Bangladesh to sign bandwidth export deal with India during Modi’s visit on June 6

Bangladesh will sign an agreement with India to export its unused submarine cable bandwidth during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in June.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 20 May 2015, 08:07 PM
Updated : 20 May 2015, 08:07 PM

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Co Ltd (BSCCL) Managing Director Monwar Hossain told bdnews24.com the deal would be signed with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on June 6.
  
The Cabinet, on Apr 20, endorsed the draft agreement, as the government felt it would not impact internet service in Bangladesh.
 
The BSCCL will lease out 10gbps (gigabyte per second) bandwidth on a commercial basis, netting in $1.2 million a year for Bangladesh.
 
The deal will be in force for four years, and the bandwidth could be increased to 40gbps, depending on Indian requirements. 
 
The cable will go via Brahmanbarhia and India’s Agartala from Cox’s Bazar, the lone landing station of the submarine cable in Bangladesh.
 
Bangladesh is connected to SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cable with 200gbps bandwidth, of which it uses only 30gbps.
 
The country will be linked to the second submarine cable -- SEA-ME-WE-5 -- in December this year with another 1300gbps bandwidth.
 
The government thinks the agreement will be a ‘win-win situation’ for the two countries.