BSCCL gets nod to install second submarine cable

FE Report The government Wednesday gave approval to Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) to install the second submarine cable for ensuring uninterrupted connectivity with the information super highway. Managing Director of BSCCL Monwar Hossain said the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications gave the final approval to his company after evaluation of different sides of the project that will be connected with 16 countries. Currently, the company is representing the SEA-ME-WE-4 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-4) that connects 13 countries. Mr Monwar told the FE Wednesday that now their first work would be to manage fund for the project named SEA-ME-WE-5 that would be connected with 16 countries. He said his company will try to manage fund from foreign and local sources as about Tk 4.5 billion is required to install the second submarine cable that will be 30,000 km long. The BSCCL boss said due to fault in the submarine cable, the country currently faces frequent disruption of web connectivity. That is why the second submarine cable is inevitable for uninterrupted communication, he added. The SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cable system spans nearly 20,000 km, linking 14 countries from France to Singapore through Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia. The second submarine cable will cover Japan via Hong Kong, the BSCCL MD mentioned. Earlier, Mir Telecom applied to the telecom regulator for the second submarine cable but Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission did not accept its proposal.