BBS, Robi team up for digital population census

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has selected Robi as the digital connectivity provider to deliver the country's first-ever digital population census.

BBS will digitally conduct the sixth population and housing census from 15 June-21 June 2022, said a press release.

To this end, Md Dilder Hossain, project director for National Population and Housing Census 2022, and Adil Hossain Noble, chief enterprise business officer of Robi, on Sunday signed an agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Under the agreement signed at the BBS Auditorium, Parishankhyan Bhaban, Robi will provide around 4 lakhs connections, data, SMS bundles and other digital solutions to BBS to support the first-ever Digital Census.

Robi will also support BBS's zonal operations as well as the preparedness training. Besides data connectivity, SMS, location tracking, and e-CRM for monitoring call centre support will be used for a smooth census operation

President Abdul Hamid is expected to unveil a memorial stamp on the project, while Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will give an inaugural speech on 14 June, marking the beginning of this landmark digital project.  

Around 3.7 lakh enumerators will collect the population census data from across the country using Robi's 4.5G network and send them to a central server for processing. Data will be collected from each household using a computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) system, geographic information system and tablet computers with data connectivity.

Addressing the event, Secretary, Statistics and Information Division Dr Shahnaz Arefin said, "Accuracy of census data is extremely important to decide on policy measures that support the country's socio-economic growth. In this connection, we found Robi as the most suitable partner to provide digital connectivity support for the first-ever digital census of the country."

Robi's Acting CEO and CFO M Riyaaz Rasheed said, "Robi is proud to be associated with the first-ever digital population census of the country. We look forward to supporting this high priority national project with our innovative digital solution."

BBS's Director-General Mohammad Tajul Islam, Robi's Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Shahed Alam along with high officials from both organisations were also present at the signing ceremony.