First CICT training course held

The training session offered two types of courses: one on 'Mobile Telephony Technology, Business, Management and Operation' and another on the Oracle database. The local telecommunication industry has been gaining a lot of momentum recently with the introduction of new operators like TeleBarta, Jubok Phone and Warid Telecom. It was not surprising that the courses filled up within matter of days.

The first day of the session introduced the participants to workshop objectives, and there were discussions on current and future generations of networking solutions. Instructor Dr. Khaled Mahmud reviewed in details the networking equipments of PSTN and PSDN as well as Wireless Local Loop (WLL), Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), Internet telephony and next generation networks.

On the next day, Dr. Miftahur Rahman, the Director of CICT, briefed the participants about optical fiber. Mahmud Hossain, CTO of Tele Barta Ltd was the guest instructor who guided the trainees on the Bangladesh landline and mobile telephony market trends. Later Dr. M Abdul Awal made his presentation on spectrum management. The class also discussed the cost, pricing and value added services among the country's leading mobile operators. Then the group gained some practical knowledge about PSTN operation from the NSU laboratory.

On day three, the instructors moved on to more recent and on-going topics in the country. All the trainees agreed that with the initiation of Submarine cable, the business and ICT industry would prosper. They discussed how the Bangladeshi Government and the local entrepreneurs could make the best use of the submarine cable: with faster data transfers, technology transfers, which is crucial for ICT growth, and more efficient research and development. The instructors stressed on the need for technology transfer and researches since these were vital for a country surrounded by techno-giants like Japan, China and India.

Later, the class was divided into five groups. Each given their own practical research topic like: BTTB and BTRC restructuring, fair competition among operators, innovative marketing ideas, manufacturing mobile and other equipments, and technology transfer and its importance. The groups presented their topics and were then judged upon their presentation, practicality, and teamwork.