Aminul Hakim challenges BSCL to prove capacity

Industry stakeholders have called for opening the submarine cable sector to private investment to meet Bangladesh’s projected bandwidth demand of 54,000 Gbps by 2030, ensure uninterrupted internet connectivity and strengthen digital sovereignty. At the same time, Metacore Subcom CEO Aminul Hakim challenged Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCL) to prove its self-sufficiency by operating for two weeks without bandwidth imported from India through ITC.

The views were expressed at a workshop and discussion organized by the Technology Reporters Network, Bangladesh (TRNB) at Skyline Restaurant in Dhaka on Tuesday, 21 September.

In his welcome remarks, TRNB President Masuduzzaman Robin stressed the importance of international partnerships and foreign investment to ensure quality and affordable broadband services. Former TRNB President Samir Kumar Dey moderated the event. Two technical papers were presented by Metacore Project Lead Mahmud Shahed and Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) Treasurer Moin Uddin Ahmed.

Speaking at the discussion, Citigen participant, AHM Bazlur Rahman referred to Chapter 7 of the government’s recently announced five-year plan and said, “The government’s clear commitment is to bring 5G to 90 percent of the country’s population, expand broadband, introduce a universal digital ID, establish an interoperable payment system, develop AI computing infrastructure and build a Bangla large language model. But against the long-term plans of the ministry and BTRC, nearly 40 percent of the country’s population still remains outside internet access.”

He said, “Sovereignty does not simply mean survival; it means increasing our negotiating power and expanding our choices. If we depend on one or two lines, there is no real choice or sovereignty. In the national interest, we have to adopt technology from both the United States and China. If we do not want to repeat past failures like Biman, there is no alternative to privatization in telecommunications.”

Mashiur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of Cidenet, criticized the slow decision-making process in government institutions. “The decision-making process of government institutions is extremely complex and lengthy. As a result, they are falling behind in global competition. If private companies are prevented from entering the market in the name of protecting government investment, the country and its people will suffer and consumers will be deprived of affordable services,” he said.

Highlighting the potential submarine cable crisis, he said, “The lifetime of the first submarine cable, Sea-Me-We-4, which was launched in 2005, will expire within the next five years. The third cable is also stuck due to geopolitical complexities. If the private sector is not given an opportunity, the country will be left with only two cables and one provider, which is highly risky.”

He added, “Countries such as the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan want to invest billions of dollars in data centers in Bangladesh. They look at two things—uninterrupted power and strong international connectivity through multiple providers. If we can capitalize on this opportunity, it is possible to attract at least $10 billion in investment in this sector over the next five years.”

Aminul Hakim, CEO of Metacore Subcom, presented data on the country’s data traffic. “Meta, Amazon Cloud and the top five content delivery networks (CDNs) account for 80 to 85 percent of the country’s data traffic. If ByteDance, Microsoft and online gaming are included, 90 to 95 percent of total national traffic is controlled by seven to eight companies,” he said.

Questioning BSCL’s claim of self-sufficiency, Haque said, “If BSCL is truly self-sufficient, why does the bandwidth from ITC have to be increased every three months? Why will imports from India have to increase after another three months or in June 2027? If necessary, ITC bandwidth should be completely shut down for just two weeks. That would show how self-sufficient BSCL really is.”

Speakers at the discussion said Bangladesh’s bandwidth demand could reach around 54,000 Gbps by 2030. At present, around 6–6.5 million fixed broadband connections provide services to approximately 15 million people, with nearly 90 percent of those connections concentrated in major cities such as Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet. The country, however, has around 40 million households.

They said broadband expansion to unions and villages could also create significant employment opportunities. According to the speakers, every 1,000 broadband connections in remote areas can generate employment for at least 10 to 12 young people. Expanding broadband nationwide, they said, could therefore contribute significantly to the 1 million employment target mentioned in the election manifesto.

On sovereignty and security, speakers further claimed that around 60 percent of Bangladesh’s bandwidth is currently imported from India. They said Indian law requires deep packet inspection (DPI) devices to be installed on its networks for bandwidth exports, with control over those systems remaining with Indian law enforcement agencies.

According to the speakers, establishing domestic government or private submarine cables would allow Bangladesh to keep oversight and security of international traffic under its own law enforcement authorities. They therefore called for removing barriers to private submarine cable deployment to strengthen digital sovereignty, attract foreign investment and support economic growth.

//DBTech/IH/SME/MIST//