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Posts, Telecommuni-cations and IT Minister Mustafa Jabbar said on Monday that the government will bring all unions of the country under the Internet facility by June 2019.
"The government is making the digital service accessible to the grassroots level as part of its 'Digital Bangladesh' initiative. All the unions will get the Internet facility by June 2019," he said.
The minister spoke at the lunch of i3 programme -- Innovate, Implement, Impact -- at a city hotel.
MicroSave, a leading international consulting firm, with the support of MetLife Foundation arranged the event, aiming to continue meaningful financial inclusion in Bangladesh.
Through the i3 programme, MicroSave will partner with banks, MFS providers, FinTechs and other financial service providers, who are willing to leverage technology to travel that extra mile to make an impact to the financially excluded and underserved.
The IT minister also said the central bank should introduce interoperability among mobile financial services (MFS) providers for the sake of providing inter-transaction facilities for customers.
Manoj Kumar Sharma, regional managing director, Asia, MicroSave, gave a keynote presentation at the event.
Mohd Humayun Kabir, executive director of Bangladesh Bank (BB), Syed Almas Kabir, president of BASIS, and Syed Hammadul Karim, general manager of MetLife, were present as the special guests.
Speaking on the occasion, Humayun Kabir laid emphasis on the vulnerabilities and risks of technology use in terms of the mobile financial service.
Syed Hammadul Karim said Bangladesh is looking for innovative solutions to address the challenges of financial health of low-income groups.
"I am proud to say that the MetLife Foundation is well aligned with the government's priority of improving financial health of low to moderate-income people," Karim said.
"The i3 programme which focuses on digital transformation is a brilliant example of that. We hope to create a positive impact on lives of two million people in Bangladesh through this initiative," he added.
Manoj Kumar Sharma said Bangladesh is a leader in mobile financial services. However, basic access to banking services and products still remains a challenge.
At the i3 programme, MicroSaveis trying to bridge the gap between the low-and moderate-income segment and basic financial services, he said.
MicroSave shared the existing initiatives under the i3 program in Bangladesh. Industry experts also engaged in active discussion to identify possible opportunities, using technology, to contribute to the financial inclusion agenda in Bangladesh.
MetLife Foundation has funded this 36-month initiative under its "Leveraging Technology for Meaningful Financial Inclusion in Bangladesh, China, Malaysia & Vietnam" programme.
The programme is implemented in Bangladesh and Vietnam by MicroSave and in China and Malaysia by UNCDF. The programme in Bangladesh is first off the block.
A panel discussion was held towards the end of the programme in which industry leaders and officials from regulators, banks, MFS providers, FinTechs and donors discussed on how to leverage technology for meaningful financial inclusion in the country.
Zakaria Swapan, founder and chief executive officer, iPay Systems Limited, Md. Tohurul Hassan, program coordinator.DFS-a2i, Selim R.F. Hussain, CEO of BRAC Bank, Mizanure Rahman, chief external & corporate affairs officer, bkash, Syed Almas Kabir, president of BASIS, Syed Hammadul Karim, general manager, Metlife, Manoj Sharma, regional director of MicroSave Asia, took part in the panel discussion.