered as the
key catalyst for the school change that leads to empowerment. This dominant trend has
been incorporated into the current ICT policies, which comes out as an outcome of
neoliberal and market-driven philosophy in order to combat socio-economic challenges.
This type of policy trend can be referred to Avgerou’s (2010) first discourse of techno-
economic argumentation to transfer and diffusion perspective of information system
innovation with the progressive transformation perspective. This leading and
deterministic development perception surrounding ICT policy process is not working for
all equally. Byrne and Weilbach (2008) argue this approach as one of the key barriers to
the implementation of ICT projects in underdeveloped countries. Bound (2006, p.107)
argues that the dominant trend along with the socio-economic and political beliefs of
policymakers and hardly incorporates multiple perspectives or other thoughts. Moreover,
one of the common limitations of the policies in many developing countries is contextual
gaps in policy design, the mismatch between the goals and actual consequences and
poor capacity in policy execution (Palvia et al., 2015).

According to Avgerou’s (2010) discourse, ICT initiative like UISC project can be
manifested in progressive versus disruptive transformation perspectives. The idea of
such initiative appeared as a solution in developing countries particularly the rural
regions, equipped with digital technologies, such as computers, fax machines and
internet connectivity etc. The recent studies show the widespread failure and closure of
such centre increases frustration among key actors, including the entrepreneurs, users,
and donor agencies (Best & Kumar, 2008; Madon et al., 2007, cited in Avgerou, 2010).
But, why it has been failing in many developing countries?

59
To answer this question, some researchers (see Avgerou, 2010) explain telecenters in a
‘disruptive transformation perspective’ (third discourse) raising the question about the
impact of such as the PPP mechanism (Madon, 2005). Madon’s review of telecenters
enterprises as part of e-governance projects in India (2009) found, commercial and
technological bias ICT policy regarding rural development and general techno-economic
trends of the dominant development approach of international development is no longer
effective (Avgerou, 2010). In general, since the 90s, there was a paradigm shift in
research and theory has mostly shifted from Avgerou’s (2010) Innovation by transfer and
diffusion/Progressive transformation (first discourse) to the socially embedded
innovation/disruptive transformation (fourth discourse) (Audenhove & Fourie, 2014).

Recent emerging literature on digital inclusion emphasises to look beyond individuals to

investigate how the social context and daily practices of specific groups shape resources
for Internet use (Baum, Newman, & Biedrzycki, 2012). Their study concludes that some
people are being trapped in a vicious cycle due to lack of digital access or the failure to
make beneficial ICT use that intensifies prevailing limitation. The ICT policy should be
processed and formulated to overcome such existing socioeconomic barriers that inhibit
digital inclusion. This study relates to the view that ICT initiative should be socially
embedded and may lead to disruptive transformation (Avgerou, 2010). Otherwise, setting
up a computer centre or ICT-based learning in policy settings has a very little effect on
digital inclusion while the measurable outputs are largely absent. In most cases, it does
not bring equal opportunities for all, though it is dominantly stated that ICT offer
opportunities for all.

4.4 Conclusion

The ICT policy documents deliver a general aspiration to ensure access to ICTs for all,
having no clear reference to local context and poor or socio-economically disadvantaged
groups either in the rural or urban areas. In sum, the following points can be drawn from
the study. First, the ambiguity and inconsistency are visible in the suggested means that
proposed to attain desired policy goal. Second, the policy is structured with the narrow
digitisation frame of reference (access manners), where techno-centric ICT mechanism
of policy process does not address the comprehensive issues associated with the

60
inclusion (such as social inequalities, gender disparity citizen rights and inclusion), while
economic growth and e-commerce are prioritised. Third, ICT use and nature of ICT
engagement hardly reach the public involvement as the policy and strategy formulations
remain itself more confined within techno-centric approach and seems to do not
effectively work out in some local context. Fourth, ICT skills and literacy are largely
ignored in the policy strategies. Finally, The UISCs initiative is largely failed to meet its
goal, which sheds doubt into the feasibility of technically deterministic discourse that
merely leads to achieve the vision of digital Bangladesh. Therefore, I think ICT policy
strategies have failed largely to ensure digital inclusion in the context of socio-economic
challenges of Bangladesh.

4.5 Further Research Directions

ICT policy could be analysed from power and politics, therefore, further research needs
to look forward to developing a theoretical framework to explore the political economy
and the sociology of ICT-driven economic models, infrastructures, and “empowered”
societies. The contextualist socially embedded theory that Avgerou (2010) explored may
be considered a powerful analytical device for micro-level processes, dealing with largely
macro-level processes involves different actors and institutions. However, Avgerou
(2010) claims “research that spans micro-macro analytical domains in the social sciences
is notoriously difficult” (p.12).

Moreover, apart from ICT policies, there are many other policies of government such as
health, education, media and agriculture, which could be incorporated for analysing the
ICT policy in a comparative manner. Finally, it is important to justify policy capacity,
design and actuality gap (Rondinelli and Mandell, 1981; Wunsch, 1986, cited in
Chindarkar, 2017), therefore, an empirical study with a contextualized approach or
‘participatory action research for policy analysis approach’ (PAR4P, see Donders and
Van Audenhove) combined with experts’ interviews, focus groups or stakeholders
consultation can be better comprehended.

61
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 National ICT Policy - 2009

Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

July, 2009
 Table of Contents

National ICT Policy 2009 ....................................................................................................................................1

A. Preamble.........................................................................................................................................................1
A.1 Rationale ...............................................................................................................................................1
A.2 Present Context and Future Trends .....................................................................................................2
A.3 Structure and Conventions ...................................................................................................................2
B. Policy Ownership, Monitoring and Review ....................................................................................................3
C. Vision .............................................................................................................................................................3
D. Objectives ......................................................................................................................................................4
E. Strategic Themes ...........................................................................................................................................5
F. Action Plans and Funding ..............................................................................................................................9
Social Equity ..............................................................................................................................................10
Productivity.................................................................................................................................................14
Integrity ......................................................................................................................................................19
Education and Research ...........................................................................................................................27
Employment Generation ............................................................................................................................34
Strengthening Exports ...............................................................................................................................38
Healthcare..................................................................................................................................................42
Universal Access .......................................................................................................................................45
Environment, Climate & Disaster Management ........................................................................................47
Supports to ICTs ........................................................................................................................................50
Appendix: Acronyms and Abbreviations ..........................................................................................................55

National ICT Policy -2009 i

 National ICT Policy 2009
A. Preamble

In today’s world, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is considered as the

most effective constituent for the development of a nation. In order to decide on the ways
to deliver the benefits of ICT to the greater mass of the country, the present Government,
in its previous tenure, felt the necessity of an Information and Communication
Technology policy. The intention was reflected in measures such as tax waiver from
import of computers, connecting Bangladesh with the Information Superhighway and
allocation of fund 400 million Taka for promotion of IT sector. Digital Telephony was also
introduced during that period. Especially mobile phone business was opened up through
removal of monopoly with a view to keep the mobile communication within the reach of
the common people. For the development of Information & Communication Technology
in the country, the Government formed a committee for formulating a national policy on
ICT (vide Circular No: MOST/Sec-09/NCST-1/99/90 Dated: 10-05-1999). Though the
policy was approved in 2002, the vision of developing a knowledge-based society in the
country within 2006 could not be realized because of sluggishness of the next
Government. Needless to say, that we have to go a long way to achieve that level of
maturity in ICTs. In view of this, the ICT stakeholders felt the need to revise the current
ICT Policy in line with the national goals, objectives and capabilities. Accordingly, the
'National ICT Policy Review Committee' was formed by the Ministry of Science and ICT
(vide Circular No. MOSICT/Section-13/IT-7/1999/Part-2/108, Dated: 4-5-2008, published
in Bangladesh Gazette in Vol.29: July 17, 2008). The ‘National ICT Policy 2009’ is the
outcome of the work of this committee.

It is expected that the successful implementation of the vision and objectives of the
National ICT Policy 2009 will facilitate materialise Digital Bangladesh which the
government pledged to build within 2021 by.

A.1 Rationale for a National ICT Policy

The constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has edified social equity and
ICTs are the best means to propagate that ethos within a framework optimizing the
effective utilization of the nation’s limited natural and abundant human resources.

The article 19 of the constitution clearly mandates:

“ 19. Equality of opportunity.- (1) The State shall endeavour to ensure equality
of opportunity to all citizens.

(2) The State shall adopt effective measures to

remove social and economic inequality
between man and man and to ensure the
equitable distribution of wealth among
citizens, and of opportunities in order to attain
a uniform level of economic development
throughout the Republic.”
The policy is intended as a binding guide for all planners and executive officers of the
state. It is also meant to be an investment guide for private enterprises, a social
mobilization guide for NGOs/civil societies and a benchmark for electronic delivery of
citizen services.

National ICT Policy -2009 1

A.2 Present Context and Future Trends

Bangladesh has not been able to harness the power of ICTs for economic and social
gains to the extent that other countries of the world have done. The promise of ICTs has
only become stronger with time and a future without ICTs in any part of the world is
unthinkable. As the financial barrier to ICTs is much lower than many other modern
technologies, and as the future of human society is inextricably linked with ICTs,
Bangladesh as a country must embrace ICTs as a matter of policy and set an aggressive
strategy to make up for the current lag and leapfrog into the ranks of top ICT-ready
countries.

As a nation, Bangladesh is still classified as a least-developed country (LDC) with a per

capita GNP of USD 600 per annum. With more than 1,000 people per square km, the
country has the highest population density in the world, aside from city-states. There are
few proven natural resources, though there are some in the energy sector that are not
sufficient to meet the total energy needs now or in the future. Generally speaking the
only abundant resource the country has is its young population.

The national vision is to raise the economic profile of the nation to that of a middle-
income country within a decade which would require more than doubling of our current
level of per capita GNP. This economic vision must be achieved in a manner that is
socially equitable and just.

Optimal resource utilization, certified skills development, efficient communication and

quality education delivery are some of the ways in which the above goals can be realized
within the specified timeframe by pushing the growth rate to above 7.5% through
extensive use of ICTs. By sustaining this level of growth, the country’s GNP can be
increased twenty-fold from the present level and high-income status can be achieved
within 30 years.

A.3 Structure and Conventions

The policy document is structured as a hierarchical pyramid with a single vision, 10

broad objectives, 56 strategic themes and 306 action items. The vision and objectives
are aligned with the general national goals while the strategic themes are areas within
the broad objectives that can readily benefit from the use of ICTs. The action items are
generally meant to be implemented either in the

short term (18 months or less),

medium term (5 years or less) or

long term (10 years or less).

However, some action items have been recommended for continuation throughout
multiple terms where the scope of the activity gradually expands in the longer terms.

Conventional notions of vision, objective, strategic theme, etc. tend to differ greatly from
person to person and from discipline to discipline. Thus, for the purpose of this policy
proposal, the following definitions have been adopted for a) Vision, b) Objective c)
Strategic Theme, d) Action Item, and e) ICTs.

Definition of Vision: The national aspirations with respect to maximising the use of ICTs
for national development

Definition of Objective: A set of related goals to be achieved to realize the Vision

National ICT Policy -2009 2

Definition of Strategic Theme: A broad recommendation to guide the development and
implementation of specific action items

Definition of Action Item: A particular implementation task under a strategic theme with
clearly specified outcomes, time limits and actors

Definition of ICTs: All e-technologies used in creating, storing, processing,

communicating and disseminating information of all kinds

B. Policy Ownership, Monitoring and Review

The ICT Policy must be owned by all stakeholder groups who will continually seek to
have the mandates of the policy adhered to in all spheres of national life. The policy must
have a Champion in the highest levels of the Government. Accordingly, the following
Policy Ownership arrangement is envisaged.

The National ICT Policy shall be monitored and coordinated by the Minister in charge of
ICT while the associated action programmes will be implemented and/or supported by
the Bangladesh Computer Council or its successor organisation; all Government
agencies and quasi-state bodies will implement ICT Policy in their respective area.
Instruction from National ICT Task Force will be taken for any deviation in implementing
the Policy.

The action plans under the policy shall be reviewed at least once a year for
implementation status checks, necessary reprioritizations and changes in programmes.
The strategic themes shall be reviewed every three years along with realignment of
specific goals with new developments. The whole policy itself shall be reviewed in totality
every six years and long-term goals adjusted according to achievements and failures
along the way.

With the aims and objectives of the National ICT Policy 2009 materialized, Bangladesh is
expected to become a ‘knowledge society’ within one generation.

C. Vision

Expand and diversify the use of ICTs to establish a transparent, responsive and
accountable government; develop skilled human resources; enhance social equity;
ensure cost-effective delivery of citizen-services through public-private partnerships; and
support the national goal of becoming a middle-income country within 2021 and join the
ranks of the developed countries of the world within thirty years.

D. Objectives

D.1. Social Equity: Ensure social equity, gender parity, equal opportunity and
equitable participation in nation-building through access to ICTs for all,
including persons with disabilities and special needs

D.2. Productivity: Achieve higher productivity across all economic sectors

including agriculture and SMME (small, medium and micro enterprises)
through the use of ICTs.

National ICT Policy -2009 3

 D.3. Integrity: Achieve transparency, accountability, responsiveness and higher
efficiency in the delivery of citizen-services.

D.4. Education and Research: Expand the reach and quality of education to all
parts of the country using ICTs, ensure computer literacy at all levels of
education and public service and facilitate innovation, creation of intellectual
property and adoption of ICTs through appropriate research and development.

D.5. Employment Generation: Enlarge the pool of world-class ICT professionals to

cater to the local and overseas employment opportunities.

D.6. Strengthening Exports: Ensure a thriving software, ITES and IT

manufacturing industry to meet domestic and global demands and thereby
increase foreign exchange earnings, attract foreign direct investments and
reduce dependence on imports.

D.7. Healthcare: Ensure quality healthcare to all citizens by innovative application

of ICTs.

D.8. Universal Access: Ensure connectivity to all as a public service obligation

(PSO).

D.9. Environment, Climate and Disaster Management: Enhance creation and

adoption of environment-friendly green technologies, ensure safe disposal of
toxic wastes, minimize disaster response times and enable effective climate-
change management programmes through use of ICTs as Bangladesh is
facing the dual scourge of environmental pollution due to rising industrial and
consumer wastes and also global-warming-induced climate-change due to
excessive carbon emissions of the industrialized countries

D.10. Supports to ICTs: Develop appropriate infrastructure including power, and

regulatory framework for effective adoption and use of ICTs throughout the
country

E. Strategic Themes

E.1. Social Equity:

1.1 Mainstream social advancement opportunities for disadvantaged groups as

an immediate priority to minimize economic disparity and bridge the digital
divide for (a) lower income groups, (b) ethnic minorities, (c) women, and (d)
persons with disabilities and special needs

1.2 Facilitate citizens’ participation in local and national government, and policy
making as a broad national agenda

1.3 Provide incentives to the private sector and NGO/CSO/CBOs to generate

and share locally relevant and local language digital content and online
services

1.4 Develop and preserve content to bolster culture, heritage and religion

National ICT Policy -2009 4

 1.5 Bring into focus children's issues, including protection of children from
harmful digital content

E.2. Productivity:

2.1 Encourage maximum utilization of ICT services nationwide to boost

productivity of small, medium and micro enterprises and agriculture sector,
and focus on innovation and competitiveness

2.2 Ensure dissemination and utilization of latest know-how and market

information to increase production capability and supply chain management
of agriculture through ICT applications

2.3 Ensure better monitoring, skills gap determination, appropriate training and
modern enterprise operations to enhance productivity of large enterprises by
encouraging immediate implementation of end to end applications (ERP)

2.4 Ensure sustainable productivity in the service sector through increased

automation of operations and management information systems

2.5 Encourage e-commerce, e-payments, and e-transactions in general bringing

in a new dimension of productivity to the economy at the earliest

E.3. Integrity:

3.1 Ensure the use of Bangla in all ICT activities

3.2 Reduce harassment, time and cost of the people and ensure transparency
and accountability in government service delivery by monitoring citizens'
charter and making results of all services delivery public including services
related to justice and law & order

3.3 Establish interconnectivity across government offices for effective data

sharing

3.4 Build capacity of public functionaries and foster leadership for electronic
service delivery

3.5 Mandate availability of all public information through electronic means and
ensure sustainability of ICT-based citizens’ services delivery

3.6 Introduce ICT-based monitoring of planning, implementation and

effectiveness of development projects

E.4. Education and Research:

4.1 Assess skills of ICT professionals and meet gaps with targeted training
programmes to overcome the short-term skills shortage in the ICT industry
and adopt continuing education and professional skills assessment and
enhancement programmes

4.2 Encourage closer collaboration between academia and industry to align

curriculum with market needs

National ICT Policy -2009 5

 4.3 Establish an ICT Centre of Excellence with necessary long-term funding to
teach and conduct research in advanced ICTs

4.4 Extend the reach of ICT literacy throughout the country by incorporating ICT
courses in primary and secondary education and technical and vocational
education and training (TVET) programmes

4.5 Enhance the quality and reach of education at all levels with a special focus
on Mathematics, Science and English

4.6 Ensure ICT Literacy for all in public service

4.7 Boost use of ICT tools in all levels of education including ECDP, mass
literacy and lifelong learning

4.8 Ensure access to education and research for people with disabilities and
special needs using ICT tools

4.9 Ensure that all universities provide global standard ICT education and
introduce Postgraduate Programmes in ICT education to encourage
research and innovation

E.5. Employment Generation:

5.1 Provide incentives for investment in local ICT industry

5.2 Build institutional capacity for producing greater number of IT professionals

in line with domestic and global demands for knowledge workers

5.3 Standardize skills for local ICT industry

5.4 Facilitate global employment of skilled ICT workforce

5.5 Provide financial assistance to ICT professionals for skills development

E.6. Strengthening Exports:

6.1 Develop strong marketing, promotion and branding for Bangladeshi ICT
products and services in global markets

6.2 Ensure access to finance for promising software and ITES companies

6.3 Develop and maintain reliable ICT infrastructure

6.4 Provide incentives to increase export and create industry friendly policy and
enabling environment

6.5 Foster innovation through research and development to improve quality,

process, technology, domain, value chain and niche markets

E.7. Healthcare:

7.1 Improve management of healthcare delivery system using telemedicine and

modern technologies

National ICT Policy -2009 6

View publication stats

7.2 Improve community awareness and access to health care facilities for all
including difficult to access areas, with a special emphasis on child, maternal
and reproduction health

7.3 Ensure Quality Assurance of health care services

7.4 Enhance capacity of National Health Service Delivery System

E.8. Universal Access:

8.1 Extend universal connectivity to all citizens as a public service obligation

within 5 years

8.2 Extend internet backbone infrastructure to all district headquarters

immediately at the same access cost as in the capital

8.3 Extend Internet and IP telephony services to all parts of the country within 5
years through providing incentives as stipulated in the national telecom
policy

8.4 Make IP-based telecommunications ubiquitous and affordable by all through

aggressive adoption of NGN and license-free regime

E.9. Environment, Climate and Disaster Management:

9.1 Promote entire environmental preservation including land and water

resources by adopting environment-friendly green technologies

9.2 Promote entire environmental protection including land and water resources
through the use of ICT tools

9.3 Protect citizens from natural disasters through ICT-based disaster warning
and management technologies

9.4 Ensure safe disposal of toxic wastes resulting from use of ICTs

9.5 Promote efficient relief management and post disaster activities monitoring

E.10. Supports to ICTs:

10.1 Ensure reliable and cost-effective power

10.2 Create supportive legal framework for IPR protection, online document
sharing, transactions and payments

10.3 Establish a Government Interoperability Framework to be adhered to by all

government ICT projects

10.4 Promote the use of cost-effective, open source and open architecture
solutions

10.5 Build ICT infrastructure facilities in educational institutions

10.6 Decentralize ICT growth outside the capital

National ICT Policy -2009 7