During the Global MBB Forum 2022, David Wang, Huawei Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of ICT Infrastructure Managing Board delivered a keynote speech titled Stride to 5.5G: The foundation of the future. David Wang noted how, through concerted efforts, the industry has made significant progress and is ready to make the leap to 5.5G. To hit this milestone, Wang called upon all industry players to prepare on all fronts, so that we can move faster towards the 5.5G era and eventually build a better, intelligent world together.
With the intelligent world fast approaching, the rapid changes we are set to experience will all be accompanied by increasing requirements for digital infrastructure. The next milestone we must hit on the path to the intelligent world is 5.5G. 5.5G will deliver 10 Gbit/s experiences, support hundreds of billions of connections, and help us achieve native intelligence.
Wang emphasized, after two years of concerted efforts across the industry, 5.5G has seen huge progress and three things have become clear.
First, the standardization of 5.5G has been initiated and is on right on track, making it more than just a vision.
Second, the industry has made breakthroughs in key technologies for 5.5G, and ultra-large bandwidth and ELAA can now deliver 10 Gbit/s experience.
Third, the industry has a clear vision for the IoT landscape. Three types of 5.5G-enabled IoT technologies supported by 5.5G, namely NB-IoT, RedCap, and passive IoT, are developing rapidly and will support numerous IoT connections.
"The communications industry is constantly evolving. 5.5G has been kicked into high gear. Looking ahead, our task is to tackle these five new areas – standards, spectrum, products, ecosystems, and applications. Together, let stride to 5.5G and build a better, intelligent world," stressed Wang.
First, we need to set standards and promote key technological research.
Standards steer the mobile communications industry and will guide the 5.5G industry forward along a clearly defined path. We must work to ensure that Release 18 is frozen by Q1 2024, as planned, and will help 5.5G networks deliver 10 times better performance. Regarding Release 19 and beyond, we should come together to explore what capabilities 5.5G will require in order to support new services and scenarios as we continue to refine 5.5G standards. This will both maximize the potential of 5.5G and extend its lifecycle.
Second, we need to prepare more spectrum for ultra-large bandwidth.
We should fully utilize sub-100 GHz resources to build ultra-large bandwidth. mmWave is a key frequency band for 5.5G. Operators will need to acquire over 800 MHz of spectrum from this band if they are to realize 10 Gbit/s experiences. 6 GHz is also a potential ultra-wide band for 5.5G. When 6 GHz is promoted as an IMT band at WRC-23, it is likely that countries will need to auction off the 6 GHz spectrum. We can also refarm the sub 6 GHz spectrum to achieve ultra-large bandwidth for 5.5G.
Third, we need to prepare for 5.5G with mature networks, devices, and chips.
Both our networks and devices need to be upgraded to deliver 10 Gbit/s experiences. More specifically, our products will rely on ELAA technologies that can support over 1,000 antenna arrays suitable for mid- and high-frequency bands, and massive MIMO will be required to support 128T capacity. Additionally, more innovation will be needed in regards to 5.5G chips and devices to make them more intelligent, capable of supporting 3T8R, or even more channels, and able to aggregate more than four carriers.
Fourth, we need to work together to build a thriving 5.5G ecosystem.
This thriving ecosystem will better address digital requirements in all scenarios. Take the 5.5G-enabled IoT ecosystem as an example. Operators and equipment vendors will need to improve plans for 5.5G networks in order to better connect both people and things, while device vendors must adapt costs and modular capabilities to application scenarios. In addition, industry and app developers will need to act immediately to start incubating new apps.
Fifth, we should continue our work on groundbreaking applications.
As our standards, spectrum, products, and ecosystem mature, 5.5G will become a reality, allowing even more applications to emerge. Multi-sensory interactions will transform the way we communicate. Intelligently connected vehicles are set to become a third mobile space and see wide adoption, while intelligent connections across industries will lead to the dissolution of information silos, driving industrial upgrade. A new generation of innovative applications is now emerging, and our vision for the intelligent world is becoming clearer. That why all industry players need to work together towards the exploration and creation of these applications.
The Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2022 is hosted by Huawei, together with its industry partners GSMA and GTI. This annual forum gathers mobile network carriers, vertical industry leaders, and ecosystem partners from around the world to discuss how to make 5G a commercial success and other hot topics like green development, intelligence, and 5G evolution. For more information, please visit: https://www.huawei.com/en/events/mbbf2022
The type of trade and economy in Bangladesh has already altered thanks to technology advancement and changing lifestyle of people which created an impact on job market here.
The public and private departments have also changed their official activities to adopt with global economic activities. So, authorities concerned are hiring skilled employees from local and international sources to operate the deeds rapidly.
Despite huge demographic dividend in Bangladesh, we have to import a lot of employees from different countries to operate government and private projects and industries amply. But our huge youths are roaming here and there after completing graduation and post-graduation from different education institutions to get a job.
Right now, the youth unemployment rate in Bangladesh is 10.6 percent, while the national unemployment rate is only 4.2 percent. It has been said that youth unemployment has increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) first digital census and household census preliminary report, the number of 15 to 24-year-old youth in the country is over 3.15 crore, or 19.11 percent of the total population.
About 1 million foreigners are working in various organizations. Most of them are of officer level. Each of their salaries is more than the total salary of five Bangladeshi officials. That is, one foreign official has occupied the place of five domestic job seekers.
According to statistics, 20 thousands foreign workers are working in the garment sector. Their salary is almost half of the total salary of domestic workers in the garment sector. This shows how much money foreign workers are taking from this country. Among the foreigners, Indians have been appointed the most.
According to a CPD study, about 5 lakh Indians are working in Bangladesh. They are taking 3.76 billion dollars to their country annually. Bangladesh is the fifth source of remittances.
On the other hand, our youths are going abroad and sending remittance to Bangladesh working in reasonable salaries.
We also noticed that many foreigners are being hired to lay of Bangladeshi workers too in different institutions which fall impact on our employment sector.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, most of foreigners come in the country on tourist visa but their main aim is to work. Why the government does not scrutinize the matter and bring them under punishment? Why there is no actual data on the foreigners, and how much money they send to their countries from Bangladesh?
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) latest report, Bangladesh unemployment rate would remain 5.0 per cent in 2022, higher than the pre-pandemic level by 0.6 per cent.
There was around 3.1 million unemployed labour forces in 2019 in Bangladesh.
However, our education curriculum is very obsolete. So, it can’t play vital role to meet job market demand. Despite having nearly 17 crore people in the country, we can’t meet skills gap in industries owing to the unfavorable education system.
According to a recent study conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), the industrial sectors of Bangladesh are moving with a 30 per cent skills gap. And, Only 3.65 per cent of the labour force in Bangladesh receives training each year.
Here, the government should take action plan to tackle the skill gaps, and, take a master plan for the next 10 years so that Bangladesh can create such skilled manpower which will be replaced of foreign workers here.
The writer can be reached through muniamoon21@gmail.com
Malaysia observes her National Day on August 31 each year to commemorate the historic event when the Federation of Malaya gained independence in 1957. Since its inception, Malaysia has been working with the determination to build a happy and prosperous nation with its people. This journey towards economic and social liberation is a wonder not only for this region but for the people of the whole world. Malaysia is now a younger, politically conscious, and newer nation. One of the first nations to acknowledge the new country, it recognized Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign State on January 31, 1972. Since then, both have made significant progress in establishing their bilateral relationship.
Bangladesh and Malaysia have both become development role models thanks to their forward-thinking governments. Malaysia is a crucial bilateral partner for our development due to its fast economic growth, strategic position, active engagement in our local region, and close ties to Bangladesh in many areas. There are several active and cooperative relationships between the two countries across a wide variety of areas. Trade and investment, human resources, education, aviation, tourism, sports, the military, research and technology, drug control, human trafficking, and recently developing fields like digital commerce are some of these.
Due to its extensive international commerce, Malaysia is regarded as an important regional trading center for the ASEAN nations. Bangladesh has been Malaysian second-largest commercial partner in South Asia in recent years as a result of growing commerce between the two countries. In this year of Bangladesh Golden Jubilee of independence, I believe it has attained exceptional heights: from $10.9M in FY1994–1995 to $337M in FY2021–2022, Bangladesh exports to Malaysia have grown at an annualized rate of 12.4% during the past 25 years.
To strengthen commercial connections, BMCCI continually works to improve cooperation between its members and the Malaysian business sector. The BMCCI is making a commendable effort to set up trade promotion events like luncheon meetings, conducting seminars on pressing problems, business forums, trade fairs, exchange of business delegations, symposiums, etc. as a tactic for expanding trade and investment prospects between Bangladesh and Malaysia. The Chamber signature program is called "Showcase Bangladesh” and “Showcase Malaysia". Foreign Direct Investments in Bangladesh from Malaysia and vice versa are encouraged by BMCCI.
Despite having a significant trade deficit in the past, our export capacity has increased recently. Thanks to BMCCI work with the business communities of both nations to introduce them to our diverse export goods, we are moving toward a situation with balanced trade. Thats why this year, we on behalf of BMCCI have set the theme for Malaysian Independence Day as "FRIENDSHIP through TRADE".
Syed Almas Kabir
President, Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI)
Director, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI)
Director, Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF)
Managing DIrector, MetroNet Bangladesh Limited.
Today, people’s lifestyle, economy, and health management have changed in the world owing to various reasons particularly the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite growing population in Bangladesh, there is no salient improvement of our health sector due to lack of government policy support. Mismanagement and irregularities made the sector’s evolvement at snail pace.
During spot visit at different hospitals and clinics in city or village sites, we notice a misery situation of patients particularly pregnant women as they don’t get proper service having a shortage of nurses there.
In this context, today is the time to find out the way of improvement the health management and capacity building of the hospitals and clinics in the country so that patients get proper treatment.
However, when the discussion comes to light about health care, the first thing that comes to mind is the nurse. Dealing with corona shows how important a role nurses play in healthcare. But the nursing sector has not been looked at for a long time. As a result, the sector has been neglected. Nursing posts have been created in many new hospitals. Seats are being increased in public and private nursing institutes but those were not enough.
According to World Health Organization standards, the physician-nurse ratio in Bangladesh needs to be 1: 3. As compared to 12,359 government doctors across the country, there is a need for 36,006 nurses in the respective hospitals. There are only 14 thousand 338 people. Besides, out of 16,989 posts of nurses in government hospitals, 2,020 are vacant. The situation in the private sector is similar.
There are 51,993 privately registered dentists and 3,913 dentists in the country. And there are only 26,899 privately registered nurses. To fill this gap, the number of student admission seats in the existing nursing colleges and nursing institutes of the country needs to be increased and more institutions need to be created through new initiatives. With a severe shortage of nurses and midwives in Bangladesh, various crises and limitations in their education and training have made healthcare inefficient and unsafe.
Emphasising nursing education is a must
The nursing education system is poor in Bangladesh following old curriculum, infrastructure crisis, lack of faculty, poor condition of teaching materials, mismanagement etc. There is also an acute shortage of nursing teachers in Bangladesh. One-third of the approved posts of Nursing Instructors in Government Nursing Institutions are vacant. As a result, the teacher-student ratio is 1:56, with a standard value of 1:20. There is a greater shortage of skilled nurse teachers in private nursing education institutions than in government, making it impossible to ensure quality nursing education.
Hospital nurses have to work according to roster in different departments or in a specific specialized unit or outdoors. One of the main reasons for this is the shortage of nurses. So they cannot become proficient in a particular subject. In this context, no registered nurse can develop as a specialized nurse in any case. At the time of entering the nursing profession, everyone has to join as a senior staff nurse. Diploma-in Nursing Science and Midwifery, Diploma-in Midwifery (3 years) and BSc-in Nursing (4 years) degree holders join the same position even though the scope and time of their education is different. Despite the differences, they have been given the same scale of rank and salary.
Only one government institution in Bangladesh has introduced higher degree MSc Nursing in Nursing, with only 50 seats. Most of this (about 98%) is allocated to government employees; 3% for foreign and non-government organizations. There is also extreme mismanagement in nursing colleges. No posts of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Lecturer have been created.
As a result, development of nursing education sector is at snail pace. But the nursing education sector is very important for the sake of providing health care. Nursing education sector makes a big contribution to medical services.
Again, the total number of subjects in BSc Nursing was 33 and the total number was 5200. At present there are a total of 23 subjects (the first paper and the second paper are taken as separate subjects as the examination is on separate question papers) and the total number is 3600. The Diploma in Nursing Science and Midwifery previously had 34 subjects (2 separate books per semester per year) and a total of 110 credits.
There are currently 16 subjects and the total number is 3100. This huge shift in the nursing sector has weakened the nursing education system. The scope of students knowledge has become narrow. As a result, they are failing to solve complex problems because they are not aware of multiple problems.
All we have to do in this regard is: 1.We need to form a committee with stakeholders from the public and private sectors;
2. Initiatives need to continue dialogue with strong action;
3. The post of cadre service for BSc-in Nursing graduates should be introduced by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission and the nursing curriculum should be streamlined;
4. An expert curriculum committee should be formed with skilled nurses and educators in collaboration with Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council DGNMS;
5. Both Diploma-in-Nursing and Midwifery and BSc-in-Nursing programs need to increase the practical time.
Therefore, in order to make the health sector more developed and service oriented and to cope with this turbulent time of corona, the nursing education system must be streamlined and implemented with the necessary measures.
The writer is a nursing student. She can be reached through: muniamoon21@gmail.com