New courier service launched for Bangladesh’s rural communities

The Bangladesh government has announced the roll-out of a new initiative that will bring courier services to rural communities. The Access to Information (a2i) programme of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is working with Sundarban Digital Express (SDE), a sister concern of Sundarban Courier Service, to bring courier facilities to Union Digital Centers (UDCs) across Bangladesh.

Launched in November 2010, the UDCs are “one-stop service outlets” that bring online and hard-copy information to people in rural areas. There are around 5,000 UDCs in Bangladesh and they are are supported by the government but run by local entrepreneurs.

Representatives from the the SDE and the a2i signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) about the courier service on 31 December 2014. The initiative is now gathering momentum: on Thursday (23 April) the SDE signed an agreement with the UDC entrepreneurs which will see the programme start to roll out across the country. The SDE and UDC representatives also announced that the courier service was having its initial launch in 33 UDC outlets.