Bhutan to import 10 Gbps bandwidth from Bangladesh

Bhutan, the South Asian land-locked country is agreed to import 10 Gbps of internet bandwidth from Bangladesh.

Posts and Telecommunications Minister of Bangladesh, Mustafa Jabbar has confirmed the news. He said, the discussion had been going on for the last few years and Bhutan finally accepted our proposal. 'A formal process will begin soon,' he added.

Bangladesh is on talks with a number of countries to export bandwidth, including Malaysia, he said.

A technical team from Bhutan had carried out a feasibility survey on importing internet bandwidth from Bangladesh. They identified an economically feasible route- starting from Bangladesh's Akhaura, the optical fibre cable will go through India's Guwahati and will enter Bhutan's Samdrup Jongkhar.

In the process, Bangladesh's duty is to bring the cable up to Akhaura - the rest is Bhutan's responsibility, the minister added.

Currently, Bhutan is importing bandwidth from neighbouring India. As they have to pay a high price, Bhutan has turned to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh also provides 10 Gbps of bandwidth to India's Northeastern state of Tripura through the Akhaura-Agartala point. India has decided to double the import of the internet bandwidth to boost internet connectivity.

At present, Bangladesh has a total capacity to provide 3,345.65 Gbps of internet bandwidth against the domestic demand of 2,496.48 Gbps. The country is going to launch a third submarine cable with more than 13,000 Gbps capacity.