Bandwidth export deal next month

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd is likely to start exporting 10 gigabits of bandwidth to the northeastern Indian state of Tripura in September, a top official said yesterday.

A final deal will be signed in Dhaka between the state-owned BSCCL and its Indian counterpart Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd or BSNL on June 2, said Monwar Hossain, managing director of BSCCL.

The Indian team led by BSNL Chairman Anupam Shrivastava will arrive in Dhaka on June 1 on a four-day visit.

Bangladesh will earn $100,000 a month from the deal to export 10 Gbps of bandwidth, at a price of $10 per Mbps. BSCCL will get payment every quarter in advance, said Hossain.

BSCCL said BSNL will take 40 Gbps within a year, which may rise to more than 100 Gbps, after the second submarine consortium, SE-ME-WE-5, is connected with Bangladesh. 

The new connection is expected to come on stream by 2016.

India's northeastern states -- Arunachal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Shilong -- have huge demand for bandwidth. 

Currently, Bangladesh has bandwidth of 200 Gbps and Bangladesh can use only 33 Gbps or 16 percent of it.

In February last year, Bangladesh decided to export the unused internet bandwidth following a request from India in July, seeking 40 Gbps bandwidth for their eight eastern states.