Third submarine cable on cards

Bangladesh is going to be connected to the 3rd submarine cable within a short time as the full capacity of two existing submarine cables will be exhausted by 2022.

The Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology has undertaken a project at an estimated cost of Tk 693 crore in this regard, sources said.

Accordingly, the project titled 'Installation of Third Submarine Cable for Expansion of International Telecommunication System of Bangladesh' was approved at the ECNEC meeting held on December 1, 2020.

Initiatives have been taken to install submarine cable through SEA-ME-WE-6 by the government-owned consortium of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL).

According to the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology sources, the role of submarine cable is essential for international telecommunication and flow of information. Bangladesh is currently connected to the information technology highway by two submarine cables —South Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-4 and Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-5.

Due to the various development activities of the government, the use of internet and international bandwidth in the country has increased by manifolds in the last few years. This upward trend in bandwidth usage is expected to continue for years to come due to the proliferation of Internet-dependent services.

Ministry’s proposal to set up the 3rd submarine cable will be placed before cabinet committee on economic affairs. As per proposal, the government has plans to launch 5G services in the country by 2021. With the launching of 5G service, the demand for international bandwidth in the country will increase a lot. This growing demand for bandwidth will not be met in the near future by the two submarine cables currently in operation. For this reason, the government has decided to join the SEA-ME-WE-6 submarine cable consortium to lay the third submarine cable in the country.

The proposal also said, the main work of the project is to lay a new submarine cable through the SEA-ME-WE-6 consortium. Like other consortium cables, the SMW-6 submarine cable has two main parts i.e. the core part and the branch. The core part will be the main cable extending from Singapore to Djibouti, Egypt to France and the branch part (Bangladesh branch) will be about 1850 km from Cox's Bazar to the point of connection of the main core cable (branching unit).

According to sources, the total cost of the project has been estimated at Tk 693.17 crore. Of this, Government of Bangladesh will contribute Tk 392.34 crore and BSCCL will provide Tk 300.63 crore. The approved DPP's procurement plan includes 4 (four) packages for procurement and 2 (two) packages for construction work.

In case of a procurement package of ‘Submarine Cable and Related Equipment’, the procurement is being implemented through an international consortium at an estimated cost of Tk 653.90 crore as per the approved DPP.

The procurement process for the submarine cable installation portion of the project will normally be as per the consortium's own procurement process as an initiative has been taken to implement the installation of the SW-6 cable through an international consortium comprising several countries of the world. Accordingly, tenders were floated for the recruitment of contractors for the SEA-ME-WE-6 submarine cable project by gathering sufficient information based on the views of all the members of the consortium. Four companies participated in the tender. In this case, the contract of the selected contractor will be signed with the consortium and the construction and maintenance agreement will be signed between the members of the consortium by selecting the contractor after checking the financial and technical aspects according to the procurement process prescribed by the consortium.

Sources said that the work of connecting the country with the third submarine cable is being carried out in the public interest to deal with the state of emergency and potential catastrophic situation.

It is worth mentioning that the eastward full capacity of the two existing submarine cables will be exhausted by 2022 and in this situation if the country is not connected to a third submarine cable, there is a risk of a catastrophic internet service in the country due to the bandwidth crisis.

Recognizing the importance of this issue, the election manifesto of the present government-2018 stated the initiative to install 3rd submarine cable. The 8th meeting of the Executive Committee of the Digital Bangladesh Task Force, chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, also discussed the need for another submarine cable for the country and decided to take necessary steps to connect it to the 3rd submarine cable.