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Download PDF Despite its urgency, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) is unable to have a backup optical fibre line for its submarine cable as one option is too costly and the other — ‘free of cost ‘ — is being resisted by the telecom regulatory authorities ‘arbitrarily’.
Having this backup line has become a priority issue for the BTTB due to repeated snapping of the original line between Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar by miscreants. Each disruption deprives the BTTB of at least $70,000 revenue per hour. The cable serves as the backbone of the nation’s Internet and overseas call connectivity.
The backup line will be used only when the main line is disconnected for some reasons, and thus uninterrupted telecom and Internet communications will be ensured.
The first option for a backup line is with the government-owned Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), which is asking for Tk 19.4 crore as rental and other charges for a five-year term. Besides, the BTTB will have to install some machinery worth Tk 3.42 crore for this backup.
This cost factor is forcing the BTTB to think twice about striking this deal.
The second option is a swapping deal with private phone company Bangla Phone Ltd. Under this free-of-charge deal, the BTTB and Bangla Phone can automatically swap their cables when those are disrupted. This offer came following a BTTB bid to find the best option from the private phone companies.
But Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) earlier this month had asked the BTTB not to sign a deal with Bangla Phone saying that this company has violated contractual terms, and legal action is being taken against it.
The BTRC appears to have taken a hostile stance on Bangla Phone from May staying the company violated its contractual terms by installing optical fibre lines “outside” its licensed area. But Bangla Phone is saying installation of the lines was its contractual obligation and that all these were done following approval by the BTRC. Till date, the BTRC has not changed its stance, and will not explain why
Bangla Phone’s explanation is not satisfactory.
Both the deals — one with the PGCB and the other with Bangla Phone — were initiated late last year.
Meanwhile, concerned at the 22 cases of optical fibre line disconnection, many of which were cases of sabotage, the adviser for telecommunication ministry recently made a move to finalise the best deal.
The ministry in a mid-November summary prescribed the PGCB deal. Telecom Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam then inquired, “I believe there was an offer from one of the mobile phone companies for free use of their link on a mutual basis. Has that option been explored? If so, what problems are there in accepting that offer, if any.”
Following the adviser’s inquiry, the ministry last week drafted yet another summary saying that the BTTB was discussing with Bangla Phone setting up the backup line on “standby (redundancy) swapping” terms. This would have been free. But during the discussion, the BTRC asked the BTTB not to pen a deal with this phone company. Bangla Phone on November 11 gave a reminder in writing, which was forwarded to the BTRC for its directive. And on November 15, the BTRC again explicitly asked the BTTB not to sign the deal.
The ministry once again noted that the PGCB was a government-controlled company, and favoured signing a deal with it.
The telecom adviser on November 25 again said, “Both the letters from BTRC state that there should be no contract with Bangla Phone without their consent/prior consultation with them. We should at this stage seek BTRC’s categorical opinion and also indicate in our reference the financial implication.”
Earlier on October 11, Bangla Phone in a letter to the ministry said the company submitted its proposal on December 4 last year and held discussions with the BTTB. As per the discussions, the company installed the optical fibre line between Dhaka-Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar. On April 23 this year, it sent a letter to the ministry asking it to test the line and swapping arrangements. This followed other exercises till June 13 and since then the deal was awaiting clearance from the BTRC.
In contrast, the PGCB proposal suffered mainly from high cost options. The BTTB sat with the PGCB over this backup line before it saw the Bangla Phone deal as the PGCB already had optical fibre network set in its high tension power transmission lines. But the PGCB pursued a “revenue sharing” proposal under which the BTTB will have to share its earnings from the submarine cable, and it backtracked from the idea.
Later, the PGCB proposal was revised and it is now seeking Tk 17.5 crore as charge for five years, Tk 85.58 lakh as one-time upfront fee, Tk 5.22 lakh as administrative cost and a refundable performance guarantee of Tk 1 crore. This cost totals at Tk 19.4 crore. But in addition, the BTTB will have to install linking devices in Daudkandi and cables at multiple points at a cost of Tk 3.42 crore.
In this regard, the BTTB is considering payment of this sum out of earning from the submarine cable.
Besides these two proposals, the BTTB tried to obtain other offers from different cell phone companies. A committee headed by Mukhlesur Rahman, BTTB Director-1, Mohakhali, was formed in April. On May 13, the BTTB sought offers from Sheba Telecom, Warid Telecom, Grameenphone, TM International and Pacific Bangladesh Telecom. But none of these companies could make an offer with complete swapping solution.
This committee then viewed that only Bangla Phone made a proper swapping proposal, which will be free of cost.
Presently, the BTTB is using 2,799 Mbps voice and 1,244 Mbps data bandwidth through the optical fibre and submarine cable lines. The submarine cable’s capacity allocated for the BTTB is equivalent to more than 14 Gigabyte.
The optical fibre line is 433 km long and installed a few feet below road-side surfaces.
Since the line was installed, the BTTB shut down the line eight times for maintenance work, and there were seven cases of accidental disruption of the line. The remaining seven rounds are being termed acts of sabotage.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), have been deployed two months ago to find out the culprits. But till now, no breakthrough has been achieved in this regard.
The BTTB invested $35.1 million for the submarine cable and it will earn nearly Tk 200 crore ($28 million) from it this year alone.
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