Finance

Seven Sisters, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia to buy bandwidth from Bangladesh Internet Bandwidth

Seven Sisters, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia to buy bandwidth from Bangladesh

Bangladesh Live News | @banglalivenews | 01 Dec 2020, 09:16 pm

Dhaka, December 1: Seven northeastern states of India, known as 'Seven Sisters', and Bhutan will buy internet bandwidth from Bangladesh. They have already confirmed the matter while Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in buying the same.

This information was given after the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday (December 1).

The ECNEC meeting also approved the project of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology titled 'Installation of Third Submarine Cable for Expansion of Bangladesh International Telecommunication System'. The project will be implemented from October this year to June 2024 at a cost of Tk 693.17 crore.

Asked what the Prime Minister had said while discussing the issue with ECNEC, Shamsul Alam said, "Our demand for internet is increasing by 70 per cent every year. One of our submarines will become obsolete or expired after 2025. In that case it is very important to take up this project now. The Prime Minister is very happy that such a project has been brought in time. With this we have the opportunity to earn foreign exchange."

Shamsul Alam added, "We are providing some bandwidth services to the Seven Sisters in our eastern part. We will continue to give it. Bhutan has officially stated that it will buy bandwidth from us. In that case we have an opportunity to earn foreign currency." 

"Saudi Arabia also wants to take bandwidth from us," he said.

"The Prime Minister wants to know how they will take it, will we give it from the main line or from Cox's Bazar? Then the concerned minister said, I can give it to Saudi Arabia from the main line. It’s probably up to us to wait and see how they take or how we give. The Seven Sisters and the Bhutanese have been confirmed, we will serve them properly."