High time for a second submarine cable line

Bangladesh should immediately go for a second submarine cable line as a physical backup for its connectivity with the Information Superhighway and to meet its growing demands for Internet and overseas telecom services, which may shoot up three times by 2011, says a technical committee.

The eight-member committee of Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) last month reported that the government's new policy on International Long Distance Telecommunication Services (ILDTS) will push up telecom and Internet demands so high that the existing submarine cable's capacity will be saturated within the next three years.

The government may therefore consider choosing one from 10 proposals on the table to go for an alternative submarine cable, noted the committee headed by BTTB General Manager of Security and Surveillance Lt Col Zia Safdar.

Most of these proposals came from various Indian telecom bodies.

The $35.1 million investment cost of the existing submarine cable, launched last year, is set to be completely recovered within this fiscal year.

The committee noted that the BTTB will earn nearly Tk 200 crore ($28 million) from this cable during fiscal 2007-08 and this earning is set to increase each year. As a result, the cable's investment cost will be completely recovered and the recurring annual operation and maintenance cost of $1.5 million will be easily met.

"The second submarine cable will play a vital role in bringing revolutionary changes in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector as well as in socio-economic scenario," says the committee in its report.

The second cable will ensure redundancy of trunk cable, availability of restoration facilities for the existing cable SEA-ME-WE-4 (SMW-4), capacity enhancement and diversity, it added.

The committee pointed out that to ensure immediate redundancy of SMW-4, availing satellite backup can be ensured in a short time. If there is a delay in the decision on second submarine cable, the authorities may consider taking satellite redundancy, plus opt for a land connectivity via Chennai and Mumbai.

The committee adds that as Chittagong and Cox's Bazar are located in earthquake prone area, the second landing station for the next submarine cable be installed in Khulna or Mongla.

"Submarine cables are so profitable that all large private phone companies want to put their stakes there," said an official. With the implementation of ILDTS, the BTTB believes that the stakes in the submarine cable will be much higher.

Aimed at channelising all international calls and data transfers through legal systems, the ILDTS will be implemented through installation of three private International Gateway (IG), Interconnection Exchange (ICX) and Internet Exchanges (IX). These set-ups demand an investment of around Tk 1,000 crore while setting up a second submarine cable like the existing one would require around $35 million.

It is believed that illegal international telephony involved business worth Tk 15,000 crore. This business, being operated through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has been busted by law enforcers recently, and consequently, international calls through the BTTB's system are peaking up.

Bangladesh became connected to the international Information Super Highway by installing the Submarine Cable SMW-4 by participating in an international consortium of telecom investors. It has availed voice, data and International Private Leased Connection (IPLC) circuits through this cable with various countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, UK, Pakistan and India.

To connect with the submarine cable, the government has set up a landing station in Cox's Bazar. The landing station is connected to Dhaka through a 433 km optical fibre line. This on-land optical fibre line has been snapped more than two dozen times since its inception, resulting in disruption of telecommunication and Internet connections.

To avoid any kind of disruption, the country needs a n extra ant route of the submarine cable as well as its on-land optical fibre line. The BTTB is already negotiating with the Power Grid Corporation of Bangladesh (PGCB) to take lease of its optical fibre line as a back up.

Sources said the SMW-4 cable has a total capacity of handling 120 Gb bandwidth. Of this, the BTTB originally subscribed 10 Gb bandwidth. Last year, some consortium members increased their capacity by making their own investment. In the process, the BTTB gained 4 Gb bandwidth as complementary.

"This year, the BTTB will gain 2 Gb bandwidth in the same way. It has the option of increasing its bandwidth in SMW-4 as required in 2011. We however need to have a backup line to ensure reliability. We believe that there will be a lot of telephony and IT- related activities within the next few years and there is no alternative to setting up a reliable system," said one source.

REQUIREMENT FORECAST
The BTTB committee says that bandwidth capacity of the submarine cable for the BTTB is 9,16,118 minimum investing unit per km or MIU (equivalent to 14.78 Gigabyte or Gb). Presently, the BTTB is using 3.28 Gb. This bandwidth consumption is set to go up to 15.5 Gb by 2011.

Satellite communication is giving a small backup for the submarine cable that begins from Cox's Bazar landing station. This is a costly but vital backup as the submarine cable connectivity is sometimes disrupted due to disconnection of the on-land optical fibre line between Dhaka and Cox's Bazar landing station.

The committee last month reported that through satellite Bangladesh is using 106 megabyte per second (Mbps) voice and 24/8 Mbps. This demand will go up to 206 Mbps and 24/8 Mbps in 2011.

Through the submarine cable, the BTTB is using 2,799 Mbps voice and 1,244 Mbps data. After the implementation of ILDTS by 2011, the BTTB would be handling 5,000 Mbps voice and 4,354 Mbps data, plus the private IGWs will be handling 5,000 Mbps voice and 1,244 Mbps data. Therefore, the total bandwidth demand in 2011 will stand at 1,598 Mbps, saturating the present capacity of the submarine cable.

PROPOSALS FOR BACKUP
The BTTB committee reviewed 10 proposals for setting up a backup of the submarine cable. The companies or consortiums that made the proposals include Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), India (This system will be operational from second quarter of 2009), VSNL, India, Bharti, India, BSNL, India, Reliance Communications, India, VSNL International, Asia America Gateway Cable, SEA-ME-WE-3, SEA-ME-WE-5 and South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (Sasec) Information Highway Project.