India to lay optical cable through Bangladesh

Agartala : Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the state-run telecom operator in India will lay optical fiber cable (OFC) through Bangladesh to connect northeast India with the rest of the world, said a top official of the enterprise on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of launching WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) services in Tripura, BSNL General Manager Debkumar Chakraborty said, “BSNL will lay optical fiber from Agartala to Dhaka. Around 12 km optical fiber is needed to connect Agartala and Akhuwra (nearest town in Bangladesh to capital Agartala) telephone exchange.?

?We will also be extending our network from Sabroom to Chittagong (in southeast Bangladesh) sea port and then to Ashugang (in eastern Bangladesh) port. Survey works are in progress and as soon as survey is over, cost implication will be calculated and I hope by the present financial year the work really starts,? he said.

He added that apart from overcoming the geographical isolation of the Northeast the new project will give relief to the present OFC passing through the hills which often gets disconnected.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar launched the WiMAX service after a cultural programme.

Tripura is second state after Mizoram in the northeastern region to have the service where the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot first announced it last July.

According to BSNL, the WiMAX service will help to serve the people better in E-governance and literacy programmes particularly in the remote inaccessible areas of the state where landline broadband service has not been set up.