Maintenance work to disrupt internet mid-Oct

Internet users are likely to face disruption in services in mid-October due to maintenance work of a primary submarine cable across the Bay of Bengal.

Maintenance work will begin on October 16 and continue for three days when the cable will remain shut, said Monwar Hossain, managing director of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL).

According to him, "some internet disruption" may occur as a second cable launched last month of 1,500 Gbps bandwidth capacity will be used alternatively.

Bangladesh currently uses only 200 Gbps of bandwidth from the second cable. "If the second cable fails to provide adequate bandwidth, it may lead to internet disruption," Hossain told The Daily Star.

"We are trying to shift all our connectivity to the second cable," he said.

Currently, the state-run company is supplying about 250 Gbps of bandwidth and there will be a shortage of about 50 Gbps during the maintenance period.

Bangladesh uses about 450 Gbps of bandwidth; BSCCL supplies 250 Gbps and an additional 200 Gbps is imported from India.

"We are trying to purchase another 50 Gbps from some international companies for one month to tackle the situation," Hossain added.

This will be the first time that maintenance work will be conducted on the submarine cable in its history of 12 years.