Second submarine cable by 2016

Bangladesh will be connected with the second submarine cable SEA-ME-WE-5 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5) by the first quarter of 2016, which will help the country get an additional bandwidth of 1400 Gbps, officials said.

Posts and Telecommunications Secretary Abu Baker Siddique told bdnes24.com: “The construction works of the submarine cable landing station at Kuakata in Patuakhali district are on progress. Bangladesh is going to be connected with second submarine cable by the first quarter of 2016.”

Monwar Hossain, Managing Director of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited, said the country was currently consuming only 40 Gbps while the capacity of the cable was 200 Gbps.

He said that at first Bangladesh was expected to be connected with second submarine cable by the second quarter of 2014, but some complications delayed it.

“The time has been lost since some of the member countries of a consortium of 17 were in confusion about whether to be connected to another submarine cable the Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1),” he said.

Hossain said a deal would be signed in Malaysia in March this year with the SEA-ME-WE consortium for setting up the second submarine cable and its maintenance.

Earlier on Sunday, the Ministry of Posts And Telecommunications decided to sell the unused bandwidth of country’s lone submarine cable SEA-ME-WE 4 to generate more revenue. The decision will be implemented after keeping enough bandwidth to meet the country’s necessity up to 2021.

Bangladesh’s internet largely depends on a lone undersea cable SEA-ME-WE 4 owned by a state-run company. In addition, six companies operate international terrestrial cables that provide back-up internet connectivity through India.

The telecom secretary said that the installation of the second submarine cable would cost a total of US$ 70 million, of which US$ 40 million would be managed from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) as loan.

The official said that the government would not fund setting up the second submarine cable and that the submarine cable company had to provide the remaining US$ 30 million.

The government would provide fund for installation of the second submarine cable from the revenue collected from the sales of the unused bandwidth of submarine cable SEA-ME-WE 4, he said.

In 2005, Bangladesh was connected with the first submarine cable at a cost of US$ 35.2 million that took 18 months for installation.

In December 2011, Submarine Cable Company, a state-run operator, signed an agreement with the SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium to lay a new undersea cable by 2014.