This coming January, Bangladesh will likely be connected to Bhutan, India and Nepal through the South Asian Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) information superhighway, which aims to facilitate bandwidth export and network sharing among the four BBIN countries.
An Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Division official said this would provide back-up connectivity for Bangladesh in case of an emergency.
State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak told the Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh’s participation in the interconnected network would give the country a huge opportunity to export bandwidth to land-locked Nepal and Bhutan, and allow the country to share networks.
“Bangladesh will not just get the opportunity to export bandwidth but will also be able to import power from Nepal and Bhutan,” Palak said.
To be connected to the network, Bangladesh has already laid down 58 kilometres of optical fibre from Panchagarh to Banglabandha.
Bangladesh has already signed an agreement to participate in BBIN road connectivity. In the future, it is expected that water resource management, power grids, multi-modal transport, freight and trade infrastructure will also be linked up through the BBIN connectivity network.
The junior minister said the initiative would bridge BBIN with regions that lie further to the east.
The project was implemented by the ICT Division of the Ministry of Telecommunications and ICT with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The ADB is expected to provide $6.13 billion in financial support over the next four years to improve regional connectivity, with an emphasis on road and railway networks.
Through the SASEC network, Bangladesh will be able to export at least 50Gbps bandwidth to Nepal, Bhutan and north-east India, an official of the ICT Division said.
Nepal and Bhutan have completed optical fibre networking works. India still has not completed its preparations in the target region.
Siliguri, in the Darjeeling district of India’s West Bengal state, will be the International Internet Gateway (IIG) for the sub-regional network.
The SASEC internet connectivity deal is expected to be finalised at an upcoming meeting of officials of the four countries in Bhutan.
At a similar meeting held in Dhaka, Bhutan expressed interest in importing bandwidth from Bangladesh, said an official of the Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL).
BSCCL Managing Director Monwar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that bandwidth export to India is likely to begin in the third week of December through the Akhaura-Agartala border.
India will initially import 10Gbps, increasing its bandwidth import to 40Gbps, according to the agreement, Monwar said.
BSCCL expects to earn Tk9.6 crore a year, with payment received at the beginning of each quarter, through its bandwidth export to India.
The Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya have also shown interest in importing bandwidth from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh got connected to the submarine cable in 2006 at a cost of Tk496 crore 12 lakh 50,000 (about $63 million).
“Bangladesh has a bandwidth capacity of 200 Gbps, of which just 33% is utilised. BBIN network connectivity offers massive scope for exporting surplus bandwidth.
“Moreover, we do not have a backup submarine cable network if we get disconnected from the current network,” Sushanta Kumar Saha, ICT Division additional secretary and project coordinator for network connectivity, told the Dhaka Tribune.