Optical fibre line snapped, restored after 8hrs

The country's telecommunication and internet links were once again disrupted from Sunday night for about eight hours as miscreants snapped Dhaka-Cox's Bazar optical fibre line that links the nation to the submarine cable system.
According to Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), the line was snapped at around 11:30 pm Sunday and it was restored at 7:45 am Monday.
The BTTB in a press release said two technical teams from Dhaka and Chittagong conducted investigations after the line was snapped, and detected the location at Basantapur, 23 km off Feni.
During the hours of disruption, telecommunication links were maintained using satellite communication, which caused call congestion. The internet links were virtually non-functional although the BTTB claimed that it functioned 'partly'.
There have been two dozen cases of such disruption in the 433 km optical fibre line since it was launched in 2006. Almost half of these disruptions had been identified as subversive acts, probably by illegal VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) operators.
Due to lack of a back up line, whenever the line was disrupted, international telecom and internet connectivity was affected. Since many businesses now rely on international connectivity, such disruptions have been causing incalculable losses. Plus, each disruption deprives the BTTB of at least $70,000 revenue per hour.
On the third week of February, the BTTB signed a Tk 18 crore deal with Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) to provide a back up optical fibre network between Dhaka and Cox's Bazar to ensure better access to the submarine cable system.
The deal however requires that the BTTB spend about Tk 3.42 crore to install additional lines and some machinery to avail the PGCB service. The BTTB recently floated a tender in this regard. Sources said it will take many more months before the BTTB can use this backup system.
The BTTB had a second option of signing a deal with Bangla Phone for a free back up line provided that when Bangla Phone's own line is disrupted, the BTTB will give access to its line on equal terms. Bangla Phone set up the fibre optic line early last year on the basis of negotiations with the BTTB.
Presently, the BTTB is using approximately 2,799 Megabyte per second (Mbps) voice and 1,244 Mbps data bandwidth through the optical fibre and submarine cable. The submarine cable's allocation for the BTTB is more than 14 Gigabyte per second.