B'desh to trial run bandwidth transmission to India from Tue

Bangladesh will trial run transmission of bandwidth export to India from tomorrow in line with a bilateral deal struck earlier this year that is likely to earn Dhaka more than Rs 8 crore annually, officials said today.
"We are set to start the transmission from tomorrow" to Tripura through the northeastern Akhaura-Agartala frontier, state-run Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) Managing Director Monwar Hossain told PTI.
"We will export it on trial basis for the next seven days and then the formal transmission will begin in December," he added.
BSCCL officials earlier said the two neighbours set up structural links for bandwidth transmission on November 16 connecting Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited's optical fibre at zero point on the border.

But the trial transmission was delayed as India could not complete technical preparations to receive the bandwidth, they said.
Officials said India has now installed an international router to clear any possible complexities during transmission.

The deal between BSCCL and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was agreed upon during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in June.
According to the agreement, BSNL will import 10 gbps bandwidth for Tripura. Bangladesh is expected to earn Taka 9.6 crore (Rs 8.27 crore) from the deal signed initially for an year.
The deal can be extended for two more years and bandwidth price could be reviewed after an year, said BSCCL officials.

They said two other bordering Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya have also shown interest in importing bandwidth from Bangladesh.
BSCCL, which manages Bangladesh's lone submarine cable having over 200 gbps bandwidth, has the capacity to export bandwidth up to 50 gbps after meeting domestic demand.
Bangladesh consumes 33 per cent of the total bandwidth but experts believe the demand to shoot up to 210 gbps by 2021.
Besides, Bangladesh will be connected to a second undersea cable by 2016, enabling it to get another 1400 gbps bandwidth.