Bangladesh
is going to be connected with the third submarine cable for the development and
to provide better Internet services in the country using 5G technology. The
government expects that the connected submarine cable will be a milestone in
economic development and growth in the age of communication technology. The
government will sign an agreement to join the international SEA-ME-WE-6 consortium
in April 2020.
Bangladesh
will have access to the main cable of the submarine from June 2023. It will
meet the demand of the Internet bandwidth up to 2030. Bangladesh Submarine
Cable Company Limited-BSCCL sources said that Bangladesh has become a member of
the SEA-ME-WE-6 consortium which has been formed for the new submarine cable
line. The cable will be connected to the SEA-ME-WE-6 consortium between
Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Through
the consortium, Bangladesh will get a total of 5 terabytes of bandwidth
internet from Cox's Bazar to Singapore and 5 terabytes from Cox's Bazar to
France. To get connected with it, the distance from the Cox's Bazar Landing
Station to the main line beneath the deep sea will be 1850 km long. The
connection will cost Tk 690 crore. Almost 89 percent of the amount will be
spent on cable only. The final decision will be taken at a high level meeting soon.
Bangladesh will sign the original agreement with the consortium in April. A
memorandum of understanding was signed last September for this.
In this
regard, Postal and Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar said, "We
are now in the age of five-G technology. But still we are using low quality
broadband facilities. In this reality, the third submarine cable will be a
milestone in technology development and economic growth”. The final agreement
to join the international consortium will be done in April. As a result,
Bangladesh will connect to the main cable of the third submarine in 2023. This
connection will meet our bandwidth demand for the next 10 years. The minister
also added that Bangladesh has made huge technological progress. With it, the
new submarine cable will meet our long-term demand.
The cable
distance of the Singapore-France connection to the SEA-ME-WE-6 consortium is 20
thousand kilometers. Apart from Bangladesh, other 16 countries will be
connected to this information super highway. Three companies will be connected
from China. There will be 20 landing stations. Bangladesh joined the consortium
on September last year. The main route between Singapore to France will be 1850
km away from Bangladesh. This distance is the route of Bangladesh itself. And
Bangladesh will bear the full cost of installing its own route cable.
Members of
the SEA-ME-WE 6 consortium will collectively pay for the main line, which is
located between Singapore-France. Basically, Bangladesh's own station will be
set up in the middle of the Bay of Bengal between Singapore and Sri Lanka. All the
consortium work will be done by the company. The company that will get the job
of SEA-ME-WE 6, the tender evaluation and finalization program of the
consortium in Singapore, will be finalized after doing a pre-survey.
The cable
would come from the branching station and connect to the landing station of
Cox's Bazar. This present landing station is for SEA-ME-WE 4, which is the country's
first submarine cable landing station. This will be extended and will be used
for SEA-ME-WE 6. The meaning of SEA-ME-WE is Southeast Asia - Middle East and
Western Europe. The cable is placed through this area and the name of each area
is connected.
For the
last time in the SEA-ME-WE 5 line connected countries of this area were
Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Djibouti, Egypt, Turkey, Italy,
France, Myanmar and Yemen. These 19 countries are linked through 19 landing
points.
Internet
users and demand is increasing day by day in Bangladesh. To meet the future
demand of internet bandwidth this SEA-ME-WE line 6 will definitely play an
important role in the technology and communication industry of Bangladesh.
Thanks,
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