An Indian internet service provider expressed keen interest to purchase bandwidth from Bangladesh to provide it to Bhutan, as the landlocked Eastern Himalayan country needs redundancy of internet connectivity.
An Indian internet service provider expressed keen interest to purchase bandwidth from Bangladesh to provide it to Bhutan, as the landlocked Eastern Himalayan country needs redundancy of internet connectivity.
Bangladesh has already sent a price quotation to the service provider, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), for per megabit (MB) of bandwidth, according to a report by BSS.
The South Asian landlocked country currently has only two links to the internet, one through Gelephu and the other through Phuentsholing. But, both converge in the Indian city of Siliguri, which means Bhutan lacks true redundancy or back up connectivity to the internet.
Initially PGCIL has shown internet to buy 2.5 gbps bandwidth, Monwar Hossain, managing director of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), said while talking to BSS.
“For 2.5 gbps, we would charge $15 for per megabit (MB) of bandwidth while $ 9 if they take 10 gbps,” the MD said.
“The price quotation for them (PGCIL) is bit higher than we are providing to BNSL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited),” he said.
Bangladesh has now over 200 gbps bandwidth and meeting the domestic demand, it has the capacity to export bandwidth up to 50 gbps. Currently, Bangladesh is consuming only 33% of the total bandwidth and the demand for bandwidth may reach at 210 gbps by 2021.
Bangladesh has started exporting 10 gbps bandwidth to India in March last year. Besides, Bangladesh has connected with second undersea cable last month to get another 1500 gbps bandwidth.
The BSSCL managing director said the PGCIL wants to buy bandwidth on Singapore-Cox’s Bazar-Dhaka-Comilla-Brahmanbaria-Akhaura-Agartola routes.
However, the state-owned (BSCCL), the assigned organisation to handle the bandwidth for Bangladesh, had proposed for selling bandwidth on Dhaka-Sylhet-Tamabil-Shillong-Guwahati-Bhutan routes, as it would bring more scope to Bangladesh to share bandwidth with Meghalaya, Guwahati and Arakan.
But, the PGCIL wants bandwidth immediately that is why they will go for Singapore-Cox’s Bazar-Dhaka-Comilla-Brahmanbaria-Akhaura-Agartola routes, added Monwar.
Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/tech/2017/03/09/internet-bandwidth-bhutan/