The sights of the telecom industry in Europe and the US may be restlessly shifting toward 6G in the merciless search for the next new thing, but in much of the world, 4G can still deliver innovation. In Bangladesh, local operator Banglalink – a Veon subsidiary – is using the technology to help its customers cope with natural disasters.

Light Reading spoke with Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer at Banglalink, about how the company offers cyclone tracking to its customers.

The MyBL customer app, which has been developed in-house, relies on external data from government sources and third-party sites to track a cyclone's movement in real time. This means customers can follow it on their smartphones and make their way to one of the government's cyclone centers if necessary. The app also informs users of any power issues in the aftermath of a storm.

Figure 1: Banglalink staff working during the cyclone.
(Source: Banglalink)

Cyclone Mocha, which hit Bangladesh earlier in May, was the first cyclone that took place since the feature was developed, giving Banglalink a chance to assess its performance. Rahman said that a cyclone's path can be determined only about five to six hours in advance. On this occasion, it was expected to impact a greater area in Bangladesh, but moved south toward Myanmar at the last minute.

The company is already looking to expand the cyclone tracker further, to provide guidance to customers during future extreme weather events. One area that is being explored is integrating a map feature that would allow users to receive directions to the nearest shelter and estimate how long it will take them to reach it.

Storms ahead

Banglalink is also exploring the possibility of expanding the feature to other types of extreme weather, with flash floods on the list. This is a recurring problem in Bangladesh – much of which is situated in the Ganges delta – during the summer, with 7.2 million people "severely affected" during particularly severe flooding last year, according to the UN.

As climate changes worldwide, natural disasters are only expected to become stronger and more frequent. Warning systems will therefore be crucial worldwide, not just in Bangladesh, with the World Meteorological Organization – a UN agency – saying only half of countries worldwide have such measures in place. Asked whether 5G could play a role, Rahman noted that it could, in theory, help with features such as tracking the rising water levels and predicting when cyclones will hit. He was quick to point out, however, that 5G will not be immediately available to the general public when it's rolled out.

Even 4G penetration in the country remains relatively low at around 50%, according to Rahman, although this is a significant improvement on the 30% rate a year ago. While nearly 90% of Bangladesh is covered, many people cannot access the service because they don't have compatible devices, he said. The problem, Rahman explains, is the high price of handsets and a lack of financing mechanisms.

Rahman says that "microcredit is a big thing in Bangladesh, but we don't have any microcredit facilities for the handsets." He said the company is working with banks to change that as it has access to data such as payment records that can help determine a customer's ability to repay a loan. "I think some intervention is required by the government," he said, adding Banglalink has approached it to help with the affordability issue.

Spreading the word

Those users who don't have 4G will still receive text messages alerting them to the cyclone's movements. Thanks to the emergence of mobile communications, far fewer people died during cyclones after 1998 than prior to the year, said Rahman. "But you know, the problem is how many people really look at SMS. I think that's another challenge," he said, arguing people would rather watch videos than read texts.

Figure 2: Generators were key to maintaining power supplies in the cyclone's aftermath.
(Source: Banglalink)

Even with the app, he concedes, awareness remains a challenge, with customers still seeing operator apps mainly as a platform for managing their contracts. Banglalink is still looking at how best to design the app to improve ease of use and help users take advantage of some other features. Apart from cyclone tracking, it includes entertainment, educational content and a booking system for online appointments with doctors.

To increase awareness, Banglalink is looking mainly to social media. While the app is currently used only by the telco's customers, Banglalink would also like it to be more widely available in future. The main point of the cyclone tracking feature is to limit the harm caused, Rahman said, but Banglalink also hopes it will add to the overall value the app offers to users.

For Banglalink, meanwhile, cyclone response is not limited to tracking movement. During Mocha, the company stationed additional personnel in at-risk areas to improve its response time to outages and, according to Rahman, sourced enough generators to cover 300% of its daily power needs in preparation for power outages.

Because floating LNG terminals that usually serve Bangladesh had to move ahead of the cyclone as a precaution, power supplies halved in Mocha's aftermath. Rahman said the power cuts – which lasted for days after the cyclone – were worse than the damage caused by the storm.

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— Tereza Krásová, Associate Editor, Light Reading