'Work on India-Bangladesh Telecom Link Likely to Start This Week'

Weeks after signing of an agreement by New Delhi and Dhaka on telecommunication links, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Saturday announced that work will start this week to operationalise the system.

"Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is likely to start work next week to link Akhaura with International Gateway for Internet Service (IGIS) at Cox's Bazar (in southeast Bangladesh)," BSNL's chief general manager (NE one circle) D. P. Singh told reporters on Saturday.

In the presence of visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, an agreement was signed in Dhaka on June 6 between Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for leasing of international bandwidth for Internet at Akhaura.

"After the establishment of the optical fibre cable (OFC) link between Akhaura along Agartala and Cox's Bazar, there would not only be a sea change in the Internet and telecommunication connectivity in northeast India, but the rest of the country would also be benefited by getting additional Internet bandwidth," D.P. Singh said.

The official also said that the Indian government would spend Rs. 19.14 crores to create the infrastructure, including laying of OFC to avail the 10G bandwidth from BSCCL.

"India had to give around Rs. 8 crores per year to BSCCL to avail the telecommunication linkages," Singh said.

"After more than four years of diplomatic and political parleys, the deal was signed between BSCCL and BSNL," the BSNL official added.