Hiren Pandit: Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, a state-owned enterprise, has long been directed to take all-out initiatives to ensure uninterrupted Internet bandwidth supply in the country at an affordable cost in building Smart Bangladesh. Submarine cable is the country’s essential telecommunication and information technology infrastructure for implementing Smart Bangladesh. There is no alternative to developing a submarine cable company as a timely, efficient organization to meet the challenges of smart technology. In 2007, the price of internet bandwidth per Mbps was 85 thousand taka. It is a good initiative for the government to bring down the cost of the internet to a minimum of 60 rupees to make it affordable for the people.
In 1992, Bangladesh was left behind in the information technology world when it rejected a proposal to connect a submarine cable to Bangladesh at no cost. From 1996 to 2001 and later in 2008, Bangladesh overcame that backwardness and provided broadband connections to every union in the country, including Haor, Islands, Char area, and remote hilly areas. In 2008, only 7.5 Gbps of internet was used in the country, and there were only 7 lakh users. Currently, 13.8 million people use the internet in the country, and 5000 Gbps bandwidth is used. The third submarine cable connection for Bangladesh is another historic achievement of Bangladesh in the world of digital technology.
Bangladesh has made some progress in mobile internet, e-commerce, e-banking, e-education, e-book, e-voting, e-health service, e-filing, e-paper, etc., but still lags behind other countries. The need for the internet has increased manifold in the wake of Corona. In that case, the government must eliminate the existing problems and build a smart Bangladesh based on information and communication technology. The Internet is no longer a luxury but a gateway to the world’s open knowledge base. Its importance is far-reaching and immense. All activities based on digital technology are closely related to the speed of the Internet. Business, administration, education, health, medicine, agriculture, industry, and banking systems depend highly on digital technology.
Online teaching and even telemedicine services have increased online reliance. Where the world is conducting operations through the internet, Bangladesh cannot provide proper medical advice. The question is, how will Bangladesh proceed with such low-speed internet? There is no substitute for high-speed internet. High-speed internet is now essential for creating natural human resources to keep up with the times. In addition to speeding up the internet speed, the service should be delivered to all the country’s people. Internet prices in Bangladesh are relatively low. But there are many questions about the quality of service. Uninterrupted mobile internet service is unmatched in most cases. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and mobile operators are also responsible for this.
ISPs play an essential role in providing improved and uninterrupted internet services. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, by keeping the internet connection running all over the country, by keeping education programs running in schools, colleges, and universities, by keeping the internet service running in various offices, courts, and homes, the communication system has been kept running within the country and outside the world, which has been appreciated in all quarters. In line with the development and progress of global Internet technology, the modernization of network equipment, improvement, cyber security, long-term planning, and implementation of high-speed, long-lasting, and cost-effective broadband Internet in Bangladesh is essential to reach people’s doorsteps.
With the advancement of information technology, people’s lives are becoming more accessible and faster daily. One of the ways to facilitate this dynamic path is the high-speed networking system. Uninterrupted internet service is critical in building a smart Bangladesh. But the number of submarine cables in the country is not enough. Because of this, if one of the cables is cut for some reason or if it is temporarily stopped for some reason, the internet service is disrupted. Recently, the ‘C-ME-5’ submarine cable was cut in the Indonesian part. Sixteen countries, including Bangladesh, are connected to this cable, but the service is disrupted only in Bangladesh. According to these stakeholders, this is due to reliance on inadequate submarine cables. Any accident disrupts internet service in the country due to a lack of multiple options.
The service is not interrupted as there are enough alternative submarine cables in the rest of the countries. There are two submarine cables in the country. The first is Southeast Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 ‘C-ME-WE 4’. About 800 Gbps of bandwidth is provided through this undersea cable, which was connected to Bangladesh in 2006.
And the second submarine cable is ‘C-Me-WE 5’. Its capacity is 1,600 Gbps, almost double that of the country’s first submarine cable. All traffic towards Singapore was halted when the C-MI-5 cable was severed in the Indonesian part 440 km west of Singapore. In this situation, as 90 percent of the country’s data traffic is based in Singapore and most companies use Singapore servers, it becomes difficult to keep the internet supply regular, disrupting the internet service in the country. To avoid such a situation the number of cables should be increased. If the number of cables is more, it is possible to keep the situation quite normal with them. Besides, choosing the server should also be given importance. It is essential to determine whether servers can be deployed in the country. Almost all our data centers are based in Singapore.
As a result, 90 percent of data traffic is around Singapore. Additional data is connected to Singapore via India due to the disconnect from Singapore due to a cable cut in Indonesia. According to Telegeography, a market research firm in the telecommunications sector, 16 countries are connected to CM-Wee 5 through 18 landing stations. Among the 16 countries, Bangladesh has the least number of submarine cables. According to telegeography calculations, neighboring Myanmar is connected to four submarine cables. Malaysia Submarine Cable Landing Station 29 Singapore is connected to 38, and Indonesia is connected through 65 cables. Besides, nine and ten submarine cables connect Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The government should take the initiative to increase the number of submarine cables in Bangladesh because our commercial relationship is also connected to the Internet. If this problem is not solved and its alternatives are not developed, it is possible to face huge economic losses. While regular users do not face many internet issues, freelancers and companies that work on contracts with companies outside the country do not get uninterrupted service. There is a danger that they will suffer financially. Bandwidth demand and supply in the country are in sync. As a result, on the one hand, we have no surplus; on the other hand, we have no alternative source. This crisis was created and prolonged because one of the two cables was cut.
According to sources from Bangladesh Submarine Cables Company (BSC), the Indonesian government requires permission to repair the severed cables. Getting the internet speed back to normal takes almost a long time. The Internet is an essential service. Alternative arrangements should always be kept. The country’s economy is now dependent on information technology. Alternative sources of bandwidth are needed for the hour. In addition to increasing the number of submarine cables, International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) connectivity should also be improved. But not only expanding the connection, cable maintenance is also vital to continue uninterrupted internet service.
Bangladesh introduced its first ITC license in 2011 to ensure bandwidth availability and redundancy and reduce the risk of internet blackouts due to submarine cable maintenance or natural disasters. However, bandwidth delivery via submarine cables is more convenient. Investment in submarine cable is a one-time cost, but ITC companies must spend foreign exchange for bandwidth every month. However, the ITC connection can be an alternative in a submarine cable disaster. In that case, we don’t have to face financial risk. According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) calculations, if all classes of people in the country are connected to high-speed internet, the speed of digital growth continues, and 5G is launched. The bandwidth usage can increase to 34 thousand Gbps by 2025. Now, there is a demand for 5,500 bandwidths in the country.
The government organization Submarine Cable Company provides more than 2500 bandwidth among them. Out of these two submarine cables, about 2,700 Gbps bandwidth is imported from India through the land border through International Terrestrial Cable (ITC). According to BSCPLC, the third submarine cable, CMU-6, is currently being connected. It is scheduled to launch in 2025. 13 thousand 200 Gbps bandwidth will be added when this connection is launched. Hopefully, if implemented, such disasters will not be so pronounced. Currently, about 12 crore people are using the internet on mobile.
We are talking about Smart Bangladesh. That is technically a good point. But it is also important to remember that smart people can be terrible when they are unscrupulous. People’s various tasks are now being done online instead of offline. Everything from the education system to the office-court economy is online. However, it can be seen that one often has to fall under the grip of suffering to take advantage of this online. Many complain that the mobile networking system is horrible. Many times, they are unable to collect the required information online. Considering the matter, the authorities should come forward to facilitate the online facility and ensure uninterrupted internet.
Hiren Pandit is an essayist and research fellow.