DHAKA: Bangladesh’s second submarine cable landing station at Kuakata of Patuakhali was launched on Sunday (Sep 10).

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated functioning of the cable through a video conference at her Gono Bhaban residence in Dhaka, at around 10:00am.

Local Government, Rural Development (LGRD) and Cooperatives Minister Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Post & Telecommunications Minister Tarana Halim were present at the inaugural ceremony.

PM’s Chief Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury moderated the program.

The second submarine cable connection has the capacity of 1500 Gigabits per second (gbps) bandwidth and lower transmission charge. As a result, people of southern regions of Bangladesh (Barisal, patuakhali, Khulna and Faridpur) will get internet service in low cost.      

Currently, internet usage in Bangladesh is more than 400 Gbps. Out of this, around 120 Gbps comes through state-run organization Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) and the rest 280Gbps ITC bandwidth is imported from India.

Earlier, after visiting the cable station, Tarana Halim said Bangladesh could export the extra bandwidth to come with this second cable in Malaysia, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Seven Sister and Assam of India who wants it.

The second submarine cable is valid for 20-25 years and it took around Tk 600 crore to complete the project. 

BDST: 1147 HRS, SEP 10, 2017
SI