Bangladesh got the license of using a fourth generation (4G) mobile internet network in February, 2018. The first providers of 4G internet service were Banglalinlk, Robi and Grameenphone. From that period, these companies are providing 4G internet service for the users. Recently, Banglalink has won the Ookla speed test awards in Q1-Q2 2020, which indicates Banglalink is the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh.
Banglalink has a speed of 15.09 Mbps, with average download speeds of 12.78 Mbps and average upload speeds of 6.73 Mbps, which are the fastest internet speed in Bangladesh.
To know more, visit: https://www.banglalink.net/en/ookla-speedtest-award-2020/26
Let’s know about what 4G connection is:
Fourth generation wireless (4G) is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards and replaces the third generation of broadband cellular communications. 4G service provides an overall IP based solution where multimedia applications and services can be provided to the user within a short moment in every place with a high Internet rate, premium quality of service and high security.
Arrival of 4G internet in Bangladesh:
Three leading companies of telecommunication industries in Bangladesh launched 4G networks in 2018, those companies were Banglalink, Grameenphone and Robi. But 4G was available in the subcontinent from 2012 as Airtel launched 4G internet service at Kolkata in 2012 for the first time in India.
An overall look of what we will discuss on this topic:
- 4G Service Provider Companies in Bangladesh
- Ookla Speed Test Awards
- Best 4G Network in Bangladesh
- 4G Internet Users’ Feedback for Best Mobile Internet Network
4G Service Provider Companies in Bangladesh:
The telecommunication industries which are trying to serve fastest internet speed in Bangladesh:
- Banglalink
- GrameenPhone
- Robi
- Airtel
- Teletalk
Three leading careers who brought out 4G service for first time in country-
Banglalink:
Banglalink started providing 4G Internet service in February, 2018. They started with 200 base transceiver stations, with a target of reaching 3000 base transceiver stations by June of that following year, very fast expansion of the base transceiver station indicates Banglalink fastest mobile network in Bangladesh.
Grameenphone:
GrameenPhone started their 4G network journey in February, 2018 with 400 base transceiver stations.
Robi:
Robi had 179 base transceiver stations in February, 2018.
Ookla Speed Test Awards:
Speedtest by Ookla is a way of testing internet speed and performance. Ookla is a global company consisting of fixed broadband and mobile network testing applications. Ookla SpeedTest awards Banglalink as the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh in Q1-Q2 2020. The methodologies of giving speed award are:
LOCATION & PROVIDER:
- Nomination will be given to the operators who can serve a minimum threshold of the number of unique devices
- Testing over service will happen each day over a six month period for a geographic area
- By considering these indicators, Ookla ensures that selection is given to operators whose services are available to and used by a significant number of the population in a location
SAMPLE CONSTRUCTION AND AGGREGATION-
- Samples are created to manage for variables and justify that each unique consumer receives fair representation in the data
- Again,Ookla aggregates user-initiated tests by measuring Speedtest after they have taken a ‘sample construction’ process
- Sample construction provides mean data points that can be used for further statistical analysis
SPEED SCORE:
Ookla detects the fastest internet speed in Bangladesh using:
- Speed Score which incorporates a measure of each provider’s download and upload speed to rank network speed performance
- They take speed scores proportion from the 10th percentile of initial test
- They take 50th percentile from median test
- Finally take 90th percentile from final test
- Then, combine scores in a weighted average using a 1:8:1 ratio
Overcoming all the regulations of above mentioned methodologies, Banglalink proved itself as the best 4G network in Bangladesh, as it won the Ookla speedtest award 2020. Banglalink has a speed of 15.09 Mbps, with average download speeds of 12.78 Mbps and average upload speeds of 6.73 Mbps, which are the fastest internet speed in Bangladesh.
Here is the comparison table of the speed of internet tested by Ookla between telecommunication industries in 2020:
| Telecommunication Industry | Speed Score(Mbps) |
| Banglalink | 15.09 |
| Grameen Phone | 11.25 |
| Robi | 10.43 |
| Airtel | 10.25 |
| GP | 6.04 |
So, we can undoubtedly say that if we want to talk about the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh, surely it will be Banglalink.
Best 4G Network in Bangladesh:
4G networks are very recent in our country. Three leading telecommunication industries started the service in 2018. Since then, a hard competition is taking place among the telecommunication careers to prove their internet services as fastest internet speed in Bangladesh. Recently in this year, Banglalink won the ookla speed test award for having the fastest 4G internet service.
Let’s see some strategies that why Banglalink is the fastest internet:
Following table shows the download and upload speed of telecommunication careers measured by ookla speed test award in 2020:
| Carrier Name | DownloadTrimean | 90thPercentile | 50thPercentile | 10thPercentile | UploadTrimean | 90thPercentile | 50thPercentile | 10thPercentile |
| Banglalink | 15.90 | 32.07 | 15.41 | 3.79 | 7.76 | 17.91 | 7.28 | 1.45 |
| GP | 11.69 | 29.87 | 10.53 | 1.77 | 8.22 | 18.95 | 7.72 | 1.50 |
| Robi | 10.78 | 30.72 | 9.47 | 1.31 | 7.27 | 18.90 | 6.61 | 0.98 |
| Airtel | 10.63 | 29.64 | 9.40 | 1.52 | 6.81 | 18.98 | 6.02 | 0.98 |
| Teletalk | 6.38 | 16.93 | 5.54 | 2.49 | 3.06 | 7.88 | 2.75 | 0.74 |
Ookla Speed Test examines the fastest carrier using Speed Score which adds a measure of each provider’s download and upload speed to rank network speed performance (90% of the final Speed Score is attributed to download speed and the remaining 10% to upload speed). The Speed Score uses a modified trimean to demonstrate the download and upload speeds that are available across a provider’s network. Then they take speeds from the 10th percentile, 50th percentile (also known as the median), and 90th percentile, and combine them in a weighted average using a 1:8:1 ratio, respectively.
Fastest network speed of mobile in different cities-
Here is the comparisons of which mobile network is fastest in Bangladesh by highlighting network speed in three different city Dhaka, Chittagong and Bogra in the next page:
| Dhaka: 1. Banglalink has download speed of 13.30 Mbps and upload speed of 7.04 Mbps 2.Grameen Phone has download speed of 11.56 Mbps and upload speed of 7.88 Mbps 3. Robi has download speed of 11.26 Mbps and upload speed of 6.92 Mbps 4. Airtel has download speed of 11.36 Mbps and upload speed of 6.84 Mbps 5. Teletalk has download speed of 6.89 Mbps and upload speed of 3.51 Mbps. | Chittagong: 1. Banglalink has download speed of 14.07 Mbps and upload speed of 7.79 Mbps 2. Grameen Phone has download speed of 12.24 Mbps and upload speed of 9.09 Mbps 3. Robi has download speed of 8.17 Mbps and upload speed of 6.58 Mbps 4. Airtel has download speed of 8.27 Mbps and upload speed of 6.52 Mbps 5. Teletalk has download speed of 6.18 Mbps and upload speed of 3.67 Mbps. |
| Bogra: 1. Banglalink has download speed of 15.18 Mbps and upload speed of 8.05 Mbps 2. Grameen Phone has download speed of 10.79 Mbps and upload speed of 8.05 Mbps 3. Robi has download speed of 5.96 Mbps and upload speed of 3.69 Mbps 4. Airtel has download speed of 7.01 Mbps and upload speed of 4.09 Mbps | Comparison among three vital cities of Bangladesh |
In above mentioned cities, we can see that download speed of Banglalink is the best of all other careers. Banglalink also maintained a good speed of uploading in these three cities. Banglalink can have the title of best 4G network in Bangladesh.
4G Internet Users’ Feedback for Best Mobile Internet Network
A questionnaire was developed for the users who are using 4G Internet for various purposes such as study, business, job and entertainment etc. Questionnaire was based on users’ current SIM cards’ quality of serving 4G network, and if users think that their current mobile network is the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh.
We randomly choose 50 people who use 4G internet services. There were two parts of the questionnaire, each part will be discussed with graphical presentation.
The two separated parts are:
4G internet service provider SIM Card according to users preferences:
Here is a graphical data showing the percentage of using preferable SIM cards for fastest 4G internet:
Image-1: Number of Users of Different SIM Cards
From the picture, we can see,
- 34% of the surveyed people use Banglalink for their 4G internet service
- The second highest popularity goes to Grameen phone, for having 26% users
- Airtel has 18% users who use 4G internet service
Maximum number of the users are giving preferences to Banglalink for giving the fastest internet service. Banglalink has a fast speed of downloading and uploading, which satisfies the needs of the customers, that’s why this mobile network is quite favourite among the 4G users.
Satisfaction level on users’ current mobile network services as the fastest internet servers:
We asked the users if they think that their SIM cards provide fastest internet speed in Bangladesh. Here is a graphical presentation of the users answers:
Image-2: Number of Users Satisfied with Their Mobile Network
If we see the chart, the chart is showing users from five different telecommunication industries who agreed or disagreed on the question “ Do you think your mobile network provides the fastest internet of all?” Let’s discuss the chart for each telecommunication career below:
Grameenphone:
- We got thirteen users among our recipients who use Grameen phone mobile network
- Seven users from thirteen agreed that their mobile network provides fastest internet in Bangladesh
- Rest of the six users disagreed on this point of being Grameen phone as fastest mobile internet
Banglalink:
- There are seventeen users who consume Banglalink SIM card for 4G internet service
- Thirteen users said that their mobile network provides fastest internet in the country
- Four users disagreed on the point
Airtel:
- We had nine airtel connection users
- Three of them agreed for the statement, “airtel provides fastest internet connection in Bangladesh”
- Rest of the people using airtel did not agree on the statement
Robi:
- From seven users of Robi network, three users agreed that they are using country’s fastest internet provided by Robi
- Maximum users of the Robi in this survey denied the statement that their mobile network provides the fastest internet in the country.
Airtel:
- 33.33% Airtel users agreed that their SIM card provides fastest internet
- Most of them denied the statement
Teletalk:
- We got four teletalk users and none of them agreed that they occupy Bangladesh’s fastest mobile network.
Here is another graph showing the percentage of agreement with the point of consumers current mobile network is the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh.
Image-3: Percentage on Agreement Number
From the above picture, we can see that:
- 74.5% users of Banglalink agreed that, banglalink is the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh
- 54% Grameen Phone Users say that their SIM card provides fastest internet service
- Robi users have higher expectation than airtel users on their current mobile network, 43% agreement from Robi users, where airtel users have an agreement of 33.33%
In this part of public opinion, we tried to gather some experiences which are really experienced by the users of different telecommunication careers like Banglalink, Grameen Phone, Robi, Airtel and Teletalk.What we actually realised by this part are:
- Most of the users who need 4G internet services in bangladesh, use Banglalink SIM card
- Banglalink ensures greater number of customers about the service of 4G internet so that the career attracts a large portion of 4G users
- People connected with Banglalink mostly agreed that Banglalink is the fastest internet provider in Bangladesh.
So, with a huge number of supporters and users appreciation, we definitely can answer the question, “which is the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh?” Surely, it’s Banglalink, who ensured the trust and dependency of millions of users.
In spite of experiencing all the regulations of above mentioned methodologies, users criteria, criticism of Ookla SpeedTest and never ending competition among other telecommunication companies, Banglalink proved itself as the best 4G network in Bangladesh. Banglalink not only won the Ookla speedtest award 2020 but also received the love and trust of millions of 4G users in Bangladesh. So, we can say without any hesitation that Banglalink provides the superfast 4G internet service in Bangladesh with the fastest network in the country.
