BD to earn $1.2m by exporting bandwidth to India

The country will earn US$ 1.2 million (Tk 9.42 crore) annually by exporting unused internet bandwidth to India. The cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for signing an agreement with India to this end.
"The state-owned Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) is going to ink the deal with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) of India for supplying 10 gigabyte per second (Gbps) bandwidth to India's north-eastern states on lease and commercial basis," cabinet secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists after the regular weekly cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting at Cabinet Division of Bangladesh Secretariat.
"It would be a win-win situation for the two countries. The export capacity could be raised to 40 Gbps."
He said through the earnings the country's foreign currency reserve will swell up further. India will be benefitted from the deal, as the country would have to spent a huge amount of money had its north-eastern states brought the submarine cable from Mumbai.
He said Bangladesh has already been connected with SEA-ME-WE 4, which stretches from France to Singapore.
"The work on SEA-ME-WE 5 is underway, and it will be finished by December next year," he added.
The cabinet secretary said the submarine cable capacity of BSCCL under SEA-ME-WE 4 is 200 Gbps, and with the launching of SEA-ME-WE 5 it will increase to 1,500 Gbps.
Mr Bhuiyan said only 30 Gbps internet bandwidth is being used in the country and remaining 170 Gbps remain unused.
Out of 170 Gbps internet, BSCCL will export 10 Gbps to India, and 160 Gbps will remain unutilised.
He said the remaining 160 Gbps internet bandwidth is likely to be required for expansion of submarine cable up to union-level across the country.
"There will be no crisis of internet bandwidth, as Bangladesh is going to be linked with SEA-ME-WE 5 by December next year."
"The salary of BSCCL officials and employees can be paid from one-fourth of the income of exporting 10 Gbps internet bandwidth to India," Mr Bhuiyan said.
Tenure of the proposed deal will be three years, and the submarine cable will start from Cox's Bazar landing station and end at Agartala of Tripura through Akhaura of Brahmmanbaria.
He informed that the submarine cable line from Cox's Bazar to Akhaura is already operational.  Indian company will construct the rest of the submarine cable line from Akhaura to Agartala.
He said vetting in this regard has been taken from Ministry of Law, and Bangladesh Bank has given opinion on charges and payments.
SEA-ME-WE 4 is an optical fibre submarine communications cable system that carries telecommunications among Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.
The cable is approximately 18,800 kilometres long, which provides the primary internet backbone among South-East Asia, Indian subcontinent, Middle-East and Europe.
SEA-ME-WE 5 is an under-construction optical fibre submarine communications cable that will work for telecommunications link between Singapore and France.
The cable will be approximately 20,000 kilometres long, and will provide broadband communications with a capacity of 24 Terabits per second (Tbps) between South-East Asia, Indian subcontinent, Middle-East and Europe.
The cable will connect Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Djibuti, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, and France via 18 landing points. Its construction commenced in September 2014, and is expected to be completed in December 2016.
Meanwhile, in the cabinet meeting on Monday the ministers were informed of the visit of a Bangladesh delegation to Qatar on February 23-27. The expatriates welfare and overseas employment minister led the team.
The meeting was informed that the visit was very fruitful, as the Middle-East country expressed its interest to recruit more Bangladeshi workers, as massive construction works are underway there keeping ahead its Vision 2030.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com