India wants to double the amount of bandwidth imported from Bangladesh to meet the demand of the North. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) also sent a proposal to Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) on Sunday. However, four days earlier, Indian Minister of Railways, Communications, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology Ashwini Vishnu had announced the plan. He said in a speech in Manipur that his government was working to double the bandwidth imported from Bangladesh in the next five to six weeks.
Relevant sources say that the amount of bandwidth will be increased under the existing bandwidth agreement taken from Bangladesh. Bangladesh has all the preparations for this.
In 2006, India signed a five-year agreement with Bangladesh to take bandwidth. It then renewed the contract for three years in September last year. Accordingly, the neighboring country will be provided 20 GB of bandwidth instead of 10 GB at the same rate, said Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar.
The Minister said that Bangladesh has the capacity to give more than double the amount of bandwidth imported from Bangladesh to the Government of India.
AKM Habibur Rahman, managing director of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), said the proposal was received on Sunday, two days after the Indian minister’s news was published in the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Bhutan is also negotiating to import bandwidth from Bangladesh, said the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. ” Nepal, as a landlocked country, and Sri Lanka can also take bandwidth from us,” he said.
Earlier last year, Saudi Arabia took 600 Gbps bandwidth from Bangladesh and Malaysia took 200 Gbps bandwidth. This bandwidth is provided from unused bandwidth. Even then, 2100 Gbps bandwidth is still unused in the west of the country. So the telecommunications department is looking to export the bandwidth that the West has.
At present the bandwidth capacity of two submarine cables of the country is 2600 Gbps. In contrast, the bandwidth of 1700 Gbps is being used. Work on a third submarine cable is in full swing to increase bandwidth capacity as well as exports. Adding the third cable will increase the bandwidth capacity by another 7,200 Gbps. However, the government thinks that by 2024, the eastern bandwidth of the country will be able to meet the demand of the country easily.