Industry insiders have urged the government to implement a business-friendly policy for the sale of accelerated bandwidth from the second submarine cable (SEA-ME-WE 5), which was inaugurated by Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) early in September 2017.
It is believed that Bangladesh will not be able to use the cable’s bandwidth if a business-friendly policy is not introduced, according to industry insiders.
They however also warned that price is a major factor in ensuring the proper use of bandwidth.
The government has spent Tk660 crore to be connected to the second submarine cable SEA-ME-WE 5, joining the consortium in March 2014.
The bandwidth capacity from the second submarine cable is 1,500Gbps whereas BSCCL gets 200Gbps of bandwidth from the first submarine cable, the SEA-ME-WE 4, but consumes nearly 400Gbps.
The 200Gbps difference is being imported at Tk600 per Mbps, while businesses buy per Mbps bandwidth at Tk800 from BSCCL.
Also Read - We have a second submarine cable. What now?
President of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) MA Hakim said: “According to the government rules and regulations, businesses have to buy a minimum of 10Gbps from SEA-ME-WE 5.
If they cannot sell that entire amount then they are bound to face a huge loss.”
“The government should have a more business friendly policy for the SEA-ME-WE 5 in order for us to take advantage of its full capacity.”
Mustafa Jabbar from Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Service (BASIS) said: “It is high time the government forms a policy to ensure proper use of the second submarine cable’s bandwidth. If bandwidth prices do not recede, end users will not be benefited.”
Bangladesh received its first submarine cable connection, SEA-ME-WE-4, in 2006 that has already passed more than half of its lifespan. Because of this, Bangladesh needed to be connected with another cable before 2025.
The cable has connected Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Djibuti, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Turkey and France via 19 landing points.
Monday, July 20, 2026
