Ad for 2 submarine cables, 3 terrestrial links soon

FE Team | Published: March 24, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Jamal Uddin
The government has finally decided to advertise seeking applications for licences with regard to two submarine cables and three terrestrial links within the next couple of days. "We have already approved the draft guideline to offer licences for building, operation and maintenance of submarine cable system and services in the country," the Secretary of Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication, Mr Sunil Kanti Bose, said Wednesday. According to the decision, the government will advertise seeking applications from those who are interested to get the licence. These licences will be given to private sector and the duration of the licences will be initially for a term of 20 years, Mr Bose added. In this connection, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) published a draft guideline in January last year. BTRC sources said the submarine cables will have landing stations at Kuakata, Patuakhali, Barisal and Chittagong. At present, there is one submarine cable in the country. That is why experts advised the authority to set up more submarine cables, because the total telecommunication system will face catastrophe if the present submarine cable goes out of order. The authority has fixed Tk 0.2 million as application fee and Tk 100 million for licence fee while annual charge was fixed at Tk 50 million, according to the draft guideline. The guideline also fixed gross revenue sharing at three per cent with Tk 50 million as bank guarantee while Tk 10 million as security deposit. Both local and foreign firms are allowed to participate in the bidding process but foreign shareholding is limited to maximum of 70 per cent, the draft guideline mentioned. These guidelines have been prepared to facilitate growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and telecom sector through uninterrupted telecommunication services in Bangladesh. Licence to be issued under this guideline will authorize an operator to build, operate and maintain high capacity optical fiber SC System to connect Bangladesh internationally and set up Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) backhaul, up to Dhaka. The foreign partner will invest in foreign currency directly equal to his percentage of ownership and no bank loan from any Bangladeshi scheduled bank or financial institution will be granted for that purpose.