BSS, Dhaka :
Bangladesh would fetch US Dollar 1.2 million (approximately Taka 9.42 crore) annually by exporting unused internet bandwidth to India as the cabinet Monday approved a proposal for signing an agreement 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 under which Bangladesh would supply 10 gigabyte per second (gbps) bandwidth to India’s northeastern states on lease and commercial basis,” Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat this morning.
Ministers, state ministers concerned attended the meeting, while concerned secretaries were present.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, the cabinet secretary said under the proposed deal titled “Agreement Between BSNL and BSCCL for Leasing of International Bandwidth for Internet at Akhaura (Zero Point)”, the export capacity could be raised to 40gbps.
“Bangladesh would earn $ 1.2 million annually by exporting the BSCCL’s unused bandwidth and it would be a “win-win situation” for the two countries,” he said.
Through these earnings, he said, Bangladesh foreign currency reserves would be swelled up further, on the other hand, India would benefit from it as the country would have spent a huge amount of money had its northeastern states brought the submarine cable from Mumbai.
The cabinet secretary said the BSCCL is a member of two international submarine cable consortiums-the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) and the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5).
He said Bangladesh has already been working under the SEA-ME-WE 4 which stretches from France to Singapore. “The work on the SEA-ME-WE 5 is underway and it would be finished by December next year,” he added.
Bhuiyan said the submarine cable capacity of the BSCCL under the existing SEA-ME-WE 4 is 200gbps and with the launching of the SEA-ME-WE 5, it will be raised to 1500gbps.
He said only 30gbps internet bandwidth are being used in the country and remaining 170gbps stand unused. Out of 170gbps internet, the BSCCL will export 10gbps to India, he said, adding despite that 160gbps will remain unutilized.
The cabinet secretary said the remaining 160gbps internet bandwidth is likely to be required for expansion of submarine cable up to union level across the country. But there after there would be no crisis of internet bandwidth as Bangladesh is going to be linked with the SEA-ME-WE 5 by December next year , he said.
Bhuiyan said through the one-fourth income from export of 10gbps internet bandwidth to India, the salary of officials and employees of the BSCCL could be paid.
“The tenure of the proposed deal would be three years and the route of the submarine cable would start from Cox’s Bazar landing station and end at Agartala of Tripura through Akhaura of Brahmmanbaria,” he said.
The cabinet secretary further informed that the submarine cable line from Cox’s Bazar to Akhaura has already been operational, and Indian company would construct the rest of the submarine cable line from Akhaura to Agartala.
The cabinet secretary said legal vetting in this regard was taken from the Law Ministry, while the Bangladesh Bank gave opinion on charges and payments.
The SEA-ME-WE 4 is an optical fibre submarine communications cable system that carries telecommunications between 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, and provides the primary internet backbone between South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Europe.
The SEA-ME-WE 5 is under-construction optical fibre submarine communications cable that will carry telecommunications between Singapore and France.
The cable will be approximately 20,000 kilometres long, and will provide broadband communications with a design capacity of 24 Terabits per second(tbps) between South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the 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.
The cabinet meeting was also apprised of the visit of a Bangladesh delegation led by the expatriates welfare and overseas employment minister to Qatar on February 23-27.
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 in Qatar keeping ahead its Vision 2030.
Bangladesh would fetch US Dollar 1.2 million (approximately Taka 9.42 crore) annually by exporting unused internet bandwidth to India as the cabinet Monday approved a proposal for signing an agreement 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 under which Bangladesh would supply 10 gigabyte per second (gbps) bandwidth to India’s northeastern states on lease and commercial basis,” Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat this morning.
Ministers, state ministers concerned attended the meeting, while concerned secretaries were present.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, the cabinet secretary said under the proposed deal titled “Agreement Between BSNL and BSCCL for Leasing of International Bandwidth for Internet at Akhaura (Zero Point)”, the export capacity could be raised to 40gbps.
“Bangladesh would earn $ 1.2 million annually by exporting the BSCCL’s unused bandwidth and it would be a “win-win situation” for the two countries,” he said.
Through these earnings, he said, Bangladesh foreign currency reserves would be swelled up further, on the other hand, India would benefit from it as the country would have spent a huge amount of money had its northeastern states brought the submarine cable from Mumbai.
The cabinet secretary said the BSCCL is a member of two international submarine cable consortiums-the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) and the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5).
He said Bangladesh has already been working under the SEA-ME-WE 4 which stretches from France to Singapore. “The work on the SEA-ME-WE 5 is underway and it would be finished by December next year,” he added.
Bhuiyan said the submarine cable capacity of the BSCCL under the existing SEA-ME-WE 4 is 200gbps and with the launching of the SEA-ME-WE 5, it will be raised to 1500gbps.
He said only 30gbps internet bandwidth are being used in the country and remaining 170gbps stand unused. Out of 170gbps internet, the BSCCL will export 10gbps to India, he said, adding despite that 160gbps will remain unutilized.
The cabinet secretary said the remaining 160gbps internet bandwidth is likely to be required for expansion of submarine cable up to union level across the country. But there after there would be no crisis of internet bandwidth as Bangladesh is going to be linked with the SEA-ME-WE 5 by December next year , he said.
Bhuiyan said through the one-fourth income from export of 10gbps internet bandwidth to India, the salary of officials and employees of the BSCCL could be paid.
“The tenure of the proposed deal would be three years and the route of the submarine cable would start from Cox’s Bazar landing station and end at Agartala of Tripura through Akhaura of Brahmmanbaria,” he said.
The cabinet secretary further informed that the submarine cable line from Cox’s Bazar to Akhaura has already been operational, and Indian company would construct the rest of the submarine cable line from Akhaura to Agartala.
The cabinet secretary said legal vetting in this regard was taken from the Law Ministry, while the Bangladesh Bank gave opinion on charges and payments.
The SEA-ME-WE 4 is an optical fibre submarine communications cable system that carries telecommunications between 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, and provides the primary internet backbone between South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Europe.
The SEA-ME-WE 5 is under-construction optical fibre submarine communications cable that will carry telecommunications between Singapore and France.
The cable will be approximately 20,000 kilometres long, and will provide broadband communications with a design capacity of 24 Terabits per second(tbps) between South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the 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.
The cabinet meeting was also apprised of the visit of a Bangladesh delegation led by the expatriates welfare and overseas employment minister to Qatar on February 23-27.
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 in Qatar keeping ahead its Vision 2030.
