Private firms to get 90% revenue from govt’s broadband infrastructure
The government spent a whopping Tk 1,200 crore to lay optical fibre across 2,600 unions of Bangladesh under phase-3 of the Info Sarkar project, which aims to provide high-speed internet at the union level.
The Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) yesterday signed a deal with Summit Communications and Fiber@Home for the maintenance, upgradation, replacement, operation and connection of the new broadband internet infrastructure.
Under a public-private partnership (PPP), 90 per cent of the revenue earned from the broadband connections will go to the two private entities while the government will just get 10 per cent.
The Daily Star spoke to one senior government official and two executives of private companies for their views on the deal, all of whom said they are surprised to see the government's share of the revenue.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one said the government's share of the revenue is "really meagre" considering that it bore the cost of the entire project.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT, said the agreement was not made in secret and all regulations were maintained so far, including those related to PPP, public procurement and tenders.
"They [the two private companies] will also provide Tk 30 crore upfront under the condition of the deal," he said while speaking at the signing ceremony held at ICT Tower in Dhaka.
"They will do everything for 20 years and share 10 per cent of the revenue with the government," Palak added.
Five years earlier, Summit and Fibre@Home won the tender for implementing phase-3 of the Info Sarkar project, which involved laying the fibre cables.
Now, the same two entities got the task of repairing, maintaining, operating, and upgrading these broadband connections.
Summit Communications will extend the internet to over 1,290 of the 2,600 unions while Fiber@Home will cover the rest under the deal signed yesterday.
Ranajit Kumar, executive director of the BCC, Md Arif Al Islam, managing director and CEO of Summit Communications, and Brig Gen (retd) Md Rafiqur Rahman, managing director of Fibre@Home, signed the deal, according to a statement from the ICT Division.
Md Arif Al Islam, managing director and CEO of Summit Communications, said if it takes Tk 100 to build a fibre optic network, the cost of maintenance, repairs and upgradation could total Tk 300 to Tk 400 in 20 years.
Considering the huge burden, the company was initially very shaky about the project but ultimately took it up as a social and governmental responsibility, he added.
Islam then said that they would face substantial loss in running the network for roughly the next eight years.
"We may make some profit in the 9th and 10th years," he added.
Moynul Haque Siddiqui, chairman of Fiber@Home, said that through underground and overhead fibre optical networks, this network will reduce the digital divide at the marginal level.
However, duplication of this network will not provide any benefit and the entire network will be threatened, he added.
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