The availability of internet has brought about a big change in the mobile phone market in the country. Smartphones are now in the hands of the youth. Adults who are used to 2G for so many years are also leaning towards 4G. The use of 4G sets is increasing for various purposes including talking on video calls, using social media. The 2G phone market is gradually shrinking due to the influence of 4G, as a result, the production of this technology phone is also decreasing.
A figure of decline in production of 2G phones has also emerged in a statistic of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). According to BTRC data, 22 lakh 43 thousand 2G sets were manufactured in the country last May. Then 20 lakh 41 thousand were made in June. 20 lakh 38 thousand were made in July. 16 lakh 44 thousand in August. And in September it further decreased to 16 lakh 6 thousand. Not only these five months, but comparing with recent years, it is seen that the production of feature phones has decreased this year. In September 2022, the number of feature phones manufactured in the country was 16 lakh 40 thousand. And in September 2023, it was 16 lakh 87 thousand. That is, the production of 2G phones is the lowest this year in September of the last three years.
Those concerned say that the domestic mobile phone market is still two-centric. However, in recent times, the production of smartphones is increasing somewhat. In this regard, the president of Mobile Phone Industry Owners Association of Bangladesh Zakaria Shahid said, 'It is not the case that the production of 2G handsets is decreasing due to the decrease in demand. Demand for feature phones is always high in the country. It's still the same. There is an influence of the gray market here. Earlier, gray market violence was only focused on smartphones. But now feature phones are also falling under the grip of gray market. Selling copy and reservices products. As a result, even though there is demand and capacity, the production of feature phones in the country has decreased slightly.
According to the data of BTRC, about 25 lakh 17 thousand units of mobile handsets were manufactured in the country last September. Among them, 22 sets were about 16 lakh 6 thousand. Forge was 9 lakh 9 thousand. And 5G was about 3 thousand. 63.79 percent of mobile phones manufactured in the country in the month were feature phones. And smartphone was 36.21 percent.
The plan of the government is to increase the production of smartphones in the country. For that reason, last April, BTRC also sent a letter to the companies with instructions to increase the production, production and marketing of smartphone or 4G feature mobile handsets by reducing the production, addition and marketing of 2G or feature phones. This may have some influence behind the slight increase in the production of 4G phones, said the people concerned.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh Cellphone Consumer Association, said that 17 companies produce mobile phones in the country. Before going into production, they had a condition that they would reduce the production of feature phones i.e. handsets with 2G support. But they have been producing about 65 percent of feature phones for a long time. Currently, gray market smartphones are available in the market at low prices. Data demand is increasing day by day. Voice calls cost more as well as the security risk consumers feel. Due to which the customer feels comfortable to send voice or message through WhatsApp or other apps. It costs less and benefits are more. Apart from communication with family, office-court, business-trade – everything is internet-based, so the customer's attention is towards smartphones. But the government should regulate the market price of our own production so that it does not go beyond the affordability and capability of the customer. And the quality must be intact.
Regarding the issue, Zakaria Shaheed said, 'The government has a plan on how to increase 4G, how to make reasonable prices, it has an action plan. As such we have launched 4G feature phones in the market. But since the price of the 4G feature phone is a bit high, its response is not so good, not positive. The price of 4G smartphone is more. A voice call dependent will never buy a 4G feature phone. Two sets are now available for 800 taka. One who buys a set for 800 to 1000 will never buy a 7000 segment forge set. When will a person pay more money to buy a set, when his voice calls will decrease.'
Imports of legitimate mobile handsets are on the rise
BTRC data shows that the production of legitimate mobile handsets is increasing in the country. According to statistics, 4 thousand 450 mobile phones were imported into the country last June. In July its amount was 3 thousand 640 In August, it increased to 10,220. And in September it reached 19 thousand 515.
However, the concerned persons say that although the number of mobiles imported legally has increased, the number of mobiles coming illegally i.e. in the gray market has not decreased. A complete picture of the mobile handset market is not available as BTRC does not have gray market information, said an official of the organization who did not wish to disclose his name.
