Even though all work related to the technical installation of the much-coveted second submarine cable has been completed in Kuakata, negligence on part of the state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) in establishing last mile coverage has delayed the utilisation of the increased bandwidth. The Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), the state-owned custodian of the submarine cables in Bangladesh, has completed the installation of the landing station for the SEA-ME-WE-5 by December, although its deadline to complete that task was March 2017. BSCCL has already written a letter to the ministry of post and telecommunications to fix a date for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to inaugurate the second submarine cable in the second or third week of February. Yet, the state-owned BTCL has not even completed the installation of the fibre network from Barishal to Patuakhali to transmit that bandwidth from the landing station inside the country.
Talking with The Independent, BSCCL managing director Md Monwar Hossain said they have completed their duty. “We established the landing station before time. Now it is up to the BTCL to bring that bandwidth from here to the rest of the country.”
The BSCCL has licences for the submarine cable, international internet gateway (IIG) and internet service provider (ISP). But it does not have the licence for the Nationwide Telecommunications Transmission Network (NTTN). The NTTN operators establish the fibre network across the country to transmit internet bandwidth.
There are three NTTN licensees in Bangladesh—BTCL, fiber@homes and Summit Communication Ltd. “We gave BTCL the responsibility of transmitting the bandwidth of SEA-ME-WE-5 throughout the country.”
Monwar Hossain expressed his dissatisfaction over the BTCL’s progress. “Everything is ready here. If they do their job, then the bandwidth can be utilised from here.”
Meanwhile, BTCL officials disclosed that since they do not have any network from Barishal to Patuakhali, they plan to utilise the fibre network of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) for that missing link.
The BTCL is also establishing another link from Patuakhali to Kolapara and from Kolapara to Kuakata under two separate projects. The landing station of SEA-ME-WE-5 is located in Kuakata. The BTCL officials are hopeful that all works related to those projects would be completed by February next year.
After completion, the new submarine cable connection is expected to provide 1,500 gigabits per second (Gbps) of additional bandwidth in addition to 200 Gbps bandwidth received from the existing SEA-ME-WE-4 connection.
The second submarine cable is also likely to facilitate the introduction of high-speed 4G internet in the country. Policymakers are also looking for ways to export extra bandwidth to neighbouring landlocked countries like Nepal and Bhutan.
The SEA-ME-WE-5 is approximately 20,000 km long, and will provide broadband communications with a design capacity of 24 terabits per second 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, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Djibouti, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Turkey and France via 19 landing points. The BSCCL is currently also responsible for the maintenance of the country’s lone submarine cable connection linked with SEA-ME-WE 4.
Back in 2014, the company signed an agreement with the SEA-ME-WE-5 consortium to connect the country with the state-of-the-art multinational optical fibre submarine communications cable system, to be spread from Singapore to France.
The total cost of the project is Tk. 660 crore, of which Tk. 352 crore is being provided by the Asian Development Bank. Of the remaining amount, the government is providing Tk. 166 crore, while Tk. 142 crore is coming from BSCCL.
According to the project documents, if there is a breach in the existing submarine cable line, it needs seven to 10 days for repairs. This means Bangladesh needs redundancy from another connection.
“SEA-ME-WE-4 has already passed more than half of its lifespan and we need to connect with another cable before 2025,” said Monwar Hossain.
At present, India has eight connections, Pakistan four and Sri Lanka three.
According to the project proposal, the country requires a big volume of bandwidth with high speed following the launch of 3G data services. Subscribers are waiting for 4G and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) services that also require more bandwidth. It is now essential for Bangladesh to get connected with SEA-ME-WE-5.
Prior to 2012, Bangladesh relied solely on a single submarine cable (SEA-ME-WE 4) for telecommunications. Since October 2012, international terrestrial cable (ITC) operators have worked to provide an alternative to the submarine cable.
ITC operators are connected to different Indian telecommunications companies through terrestrial optical fibre lines.
They are able to connect Bangladesh to international telecommunications networks when the submarine cable line is down.
Six ITC operators have been purchasing bandwidth from India and distributing it in Bangladesh for the past four years. The six companies are currently providing over 160 Gbps to Bangladesh.