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Local mobile apps have failed to fully penetrate the market for a lack of both big investment and quality Internet service, experts and industry insiders said.
Digitisation of data and the total Internet ecosystem are also responsible for the use of mobile applications on a limited scale, they added.
Some domestic android applications were downloaded from Google Play Store more than 10 millions, but their real and active uses are very few.
According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the total number of Internet subscribers has reached 100 million by the end of 2019.
BTRC and industry sources said 3G and 4G subscribers altogether have reached around 80 million whereas the number of smartphone sets is now around 30 million.
The cellphone subscribers have reached 160.5 million last year, shows the BTRC data.
The regulator said the country's tele-density is now 99.2 per cent and Internet-density 59 per cent.
But mobile applications are not as much popular as it should be in this situation.
IT expert Zakaria Swapan said poor quality and an expensive rate of Internet remain a challenge for fast expansion of app-based services in Bangladesh.
He said thousands of apps are doing well in India. "If TV is switched on, most advertisements that appear are of app services in India."
"Only a handful of apps are doing well here only due to lack of quality data," Mr Swapan told the FE.
Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) president Syed Almas Kabir said not only quality Internet, low investment in app-based services is also a reason.
"If we compare with other countries under similar conditions, our mobile application market should have been bigger," he cited.
Mr Kabir said many companies these days develop mobile applications of their business or service, but they do not invest much to popularise the apps.
He said many mobile users download apps but cannot use them on handsets for lack of quality Internet.
Mobile apps will not be popular until Internet infrastructure is fully developed, he remarked. "Investors won't also invest under existing Internet infrastructural facility."
A BTRC report released last February showed all the three private mobile operators failed to maintain the required 4G (fourth generation) speed.
It said GP, Robi and Banglalink failed to maintain 4G speed in Dhaka city as they retained an average 5.88, 5.91 and 5.18 megabits per second speed.
The minimum speed was supposed to be 7Mbps in 4G service.
Other than Dhaka city, the quality is even poorer.
At a press meet last week, BTRC director general Brig Gen Md Mahfuzul Karim Majumder admitted that low data speed is an issue in the telecom sector.
Founding secretary general and past president of BASIS Habibullah N Karim said the overall digitisation of data and digital ecosystem have also contributed to the limited usage of mobile apps.
Many organisations develop apps, he said, adding: "The necessary data is very limited."
Mr Karim said if back end is not digitised, related applications would not work.
"There are thousands of local applications but they have a very limited amount of necessary data."
Mr Karim said Internet access is sufficient but other elements in the ecosystem have not grown much accordingly.
According to Google Play Store, bKash, MyGP, ringID, Robi, Nagad and iflix are some of the mobile apps growing first.
Most of the apps have been downloaded more than 10 millions.
Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, bKash head of corporate communications, said 10 million bKash mobile apps are being used which is around 15 per cent of the total bKash transactions.
The use of bKash app has grown 200 per cent in a single year, he concluded.
Seeking anonymity, a CEO of a leading developer of mobile applications said many apps are not used even 20 per cent in real terms of their downloaded numbers.
"Many people download apps but don't really use them. The use of apps is still a hobby here," he added.