Kolkata, May 6:
State-owned
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is in the process of firming up plans to
put in place an alternative route for improving Internet connectivity
in six north-eastern States through Bangladesh.
Compared
to the National tele-density average of over 76 per cent, the
north-eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur,
Nagaland and Tripura; apart from Assam) have approximately 60 per cent
tele-density.
The telco is looking to finalise the
technical and financial details to lease bandwidth from Bangladesh
Telecommunication Ltd – a Bangladeshi telecom operator – and, Bangladesh
Submarine Cable Company Ltd , a fibre-optic submarine cable telecom
company.
According to an internal note of BSNL, it
has “constituted a team” for finalising the proposal with their
Bangladeshi counterparts. The team will “soon” be sent to Dhaka.
The
route so proposed will be through Chennai to the North Eastern States
via Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh). (Assam is considered as a separate circle
in telecom parlance; hence not included.) The proposed optical fibre
network, for Agartala-Cox’s Bazar-Chennai, will be on submarine (deep
sea) cable.
Geographical proximity of Cox’s Bazar to
these states is one of the reasons. Also important is the location of
Bangladesh’s only submarine cable landing station at Cox’s Bazar
(required for laying the optical fibre network).
Bangladesh
is connected through the international Internet gateway or SEA-ME-WE 4
(South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 4) cable system.
Connectivity issues
The
cable system, developed by 16 telcos globally, links Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the UAE,
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.
The
current Internet link in the North-East is the Dharmanagar (Tripura) –
Shillong (Meghalaya) – Kolkata (West Bengal) one; that is often affected
by natural calamities.
BSNL, apart from Aizwal
(Mizoram) and Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), has been able to provide
Internet connectivity in the North-East through the otherwise circuitous
‘chicken’s neck region’ route through hiring of “adequate bandwidth”
from Power Grid Corporation Ltd.
Cost analysis
According
to the internal note, BSNL has suggested that an ILD-Gateway at
Agartala, Tripura be set up at an estimated cost of ₹20 crore.
An
international long distance (ILD) gateway is a telephone number through
which calls are routed to get cheaper rates on international long
distance charges, or for making voice over Internet protocol (VOIP)
networks.
Another ₹13 crore will be spent in
augmenting the existing internet network of BSNL in the region. Funds,
sources said, will be provided by the Centre under the United Service
Obligation Fund of India.