Interview of Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon, Publicity & Public Relations Secretary, CCOAB

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon is the Publicity & Public Relations Secretary, CCOAB. He is also the owner of Global_Soft Cyber Café. He set up his cyber café in 2001 and thus, he has become a veteran in this field. Recently, he gave an interview to Business Bangladesh Updates. Rashidul Hasan Bulbul (editor BBU) took this interview and here it is:

Q: Tell us something about Cyber Café Owners Association of Bangladesh?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: Seven or eight years ago, there was an attempt to set up a cyber café owners association in Dhaka, but it did not happen because of difference of opinions among the owners. Then, nearly three years ago, cyber café owners association was formed. Then, we applied to FBCCI and FBCCI approved us as an association one year ago. Now, we are registered with FBCCI.

I am one of the executive members of this association. There is an election in March 2008.

Q: After setting up of CCOAB (Cyber Café Owners Association of Bangladesh), is it the first election?

A: After CCOAB was set up, there was an election. Thus, it is going to be the second election.

Q: When did you arrange first fair from your association?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: We arranged the first fair at Chittagong in 2005. That time, submarine cable did not come to Bangladesh, but there was a lot of talk about this matter. So, we decided to organize the first fair in Chittagong. I’d like to mention another matter here. After Dhaka, Chittagong has the largest number of cyber cafes. So, we wanted to create awareness among people about Internet technology.

Q: When did you first set up your cyber café and why did you come into this business?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I started this cyber café (Global_Soft Cyber Café) in 2001. So, you can see that it is now almost seven years old. At that time, I did a one year course on E-commerce. I found that there was hardly any place to use Internet in Bangladesh. In fact, there were very few places where ordinary people could browse internet in Dhaka city. Most people used dial up internet and the speed was extremely slow. It took nearly 30 minutes to open and send an email.

In 2001, broadband internet facility came to Bangladesh and within four months, I opened Global_Soft Cyber Café. At first, my intention was to do some kind of business through internet, but since Bangladesh did not have the necessary law and other infrastructure related to e-commerce, I had to focus on cyber café business. From this background I became involved with cyber café business.

Q: What kind of training did you have before entering into cyber café business?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I tried to take a lot of education about computer field before I started cyber café. I just told you that I did a course on e-commerce. Before that, I did a course on basic matters of computer. You know that in a cyber café, 10 to 15 computers are connected and that is why I learnt about computer networking. I also got some training on hardware and trouble shooting. This education has helped me a lot. Now, I can solve most of the problems myself and I do not have to wait for any technician to come and fix my problems. I think that every cyber café owner should at least have some basic idea about networking and basic hardware trouble shooting.

Q: How can internet bring more benefit for ordinary people in Bangladesh?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I often think about this matter and I think that ordinary people have wrong image about internet in Bangladesh. Many of them think that internet is a technical thing and it is for highly educated and rich people. However, internet can bring direct benefit for ordinary people. For example, most of our court cases are related to land property. If government takes an initiative and make every land document computerized and put them in internet, then many of our problems will remove. Then, before buying any land, the customer can get all the information about that land from internet. It will not cost any money, but will bring a lot of benefit for ordinary people.

Q: What do you seek from Bangladesh government?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I think that they should be a national policy on internet. If there is a national policy then government officials will have to become more active about IT sector. For example, the price of bandwidth should be reduced significantly. I am happy that the government has already decreased bandwidth price, but this is not enough. There must be more reduction. There is also another problem- 15% VAT on cyber café. We have to remember that rich people do not come to cyber café. They have their own internet and computer connection in their home. Those people who do not have internet at home come to cyber café and they have to bear the burden of VAT. So, you see that the ordinary people are paying the price of this burden. If the government reduces the price of bandwidth 90% then we can give 10 times faster internet speed to our users.

Q: What is your idea about VOIP?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: VOIP is something that is too much needed for a country like Bangladesh. Many Bangladeshi people are working in other countries and VOIP can allow their relatives to talk to them at a very cheap price. Unfortunately, for many years the government has kept VOIP as illegal. This only helped corrupted people. I believe that VOIP should be opened without any delay. Good thing is that government has taken the decision to open VOIP. As a result, very soon we will be able to talk very cheaply with many countries of the world. We will also be able to send and receive large files within Bangladesh and with foreign countries. The government will get a lot of benefit too. VOIP will increase tax revenue of the government. So, I feel that VOIP will help everyone equally.