The Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya have shown interest in importing bandwidth from Bangladesh during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka.
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) wants to import at least 30 Gbps for the two states within six months.
Bangladesh is assumed to be the best option for the Indian states to purchase bandwidth at a cheaper rate than the other parts of India due to distance. BSNL will start importing 10 Gbps for Tripura state from September this year.
On June 6, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) signed a deal with BSNL to export bandwidth in presence of the Indian PM and his Bangladeshi counterpart.
An official said BSCCL has connectivity up to Sylhet and the link has to be expanded to Tamabil, near Meghalaya’s capital Shillong. This connectivity can provide bandwidth to Assam also.
“If India wants, we have the ability to export more bandwidth for another two states within six months. We can even increase bandwidth supply to Tripura in a few weeks time,” BSCCL Managing Director Monwar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We expect to export 100GB bandwidth to the seven sisters, but not to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur states because of the long distance.”
BSCCL will export the bandwidth at $10 per mbps – which is 33% higher than its local market price – and earn $1.2m (Tk9.6 crore) annually.
BSCCL will get the payment in advance at the beginning of every quarter, officials said.
The deal has been signed initially for a year and can be extended for two more years, said a BSCCL official, adding the bandwidth price will be reviewed after a year.
Bangladesh’s submarine cable, whose lifetime will end in the next 12 years, has a bandwidth capacity of 200 Gbps, while it sells only 32 Gbps. Bangladesh will get another undersea cable of around 1,400 Gbps in 2016.
Industry insiders say the country’s demand for bandwidth may reach 210Gbps by 2021.
