Indian co plans alternative route for N-E states thru\\\' BD

KOLKATA, May 6: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is in the process of firming up plans to put in place an alternative route for improving Internet connectivity in six north-eastern States through Bangladesh, online thehindubusinessline reported.

Compared to the National tele-density average of over 76 per cent, the north-eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura; apart from Assam) have approximately 60 per cent tele-density, it said.

The telco is looking to finalise the technical and financial details to lease bandwidth from Bangladesh Telecommunication Ltd - a Bangladeshi telecom operator - and, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd , a fibre-optic submarine cable telecom company.

According to an internal note of BSNL, it has "constituted a team" for finalising the proposal with their Bangladeshi counterparts. The team will "soon" be sent to Dhaka.

The route so proposed will be through Chennai to the North Eastern States via Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh). (Assam is considered as a separate circle in telecom parlance; hence not included.) The proposed optical fibre network, for Agartala-Cox's Bazar-Chennai, will be on submarine (deep sea) cable.

Geographical proximity of Cox's Bazar to these states is one of the reasons. Also important is the location of Bangladesh's only submarine cable landing station at Cox's Bazar (required for laying the optical fibre network).