In an exclusive interview with UNB, Huawei's Asia Pacific Region's Vice President Zhang Zhengjun recently spoke about the tech giant's plans in Bangladesh.

Q. 5G is here already. What are your plans for Bangladesh?

Yes, in the Asia-Pacific region, 5G is already a hot topic. Korea and Japan were among the first countries to launch 5G. Thailand followed. Now, 30% of Thais are using 5G.

Bangladesh is an important country for us. In 2020, Huawei participated in the Digital Bangladesh Mela where we showcased the real power of 5G -- mobile internet speed up to 1.6 GBps.

We have had a lot discussions with the Bangladesh government and telecom operators. 

Though 4G has been catering to the needs of mobile users for watching videos on YouTube or using TikTok, or Facebook, I found weak signal at many places -- like in Sylhet and Mymensingh.

There are 183 million mobile subscribers in Bangladesh. For such a large population, more cellular towers are required for ensuring better coverage. 

I believe Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Authority (BTRC) and Post and Telecommunication Division (PTD) will encourage telecom companies to facilitate installation of more mobile towers in Bangladesh to provide continuous network coverages.

And, this improvement should be ensured in all cities and rural areas across Bangladesh; not only in the major cities like Dhaka and Chattogram. So, this is important to bridge the digital divide.

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Bangladesh government has already released 5G spectrum. However, 5G is more used in industrial areas. In China, for instance, 5G is widely in use in hospitals, port areas, manufacturing units. Bangladesh should take note of these things.

PTD has plans to utilise 5G in Chattogram. In a port city like Chattogram, a lot of workers are there to control different machineries. They stay at their workplaces for a very long time. If 5G is introduced there, workers can control the machines remotely because of the low latency and massive connections. 

So, this kind of advantages could be used for industries in Chattogram and Mongla port areas and also at airports in different cities. For consumer uses, 4G is not bad, but l, of course, 5G will be better.

Manufacturing units can benefit from the use of 5G. Assembling lines that need a lot of cables to connect with different equipment during the production of, say, a mobile handset, can use 5G to save time and money.

In Bangladesh, the garment industry can also bank on artificial intelligence plus 5G to boost production.  

Q. You said that Thailand, China and Korea have already launched 5G. In Bangladesh, we are still advocating for 4G’s expansion and 5G’s industrial use. But what is your experience in these three countries? 

I think there are two aspects. People are more interested in 5G, especially in Korea, where there is a very big entertainment industry. People enjoy HD videos and gaming, which draw them to 5G. In Bangkok, thanks to 5G, the mobile internet speed is much faster and data traffic is much better. Moreover, different industries in both the countries also want to utilise 5G to improve efficiency and save costs.

I think operators also want to promote 5G, because now, especially in countries like Bangladesh, there's 2G to 5G. And for every technology, you need a network, even more than one network, because you have a different spectrum. 

As there are so many networks, you need a lot of money for operation and maintenance; there’s a huge cost in terms of both Capex and Opex. So operators want to merge it; for example, in some countries, 3G has been shut down. In Bangladesh, I believe they will focus more on 4G and 5G.

Q. What would be your suggestion for the country, which is lagging in 4G coverage but 5G is available?

Let’s take Bangladesh as an example. The first suggestion is that 4G is the foundation. So, continuous and very good experience of 4G network is still needed. 

The government and operators need to join hands and work together with that, because in rural areas, honestly speaking, there’s not so much convenience there, because even if you put up a tower and set up the network, revenue is little. So how to encourage operators to set up the network in rural areas and make coverage continuous and seamless -- is an important topic. 

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And secondly, I think that 5G should be used extensively in some peak traffic areas like Chattogram and Dhaka. Because there we have high-end users – some people who use 5G handsets want 5G and better experience in online gaming. 

Industries can use 5G for digitalisation that will help improve efficiency. Maybe you don’t have to roll out 5G countrywide in the very beginning, it depends on the needs.

Q. The entire world is suffering from energy crisis. Bangladesh is no exception. In that case, how Huawei’s tech like 5G can help countries like ours in energy?

Actually, regarding this, I think I can tell you two aspects. One thing is about the grid itself. Especially like in China, we use 5G to monitor the grid network to guarantee its smooth functioning. We also use drones to check power lines. Secondly, talking about energy, Huawei also have solar power solutions.

A one-time investment on solar power can serve upto 30 years, and you don’t have to import more oil. Now the unit price of solar power is equal or even less than a unit of traditional electricity.

Q. What about the health sector, do you have any plan for smart hospitals?

I do believe every country needs smart hospitals. From a Bangladesh perspective, I believe you need a network to cover the entire country. 

Currently, every hospital is isolated, very independent. So, one common challenge is that one patient, when he or she goes to the hospital and do some checkups, and then it's difficult for them to get this record at another hospital because the data is not centralised. In rural areas, it's difficult for people to access proper healthcare. Here, comes the role of technology again.

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Q. You have a strong partnership in Bangladesh in building telecom structure. What's your next plan?

We are in Bangladesh for 23 years. Huawei has different business groups. The first one we call it CNBG (Carrier Network Business Group) that is the area with telecom operators. Secondly, we have the Enterprise Business. We cooperate with enterprises and the government. The third one is Consumer Business Group that includes laptops, tablets and wearables. And another one is Huawei Cloud. We started Huawei Cloud in Bangladesh in 2018. 

Next is our Digital Power that reflects smart energy/solar power. So talking about solar power in Bangladesh, we cooperate with the government and try to promote it. We have the second largest solar power plant in Mymensingh.

Q. Over the next five years or so, where does Huawei want to stand in Bangladesh?

Actually, I believe the operators, I mean, the carrier business has still potential. Because 5G is not yet ready and 4G lacks countrywide coverage. So, I believe there is a high potential of work in this area. I can say that operators, regulators and also suppliers like us will need to understand each other and collaborate to make the network better.

Especially now, we value our position in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's economy is stable and growing. So, now it is high time for Bangladesh to grow further in the digital sector. We are paying more and more attention to the Bangladesh market, and we will try to develop a better ecosystem.