Bangladesh cuts internet bandwidth prices by 41%

Internet bandwidth prices have been slashed by 41 percent in Bangladesh within a month of the prime minister’s order to keep the cost within the people’s reach.

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) announced the price cut on Monday, saying the internet gateways will get 1MBPS bandwidth at Tk 625 from Tuesday, down from Tk 1,068.

Managing Director Md Monwar Hossain said the reduced prices would be applicable for 10GBPS (gigabyte per second) slab. Dhaka, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar will initially enjoy the privilege.

However, it is up to the internet gateways and internet service providers (ISP) to reduce prices at the consumer level.

The BSCCL, an international long distance communications and international internet gateway operator, operates and maintains Bangladesh’s submarine cable.

“We’ve started the process to export bandwidth to India where each megabyte costs $10 (Tk 794) but it is being sold at Tk 1,068 in Bangladesh,” BSCCL MD Hossain said.

“This decision has been taken to bring down the prices and make the internet use popular,” he added.

There is discontent among the internet subscribers over the price.

At a meeting of Digital Bangladesh Taskforce on Aug 6, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered the ISPs to make internet affordable for the people.

Bangladesh’s only submarine cable SEA-ME-WE-4 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4) has a 200GBPS bandwidth, of which only about 30GBPS is being used.

The country will get another 1,300GBPS bandwidth after it is connected to a second submarine cable in December next year under a consortium.