Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, inaugurated a cyber-kiosk at the National Press Club along with a website (www.sdnbd.org) and a compact disk (CD) titled "Sustainable Development Information Bank".The cyber-kiosk was established for the journalists as well as the common people to celebrate World Environment Day 2001. National Press Club (NPC), Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and Sustainable Development Networking Program(SDNP) of the United Nations Development Program(UNDP) jointly sponsored the program.
Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury said the number of Internet users across Bangladesh have reached 4 lakh mark and number of direct Internet subscriber is over 80,000. Terming June 6 as a special day in the IT (Information Technology) history of Bangladesh Professor J R Chowdhury recalled that Bangladesh was first directly connected to Internet on June 6, 1996. He noted that deregulation on VSAT has resulted in the per minute charge of Internet. Now some ISP's (Internet Service Providers) are charging 40 paisa per minute and soon they will charge only 25 paisa per minute or even lesser than that. He said internet-kiosk in all press clubs and news organizations across the country would greatly assist the working journalists.