20-40pc internet tariff cut

Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) has recently reduced internet tariff charges by 20 percent to 40 percent in different slabs in a bid to accelerate the growth of the country's information and communication technology (ICT) sector.
According to BTTB's new tariff plan effective from February 1, annual rentals for leased internet access service for 64kbps (kilobits per second) to 2mbps (megabits per second) bandwidth range between Tk 96,000 and Tk 1.44 lakh from the earlier charges of Tk 1.65 lakh and Tk 1.92 lakh respectively.
Installation charge for leased internet access for above 2mbps bandwidth has been fixed at minimum Tk 20,000, while monthly rental for the same service is minimum Tk 36,000 and maximum Tk 40,000 for different slabs from Tk 55,000 and Tk 75,000 earlier.
BTTB's new charge for individual internet subscriber is Tk 1,000 a month for unlimited usage, reduced from Tk 1,400, while the monthly charge for two other corporate packages is Tk 700 each, down from Tk 1,000 and Tk 750.
Although the internet service providers have welcomed the BTTB's new tariff plan, they said the charges should be reduced more in line with the neighboring countries'.
“We are not happy with the new tariff of BTTB,” said a software developer, adding “to become more cost effective, we are planning from software association to rent bulk bandwidth from BTTB and then distribute it among the association members.”
Bangladesh was connected to the information superhighway via an undersea cable in 2006 at a cost of $35.1 million. The SEA-ME-WE-4 cable has a bandwidth capacity of 1.2 terabytes per second.
Maj Gen (retd) Manzurul Alam, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (BTRC), in a recent interview with The Daily Star termed the BTTB's bandwidth price as 'abnormally high' and said it should come down to Tk10, 000 per megabit.
Low cost bandwidth is one of the major preconditions for the information and telecoms industry to flourish, he said, adding that charges in Bangladesh are well above those of other countries in South Asia. For example, while one megabit bandwidth costs Tk 80,000 in Bangladesh it is around Tk 1,725 in India and Pakistan, Alam said.
The BTRC chairman also said the second submarine cable is a must for expanding call centres, IP (internet protocol) telephony and software business.
"If we had an alternative submarine cable, Bangladesh would be a hub for ICT outsourcing business," he said.
The government is planning to install another submarine cable as backup to ensure uninterrupted connection with the global information highway.