RH
Policy Priorities

Five priorities for Bangladesh's ICT industry.

The argument behind two decades of writing and operating: ICT and IT-enabled services can be Bangladesh's next RMG — its next great export engine. Two-thirds of Bangladeshis are under 35; the demographic dividend will not wait for our policy to catch up. Here is what the regulatory architecture has to look like for that to happen.

⅔

of Bangladeshis under 35

Demographic dividend driver

5

interconnected priorities

Regulation, inclusion, skills, AI, sovereignty

12y

of public advocacy

In Bangladesh's leading dailies since 2013

The five priorities

One body of work, five reinforcing pillars.

Priority 01 / 05

Regulatory Reform for ICT Exports

Regulation that scales exports

Modernising telecom and digital policy to unlock investment, scale ICT exports, and attract global technology capital. The next RMG isn't garments — it's IT-enabled services. The regulation has to catch up.

  • Treat ICT and ITES as primary export categories, not afterthoughts.
  • Align licensing, taxation and FX repatriation with how digital businesses actually operate.
  • Open the door to global tech capital with predictable rules of engagement.
  • Move from revenue-extraction posture to outcome-based regulation.
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Priority 02 / 05

Digital Inclusion & Rural Broadband

Bridging the digital divide

Bridging the urban–rural digital divide through affordable last-mile connectivity and inclusive access. Bangladesh's growth story cannot be a Dhaka story.

  • Affordable last-mile fibre and 4G/5G to rural Bangladesh.
  • Universal Service Fund deployed for actual coverage outcomes, not paper compliance.
  • Public–private partnerships for community connectivity hubs.
  • Devices, content and digital literacy programmed in parallel with bandwidth.
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Priority 03 / 05

Youth Skills & ICT Workforce

The demographic dividend

Two-thirds of Bangladeshis are under 35. That demographic dividend is the country's single biggest macro asset — and the one most likely to be wasted without industry-aligned skilling and innovation pathways.

  • Industry-aligned curriculum, co-designed with operating companies, not just ministries.
  • Apprenticeship pipelines into ICT exporters and global capability centres.
  • Public–private innovation pathways from university to commercial ship.
  • Recognition that talent retention is now a national policy question.
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Priority 04 / 05

AI, Fintech & Emerging Tech

Future-proofing the economy

Enabling public–private collaboration in AI, IoT, mobile financial services and fintech to future-proof the economy. The countries that build the regulatory architecture for AI in the next 24 months will compound an advantage for the next decade.

  • A clear, business-friendly framework for AI adoption in public and private sectors.
  • MFS interoperability, agent banking integration, cross-border remittance pricing.
  • IoT and smart-city pilots that deliver measurable public outcomes.
  • Sandboxes for fintech, healthtech and edtech experimentation under regulatory observation.
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Priority 05 / 05

Digital Sovereignty & Data Protection

Sovereignty, security, resilience

Safeguarding national data, critical digital infrastructure, and cyber resilience. Sovereignty in 2026 is decided in data centres and protocol layers, not just at borders.

  • Modern, GDPR-grade data protection legislation with extraterritorial scope.
  • Critical digital infrastructure resilience standards across telecom, energy and finance.
  • National cyber response capability — public, private, and academic together.
  • Sovereign cloud strategy that doesn't trap the economy in any single foreign jurisdiction.
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Want to dig deeper into the writing?

Twelve years of op-eds, TV commentary, and longer-form essays make the detailed case behind each priority.

Read the op-eds
Long-form insights