Two firms to take internet to 2,600 unions at Tk 378cr
Two private sector ICT companies -- Fiber@Home and Summit Communication -- will provide internet service in 2,600 unions, as the government goes about achieving its Digital Bangladesh vision by 2021.
The two companies, which were awarded the job last week by the cabinet committee on purchase, will provide internet connection, maintain and upgrade the optical fibre cable and active devices for 20 years. They will charge for internet at the government approved rate.
Fiber@Home has been given the responsibility of networking and connectivity-related work in 1,307 unions, for which the government will pay Tk 189.94 crore.
Summit Communication will do networking work in 1,293 unions for Tk 188.52 crore.
However, a portion of the two companies' revenue will have to be shared with the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) after a two-year grace period, according to the Information and Communication Technology Division.
After the two-year grace period, the companies will share 5 percent of their revenue with the BCC over the next four years, 3 percent the following four years, and 2 percent for the remaining 10 years of the contract.
The project is part of the government's master plan to develop countrywide ICT network, currently being implemented by the BCC.
Under the master plan, the government has also taken up a Tk 1,227 crore project for establishing a fibre optic cable network with soft loans from Chinese Exim Bank.
China's Exim Bank will provide about $156.56 million as low-cost loans, as committed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his Bangladesh visit last year.
An agreement is likely to be signed with Exim Bank in this regard, said a finance ministry official. The government has already appointed China Railway International Group for the project.
Countrywide fibre connectivity will be established by 2018, and this project is part of the government's efforts to build a Digital Bangladesh by 2021, said officials of the ICT Division.
The ICT division earlier completed phase-2 of the master plan for Tk 1,333.44 crore project, connecting 18,130 government offices through a nationwide network.
The project, which was mainly financed by China, concluded in June this year. Under the project, the ICT division also distributed 2,500 tablet computers to government officials.
BCC also connected Bangladesh Secretariat, seven divisional and all district and 485 upazila level government offices. They also set up 800 video conferencing systems, 254 e-agriculture service centres, telemedicine services in 25 healthcare centres, disaster data recovery centres and specialised training labs at universities across the country in the last two years.
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