Summit Communications chief

FE Team | Published: December 13, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Continued from page 13 less than two years. Part of the energy giant Summit Group, SCL provides connectivity to 47 clients including mobile operators, Wimax, ISPs, and Cable TV operators. Arif said his company now plans to expand network up to district and subdistrict levels in phases. "Bangladesh needs fiber-optic connectivity for Third Generation (3G) technology as soon as possible in order to drive digitalization of the country. A huge backbone is needed to connect all base stations through fibre-optic cables, Wireless can't be as efficient as fibre-optics," he noted. Mr Arif has called for consistency in the government's telecom and tax policies, saying frequent changes very often adversely affect the operators. "In the last budget, the government stopped tax exemption for the NTTN operators, although all the mobile operators enjoyed the benefits for five years," he said. He said customs duty for fibre-optic cable was increased from ten-fold to 30 percent, which is not logical as local firms don't produce high quality and high-core capacity cables here. Commenting on the government's plan to sell more NTTN licenses, the SCL CEO said the move will lead to over-investment and needless spending. Arif said cost of network expansion has spiked in recent month with the laying of one kilometer fiber optics rising to Tk 4.5 million from Tk 2 million since June. "This is way too high even compared to international standard. The regulator's excess tariff is partly to blame for the soaring cost, he said, adding the regulator is now charging Tk 570,000 per kilometer for laying fobre optics through Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) method in which roads are not cut. Recently, SCL is awarded with an International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) license for which it plans to build the network in the next six months. ITC license will allow the firm to lay cross-border fibre optic network and connect with the NTTN and submarine cable in India. Summit MD said ITC and submarine cable will work as back up to each other and facilitate the growth of information and communication technology and telecom sector through uninterrupted services.