Slow internet speed likely for a week from Wednesday as storm delays work

Bangladesh is likely to experience slow internet speed for a week from Wednesday as the authorities have delayed maintenance work on the country’s first submarine cable due to a storm.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 7 May 2019, 01:51 PM
Updated : 7 May 2019, 01:51 PM

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited or BSCCL has said the users will face no big trouble in international voice, data, and internet services since there are alternative connections.

The company will start replacing the third repeater of the cable, SEA-ME-WE-4, at its Cox’s Bazar landing station from Wednesday, BSCCL said in a statement on Tuesday.

It would take six to seven days to complete the work, the company said.

The relevant telecom agencies have been asked to maintain communication with the BSCCL and keep the international circuit on during the repair work, according to the statement.   

“Users may face slow speed temporarily in some cases during the maintenance,” it said.

The maintenance work had been scheduled to start by the end of April but BSCCL delayed it as the cyclonic storm Fani hit Bangladesh on May 4 after hovering over the Bay of Bengal for about a week. 

The second submarine cable of the country or SEA-ME-WE-5 and international terrestrial cable or ITC connections will be operational at the time of the maintenance work.

Bangladesh got connected to the first submarine cable in 2005 and to the second in 2017. The country is connected to the World Wide Web also through six ITC lines.