Internet use climbs steadily in Q3

The proportion of individuals using the internet across Bangladesh continued its upward climb in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, according to the latest quarterly report of the ICT Access and Use Survey 2025-26, published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Meanwhile, in the same period, mobile phone ownership recorded a marginal dip after two consecutive quarters of growth.

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The report, covering the January-March 2026 quarter, found that 58.6 percent of individuals aged five years and above used the internet, up from 58.4 percent in the second quarter (October-December 2025) and a sharp rise from 48.9 percent in the first quarter (July-September 2025).

Mobile phone ownership, however, edged down slightly to 65.4 percent in the third quarter from 65.5 percent in the second quarter, after rising steeply from 56.5 percent in the first quarter.

Despite the dip in ownership, overall mobile phone usage -- which includes shared devices -- rose marginally to 89.5 percent in the third quarter from 89.4 percent in the previous quarter and 80.6 percent in the first quarter.

Computer use among individuals also inched up, reaching 11.7 percent in the third quarter, compared with 11.4 percent in the second quarter and 10 percent in the first, indicating a slow but steady increase in digital device adoption.

At the household level, the survey -- conducted through Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) across all 64 districts -- found that internet access rose to 57.4 percent of households in the third quarter from 57.2 percent in the second quarter and 56.2 percent in the first.

Comparing full-year figures, household internet access has climbed from 55.1 percent in 2024-25 to 57.4 percent in the current survey year so far.

Mobile phone ownership at the household level remained virtually saturated at 98.9 percent throughout all three quarters, unchanged from the previous year.

The proportion of households owning a smartphone rose slightly to 73.4 percent in the third quarter from 73 percent in the second quarter and 72.4 percent in the first, continuing a gradual upward trend from 72.7 percent recorded in 2024-25.

Ownership of computers at the household level, meanwhile, showed only marginal movement, dipping to 8.9 percent in the second quarter before recovering to 9 percent in the third quarter, broadly flat compared with 9 percent in 2024-25.

Other indicators showed limited change. The proportion of households with a television dipped slightly to 58.8 percent in the third quarter from 59.2 percent in the second quarter, while radio ownership remained largely static at around 15 percent throughout the year.

Fixed-line telephone ownership continued its long-term decline, falling to 0.7 percent of households from 0.8 percent in 2024-25, as mobile phones remained the dominant mode of household connectivity, with 98.2 percent of households relying exclusively on mobile phones.

Household access to electricity showed a slight downward trend over the year, falling from 98.9 percent in the first quarter to 98.5 percent in the third quarter, though it remained near-universal nationwide.

The ICT Access and Use Survey, conducted under the BBS project titled “Measurement of ICT access and use opportunities at individual and household level, district-wise”, is the second large-scale, and the first district-representative, survey of its kind, following an earlier modular survey conducted in 2013.

It covers 2,568 sample areas nationwide, gathering data from 61,632 households per quarter, amounting to 246,528 households annually, through 214 trained field enumerators.

The findings, once compiled from all four quarters, will be released as an annual report and will also feed into 22 indicators to be submitted to the International Telecommunication Union, supporting national and global tracking of Sustainable Development Goal targets related to digital access and use.