A trial run for bandwidth export to India started from Akhaura yesterday following which Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) will kick off its formal export on December 01 through Akhaura-Agartala frontier.
On November 16, Bangladesh and India connected its optical fibre at zero point on the Akhaura-Agartala border.
BSCCL Managing Director Monwar Hossain disclosed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune over cellphone.
On June 6, the state-owned company BSCCL signed a deal with the Indian state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for exporting bandwidth during Indian prime minister’s visit to Bangladesh.
According to the agreement, BSNL decided to import 10 Gbps bandwidth for Tripura state from September this year, but the export had been fixed one month ahead in August. Later, both party missed the deadline.
The submarine cable company will get the payment at the beginning of each quarter while Bangladesh will earn Tk9.6 crore a year by exporting bandwidth to India.
The bandwidth export price is 33% higher than that in domestic market though there are also opinions against the latest price of bandwidth.
The deal has been signed initially for a year and it can be extended for two more years, a BSCCL official said, adding that the bandwidth price will be reviewed after a year.
“The laying of cable lines on Bangladesh side was completed earlier than the stipulated time, but our counterpart India fell a little behind us. That is why the total work was delayed,” said Monwar Hossain.
The state-owned company has the capacity to export bandwidth up to 50 Gbps, he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Tarana Halim, state minister for Post and Telecommunications, said BSCCL will earn a huge revenue through exporting unutilised bandwidth. As Bangladesh will connect to another 14,00 Gbps undersea cable by 2016, so it will be a huge backup for the country.
The Indian state of Assam and Meghalaya had also shown interest in importing bandwidth from Bangladesh.
Since the lifetime of Bangladesh’s submarine cable will end within the next 12 years, there is no other alternative to exporting bandwidth.
Bangladesh has a bandwidth capacity of 200 Gbps, of them only 33% is used.
Industry insiders say the country’s demand for bandwidth may reach 210 Gbps by 2021.
In 2006, Bangladesh got connected to the current submarine cable at a cost of $63m.
Dear readers, please share your views and opinions about these new attractive offers by BSNL via comments with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment