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Download PDF The High Court in a rule recently stayed an order of the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and allowed a private company sign a deal with Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) for swapping an optical fibre network.
This gives BTTB the chance to have this vital backup line free of cost. The backup line is required to stay connected to the submarine cable when the main line is disrupted; and thus ensure uninterrupted telecom and Internet communications.
The High Court rule was issued following a writ petition filed by private phone company Bangla Phone, which has been receiving various kinds of warning from the BTRC since May. Bangla Phone is focussed on setting up fibre optic network, sources said.
The BTRC had warned Bangla Phone of cancelling its telephony licence for violation of licence terms, but so far remained vague about the allegations. However, Bangla Phone categorically defended its position saying all of its activities have been in line with the licence terms.
Bangla Phone was trying to have an agreement earlier this year with BTTB for swapping optical fibre networks between Cox’s Bazar and Dhaka, which would provide a vital backup for BTTB’s own network that connects the country with the submarine cable.
Having this backup line has become a priority issue for BTTB due to repeated snapping of the original line between Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar by miscreants. Each disruption deprives the BTTB of revenue of at least $70,000 per hour. The cable serves as the nation’s backbone for Internet and overseas call connectivity.
But BTRC on July 25 notified BTTB that under the Telecom Act, BTTB will need prior approval from BTRC before signing any deal with Bangla Phone. This stopped BTTB signing any deal with Bangla Phone. Till date, BTTB could not ensure any backup line.
The BTRC afterwards continued a hostile stance against Bangla Phone, without resolving its objections. Sources said, Bangla Phone had recourse to the court last month when BTRC asked BTTB on November 15 not to sign a deal with Bangla Phone saying the company violated contractual terms and legal action is being taken against it.
The High Court on November 20, issued a rule nisi on BTRC to show cause as to why its July 25 and November 15 letters shall not be declared to have been issued without lawful authority. The rule was made returnable in one week. The court also stayed all matters related to the fibre optic backup scheme during this period.
After this rule, a High Court bench heard the submission of the petitioner and respondents on December 6 and decided to stay the two BTRC letters, allowing BTTB to sign an agreement for swapping Bangla Phone’s fibre optic line.
Sources said BTTB remained undecided over the backup line options for many months now. The Bangla Phone offer gave it cost-free swapping option but BTRC prevented this deal. The other option is with the government owned Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), which is asking Tk 19.4 crore as rental and other charges for a five-year term. Plus, BTTB will have to install some machinery worth Tk 3.42 crore for this backup. This cost factor, according to the telecom ministry, does not justify when there is an option of a free swapping deal.
The ministry on November 26 requested BTRC to categorically explain why BTTB should not sign the Bangla-Phone deal. BTRC on December 12 replied that the court had stayed all proceedings related to this matter and once again refrained from explaining the cause of its hostile stance.
Sources said Bangla Phone has set up the fibre optic line earlier this year on the basis of negotiations with BTTB.
Presently, BTTB is using approximately 2,799 Megabyte per second (Mbps) voice and 1,244 Mbps data bandwidth through the optical fibre and submarine cable. The submarine cable’s allocation for BTTB is more than 14 Gigabyte per second.
The optical fibre line is 433km long and installed only a few feet below road-side surface.
Since the line was installed, BTTB shut the line down eight times for maintenance work and there had been seven cases of accidental disruption of the line and another seven instances are being termed as acts of sabotage.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
ami kibabe line pete pari?internet o lagbe.apnara ki high speed brodband diccen?