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The number of Bangladesh's internet and smart phone users increased significantly in the last fiscal year as the countrymen are fond of using hand phones with internet facilities, a survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has revealed.
The only-mobile-phone users in villages are higher than that in the urban areas in the country, the quarterly ICT Access and User Survey 2024-25 of the BBS, unveiled on Tuesday, showed.
The number of households (HH) with internet users expanded by 11.2 percentage points within one and a half years and the smart phone users by 9.5 percentage points, the BBS showed.
According to the BBS, the rate of Bangladesh's internet use by the households increased to 54.8 per cent in last fiscal year (FY) 2024-25 from 43.6 per cent in the previous year.
Similarly, the smart phone users in the country also rose to 72.8 per cent in FY2025 from 63.3 per cent in 2023, the BBS showed.
In the villages, the proportion of households with mobile phone only is slightly higher at 98.3 per cent while that in the towns is 97.7 per cent.
According to the BBS, the country's total HHs with mobile phone - only users are recorded at 98.1 per cent.
The 99 per cent households in the country use mobile phone while only 0.9 per cent utilising the fixed phone, the survey showed.
A total of 59.2 per cent households use internet across the country where the participation of urban household is much higher than the rural areas.
In the urban areas, 65.4 per cent households use internet while in the rural areas it is 56.4 per cent.
The country's 9.4 per cent households have computers in their houses although the proportion of the computer users is much higher in urban areas (21.9 per cent) than the rural areas (3.7 per cent), the official survey showed.
Some 65.8 per cent households had television sets and 16.1 per cent had radios.
The electricity coverage reached 98.4 per cent in Bangladesh, the BBS survey said.
The internet users on a quarterly basis in Bangladesh had also been increasing.
In the 4th quarter of the last FY2025, the internet using households rose to 59.2 per cent from 57.3 per cent in the 3rd quarter of the same fiscal year, the BBS showed.