India has expressed interests to avail “tele-transit” instead of importing bandwidth from Bangladesh at Shillong point and both bandwidth and connectivity through Akhaura in Bangladesh to Agortala point of Assam.
The proposals were announced after a four-member delegation from the Indian state-owned telecommunication company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) attended two meetings with the Posts and Telecommunications Division and the state-owned Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL).
Sources said in these two meetings the Indian delegation were keen to avail connectivity rather than bandwidth import from Bangladesh.
“We are interested about connectivity with bandwidth [IP transit] and I hope it will be helpful for both the countries,” BSNL Chief General Manager DP Singh, who is leading the Indian delegation, told the Dhaka Tribune after the first meeting.
He also noted that the region should come under a single network from Afghanistan to Myanmar.
Sources said India had requested connectivity from Bangladesh for the first time in 2009 through a mobile telecommunication company but this time they made an official proposal.
The other members of the Indian delegation were SK Bhardwaj and Anand Khare, general managers of the company from Delhi, and Deb Kumar Chakrabarti from Tripura.
However, when contacted Posts and Telecommunications Division Secretary Md Abu Bakar Siddique said the ministry had not received any such proposal.
“It was only a courtesy meeting from the Indian guests and they have not placed any such proposal before me... We have decided only to export bandwidth – not give connectivity to anyone,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
The secretary added that Bangladesh would add another 1,300Gbps bandwidth when the BSCCL connected with the SEA-ME-WE-5 cable by 2016, while the country’s demand might increase at best to 210Gbps by 2021.
Meanwhile, IT experts said Bangladesh can only sell its unused bandwidth but should not rent connectivity as it will be detrimental to national interests.
“The terms and conditions should be exactly the same as it has been put for previous connectivity agreements between Bangladesh and India,” LIRNEasia Senior Policy Fellow Abu Saeed Khan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Earlier, the new Bhutanese Ambassador in Dhaka Pema Choden expressed her country’s interest in importing surplus internet bandwidth.
Currently, the BSCCL has 200Gbps (88MIU-km) bandwidth and Bangladesh can use only 32Gbps or 16% of it.
Last July, a delegation from India’s Tripura visited Dhaka and placed demand for 40Gbps bandwidth for the eight eastern Indian states.
According to, BSCCL, Bangladesh would be able to earn at least Tk4.83 crore per month by exporting 40Gbps bandwidth to the seven sisters.
However, this time the BSNL delegation has sought around 10Gbps as a starter, taking the estimated earnings down to Tk1.20 crore per month.
The BSCCL has prepared and shared a draft MoU with its Indian counterpart yesterday, expected to be inked today.
“We are trying to find out the best possible outcome from exporting bandwidth,” BSCCL Managing Director Monwar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.
