An Expert Survey for the Evaluation of 5G Adoption in Bangladesh

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to find the challenges and opportunities for the adoption of 5G technology for the development and growth of the business environment in Bangladesh. An online survey based on an opinion poll (questionnaire) has been selected as the research method due to the short turnaround time, quick delivery, and simple return. Due to the low response rate, some of the responses were collected physically at the workplaces of the poll participants. The summary of the total 34 responses from Mobile network operator (MNO), National Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN), International Internet Gateway (IIG), and Internet Service Provider (ISP) is as follows: 17 of the respondents agreed that 5G technology should be implemented over a period of up to 3 years. With regard to the availability and interest in the implementation of 5G technology, the result shows three key hurdles for 5G in Bangladesh: first, service price is unreasonably high; second, the network coverage area is not adequate; and third, a shortage of 5G-enabled devices. The next step will be to expand this research work by identifying potentially workable options from a technical perspective such as the use of virtual network functions (VNF), software defined networking (SDN), adaptive network slicing for network resource management, cyber security in the context of next generation of mobile networks 5G and beyond for Bangladesh.