Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company crosses 4 Tbps bandwidth supply milestone

State-owned and publicly listed Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC (BSCPLC) has crossed a significant milestone by delivering 4 terabits per second (Tbps) of real-time international internet bandwidth.

This achievement came on August 1, after the company began delivering 200 Gbps of bandwidth for Starlink's newly launched commercial satellite internet service in Bangladesh in July, according to a statement.

Previously, on April 28 this year, BSCPLC had crossed the 3 Tbps mark—meaning the company has added 1 Tbps of capacity in just three months.

In comparison, bandwidth usage grew by only 1.1 Tbps over the previous eight months.

During the previous Awami League government's tenure, over 65 percent of BSCPLC's capacity remained unused, according to the press release.

However, under the current administration, the company's total bandwidth delivery has increased by over 2.2 Tbps, representing a growth of more than 105 percent in just one year.

The recent achievement is attributed to policy support and guidance from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, determined efforts by the company's management, and two rounds of strategic price reductions.

As BSCPLC's share in the country's total bandwidth usage continues to rise, the company has also seen a significant boost in its revenue collection.

In a notable regulatory move, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) recently amended its licensing guidelines to require all International Internet Gateway (IIG) operators to source at least 50 percent of their total bandwidth from submarine cable networks.

This aims to reduce the country's previous over-reliance on Indian terrestrial bandwidth routes and encourage greater use of domestic submarine capacity.

In response, BSCPLC has introduced additional discounts for IIG operators that source more than 50 percent of their bandwidth from submarine cables.

The company has also launched specialised internet packages outside of its regular bulk discount offerings, targeting data centres, cloud providers, and hyperscalers.

To further strengthen its position, the government has signed an agreement for the upcoming SEA-ME-WE 6 under a revised route, adding an additional 17 Tbps to BSCPLC's real-time internet footprint.

The proposal was recently approved at the latest Ecnec (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) meeting.