Bangladesh will be connected with the second submarine cable having a total capacity of 1,400 Gbps, by early 2016, said officials.
They said Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited who is responsible for maintenance of the submarine cable is going to sign a deal next month with a consortium of 17 countries to set up the SEA-ME-WE 5 cable as an alternative source of bandwidth.
Talking to the news agency, Abu Bakar Siddique, post and telecommunications secretary, said: ‘We will connect with second submarine cable by the first quarter of 2016 and the cable will have a total capacity of 1,400 Gbps.’
The secretary informed the BSCCL will strike a deal with the SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium on March 7 in Malaysia, reports the New Age.
Installation of the second submarine cable was scheduled to complete by December, 2014, but it could not be possible due few complexities.
Monwar Hossain, managing director of BSCCL, said the country’s lone submarine cable SEA-ME-WE 4 has a total 200 Gbps capacity, of which 40 Gbps is being utilised at this moment.
The SEA-ME-WE 4 submarine cable will expire on 2025.
‘Installation work of the second submarine cable is progressing fast and it will connect Bangladesh through the landing station situated in Patuakhali,’ informed the telecom secretary.
Construction work of the landing station in Patuakhali has been progressed so far at expected level, he added.
BSCCL sources said Bangladesh requires to invest $70 million to be connected with the second submarine cable project.
