Use of Internet-Capable Smartphones in Bangladesh Might Grow 2.4 Times by 2025

Although the number of middle-class and affluent consumers in Bangladesh remains small compared with those of other big emerging markets in Asia, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing markets worldwide, according to BCG.

BCG projects that, each year for the next decade, the annual income of around two million additional Bangladeshis will reach $5,000 or more.

And although half of Bangladeshis still live at the so-called bottom of the pyramid, economists estimate that another 30 million to 40 million will make the leap from poverty to the entry rungs of the middle class by 2025.

That matters. As a rule of thumb, consumers in developed markets spend one or two percent of income buying communications services. In developing markets, spending on communication services (for those who can afford such products) ranges upwards of five percent of income.

More income is conducive to higher consumption of communications as the percentage of income required to acquire those products falls.

Bangladesh’s consumer class represents about seven percent of the country’s current population can be classified as middle income or affluent, compared with 38 percent in Indonesia.

But middle class or affluent Bangladeshis should grow to around 17 percent of the population by 2025.

Mobile communications should benefit.

Some 41 percent or respondents, and 68 percent of middle class or affluent consumers, own Internet-enabled smartphones. As the percentage of middle class and afflucent consumers grows, so will use of mobile Internet services.

If so, use of Internet-enabled smartphones should grow no less than 2.4 times between now and 2025. In all likelihood, with availability of lower-cost smartphones, adoption will be higher than that.