Trial run of bandwidth import from Bangladesh from today

Bangladesh will trial run transmission of bandwidth export to India from Tuesday in line with a bilateral deal struck earlier this year that is likely to earn Dhaka more than Rs 8 crore annually, officials said on Monday.

“We are set to start the transmission from Tuesday” to Tripura through the northeastern Akhaura-Agartala frontier, state-run Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) Managing Director Monwar Hossain said. “We will export it on trial basis for the next seven days and then the formal transmission will begin in December,” he added.

BSCCL officials earlier said the two neighbours set up structural links for bandwidth transmission on November 16 connecting Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited’s optical fibre at zero point on the border. But the trial transmission was delayed as India could not complete technical preparations to receive the bandwidth, they said. Officials said India has now installed an 

international router to clear any possible complexities during transmission.

The deal between BSCCL and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was agreed upon during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in June. According to the agreement, BSNL will import 10 gbps bandwidth for Tripura. 

Bangladesh is expected to earn Taka 9.6 crore (Rs 8.27 crore) from the deal signed initially for an year. The deal can be extended for two more years and bandwidth price could be reviewed after an year, said BSCCL officials. They said two other bordering Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya have also shown interest in importing bandwidth from Bangladesh.