The country's export earnings from software and IT enabled services (ITES) is expected to reach a record high of US$ 31 million in the current fiscal as export turnover from the growing domestic IT sector is set for a rebound following a couple of sluggish years.

"We are expecting export to reach around $ 31 million this fiscal year which has been a significant uplift from the previous year of 2007-08 when the figure was $ 24.8 million," said Habibullah N Karim, President of Bang-ladesh Association of Soft-ware and Information Ser-vices (BASIS).

Export from Software and ITES reached a record high of $ 27.01 million in the fiscal year 2005-06, but since then began to slip back to $ 26.08 million in 2006-07 and further to $ 24.8 million in 2007-08.

Industry insiders however, put much of the blame for this slump on the issues related to activity including the banning of VOIP (voice over internet protocol) in the country two years ago and the subsequent drive against the VOIP users which handicapped the IT sector significantly.

Nevertheless, software export began to show clear signs of recovery at the beginning of the current fiscal and have clearly bounced back with a staggering 107 percent growth in the first half of fiscal year 2008-09 compared to the same period last year.

"Export of Software and ITES during the month of July to December of 2008 amounts to $ 13.31 million which is 107 percent higher than the amount of $ 6.4 million of the corresponding period in 2007," informed Shameem Ahasan, Dire-ctor of Export and Vice President of BASIS adding that "We are also exploring and trying to expand further in the European market as well as East Asia to widen our scope."

However, terming the recent outcome as satisfactory, leaders in the sector have stressed the need for long term solutions to prevailing energy shortage and urged for improved connectivity which remains critical issues for this highly potential industry.

"Energy shortage including the insufficient supply of electricity and poor connectivity due to the lack of high speed Internet facilities remains critical issues for this industry to provide international standard service to our clients," Habibullah Karim said.

"At the same time, financing or the better availability of loans for entrepreneurs in this sector must also be facilitated," the BASIS Pre-sident added.

Export of software and ITES from the country has seen a massive up trend in recent years with average annual growth rate reaching 61.2 percent in between the year 2002-03 and 2006-07.

Currently, more than a hundred of around 500 local companies are exporting software and ITES to over 30 countries while around 15,000 IT engineers are employed in the local ICT sector.