The commercial launching of second submarine cable, which has a capacity of 1500 Gigabits per second (Gbps) bandwidth is a new chapter in our advancement in the digitisation process. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the cable service and landing station through a video conference from her official residence on Sunday.
Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) sources said the cable will help meet the future demand of Bangladesh. Internet business entities say the launching of second submarine cable will lead to cut in bandwidth import that costs millions of dollars every month. Importing bandwidth from India will be automatically stopped after the launching. Bangladesh imported 260 Gbps from India.
Bangladesh now uses 180 Gbps bandwidth from its first submarine cable system, SEA-ME-WE-4, set up in 2006.
The country got connected with the submarine cable system called South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5 (SEA-ME-WE 5) at the landing station in Kuakata on February 21, but the BSCCL could not start its service as the authority failed to establish an uninterrupted inland link.
Even the authorities fixed date for inauguration of the cable service, but failed to start it. It declared the cable’s inauguration in a celebration held in Honolulu, Hawaii in January this year and all except Bangladesh have started using it commercially.
Initially, the longevity of the cable was fixed at 20 years, which may be increased to 25 years by optimum maintenance.
