Internet use rises, but computer access barely grows

Bangladesh’s internet use has expanded significantly over the past year, but access to computers remains largely stagnant, underscoring the country’s continued dependence on mobile phones for going online.

The share of people using the internet rose to 59.2 percent in April-June 2026, from 55.0 percent a year earlier, according to the latest quarterly report of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

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Computer use, meanwhile, increased only marginally, to 11.8 percent from 11.6 percent.

The figures are from the fourth-quarter report of the ICT Access and Use Survey 2025-26, which shows that digital access continues to be driven overwhelmingly by mobile phones, while computers remain out of reach for most people.

As per the survey, internet use among individuals aged five and above increased by 4.2 percentage points year-on-year, while computer use, meanwhile, rose by just 0.2 percentage points.

This means internet users now outnumber computer users by roughly five to one.

MOBILE PHONES DOMINATE

Mobile phone use among individuals stood at 89.6 percent in the latest quarter, up from 88.2 percent a year earlier.

The share of people who own a mobile phone, an indicator used to track the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, rose to 65.6 percent from 64.2 percent.

The gap between phone use and ownership suggests that a significant number of people use mobile phones that they do not personally own, indicating that devices belong to family members or others.

HOUSEHOLD ACCESS

At the household level, mobile phone access is close to universal, while computer ownership remains low.

Some 99.0 percent of households had a mobile phone in the latest quarter, unchanged from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, 98.2 percent of households relied on mobile phones alone, compared with 98.1 percent a year earlier.

Smartphone penetration increased slightly to 75.1 percent from 74.8 percent. It stood at 72.4 percent in the first quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Fixed-line telephony continued to decline. Only 0.7 percent of households had a fixed-line telephone, down from 0.9 percent a year earlier.

Household computer ownership slightly declined, standing at 9.1 percent, compared with 9.2 percent a year earlier.

Television ownership, however, increased to 60.1 percent from 59.1 percent, while radio ownership declined to 15.3 percent from 16.0 percent.

Electricity access reached 98.6 percent of households, up from 98.3 percent a year earlier.

INTERNET ACCESS AT HOME FALLS

One of the more notable findings is that household internet access declined despite the rise in individual internet use.

The proportion of households with internet access fell to 58.2 percent in April-June 2026, from 59.7 percent a year earlier.

Individual internet use also exceeded household internet access in the latest quarter, with the two indicators standing at 59.2 percent and 58.2 percent, respectively.

The low use of computers is not only a concern for the IT sector, as wider access to computers could improve productivity across the economy, said Fahim Mashroor, a technology entrepreneur.

“Basically, general people cannot afford both devices — a computer and a mobile phone. If people have to choose between the two, they naturally prioritise the mobile phone,” said Mashroor, CEO of bdjobs.com.

He said greater computer access could also improve productivity in non-IT industries, where computers can support accounting, marketing, production management and supervision.

“If there were more computers, accounting, marketing, production management and supervision could have been done in a better way,” he said.

The ICT Access and Use Survey is conducted by the BBS under the project titled “District-based Measurement of ICT Access and Use at Individual and Household Level.”

The current round uses Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing and, for the first time, produces district-level estimates.

Data is collected quarterly from 2,568 sample areas, with 24 households in each area, resulting in 61,632 households every quarter and 246,528 households over a year.

The 2025-26 survey is the second round of the series, following the 2024-25 survey, whose annual report has already been published.

According to the BBS, the indicators are intended to support policymaking in the ICT sector and will also be reported to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The BBS said data on 22 indicators would be provided to the ITU and used for tracking the Sustainable Development Goals.