The Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board will soon strike a deal with the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh to lease the latter’s Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar fibre optic cable to back up its own network for maintaining uninterrupted telecommunication service.
Sources in the BTTB said that it and the PGCB are expected to finalise the terms and conditions of the deals within two months to sign the deal, which will enable the BTTB to maintain uninterrupted international telecommunications service in case of any disruption of its own network.
However the BTTB, to avail itself of the facility, will have to pay Tk 20 crore to the PGCB for five years, said BTTB officials.
We will sign the deal with PGCB after the approval of the post and telecommunications ministry,’ said Zia Safdar, general manager of BTTB’s security and surveillance, on Tuesday.
The BTTB faces serious problems in ensuring the smooth functioning of telecommunication service of Chittagong with the rest of the country, as well as the world, as its own underground fibre optic cable along the Dhaka-Chittagong highway is often cut by the Roads and Highways Division’s workers for road maintenance.
On the other hand, BTTB’s Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar fibre optic cable was also snapped at least six times since its inauguration in May last year.
An official of the BTTB said that an alternative fibre optic network between Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar is ‘very important’ for uninterrupted telecommunication service in case of any disruption of the main fibre optic network.
Currently, the BTTB uses its extra microwave link to keep telecommunication service in Chittagong operative if the fibre optic cable is cut.
The BTTB, against this backdrop, has intensified its search for an alternative cable and has begun negotiating with various telecom operators who have fibre optic cables, including Banglaphone, Grameenphone and AkTel, to complement its own cable.
The Power Grid Company has installed about 448 km of fibre optic line cable over its power grid line from Chittagong to Dhaka and plans to expand the existing line’s length to 2,100 km by 2010.
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