Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to improve Internet connectivity in the North-Eastern states through Bangladesh.
According to an internal note, DoT has asked Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to examine the financial and technical viability of Internet connectivity to the North-East via Cox’s Bazar region in Bangladesh, report Indian news agencies.
The proposed optical fibre network would be from Agartala to Cox’s Bazar to Chennai on submarine (deep sea) cable, the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region’s Web site maintains.
Geographical proximity of Cox’s Bazar with the six North-Eastern states (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura) is one reason.
Assam is considered as a separate circle in telecom parlance and is not included. The location of Bangladesh’s only submarine cable landing station at Cox’s Bazar (required for laying an optical fibre cable network) is also a key factor.
Bangladesh is connected through the international Internet gateway or SEA-ME-WE 4 (South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 4) cable system.
The cable system, developed by 16 telecos, links Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.
The current Internet link in the North-East is through the Dharmanagar (Tripura) – Shillong (Meghalaya) – Kolkata (West Bengal) route. This is a link that is often affected when natural calamities occur.
BSNL, apart from Aizwal (Mizoram) and Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), has been able to provide Internet connectivity in the North East through the otherwise circuitous ‘chicken’s neck region’ route.
Source: UNBConnect
