India\\\'s 3rd internet gateway in Agartala
Saturday, 11 July 2015
Internet connectivity in India’s northeast will get a boost with union Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad all set to lay the foundation stone for the much-awaited international gateway for internet in Agartala today (Saturday). Manik Sarkar, Chief Minister of India’s Tripura state, will be present at the function. The IGW is an international gateway that is being set up in Agartala for extending internet bandwidth to northeastern region of India from the Cox’s Bazar Cable Landing Station of Bangladesh. "This will help the government to save a lot of money," Prasad said, adding that at present northeastern region get connectivity from Chennai landing station via Kolkata and Assam.
"To strengthen the network, alternate connectivity is being extended from Agartala through Akhaura and Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh," he said, adding that 10 gigabyte (GB) bandwidth, capable of being enhanced till 40 GB, will be provided for the internet traffic of seven northeastern states- Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
The agreement was signed between state-run BSNL and Bangldesh Submarine Cable Company Limited for leasing of international bandwidth during India-Bangaldesh Summit on June 6. The BSNL will lay the optical fibre cable network from Agartala to the Integrated Check Post at Akhaura near the international border to connect Cox’s Bazar's submarine bandwidth. The project is likely to be commissioned by January 2016, entailing a cost of Rs191 million and annual operational expenditure of Rs72 million approximately, which is being funded by the department of telecommunications.
At present India has two international gateways - one in Mumbai and the other in Chennai (formerly Madras), according to bdnews24.com.