Tripura will be gateway for reliable and super-fast Internet facility as Bangladesh government has agreed to allow India to use unspent bandwidth in the neighbouring country's Cox Bazar, a BSNL official said today.
"An agreement of using unspent bandwidth available at Bangladesh's Cox Bazar has been signed recently. The BSNL has taken initiative to implement the ambitious plan at the earliest," Chief General Manager (NE-circle) of BSNL, D P Singh said.
As per the agreement, Bangladesh government would allow the BSNL to use 10 GB Internet connectivity which could bring a revolution not only in the northeast but also some mainland states, he said.
The BSNL will have to pay Rs 7.2 crore annually to Bangladesh for using submarine cable laid at Cox Bazar.
To carry forward the plan, Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is scheduled to arrive here in the next couple of days, Singh said.
"After a hectic persuasion spanning over 4 years, an agreement was signed with Dhaka during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh on June 5. We would now lay the optical fibre cable network from Agartala to the Integrated Check Post at Akhaura in the Indo-Bangla international border to connect Cox Bazar's submarine bandwidth," he said.
"If everything falls in right place, the proposed OFC network connecting Agartala with Cox Bazar would be completed by next three to four months. Once, the network is linked, Internet facility will be at par with the other mainland states like Delhi, Mumbai and Chenni," he said.
"Once the alternative line is put in place, connectivity here would be as good as Delhi or Mumbai," Singh said.
On the improvement in network, he said BSNL had planned to use transmission line of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) to provide a better telecom service to the NE region. Besides, similar kind of network could be set up by using Tripura State Electrical Company Ltd 's existing higher power transmission line.
To strengthen Broadband service, a new plan-hotspot had already been introduced and as many as 173 hotspots would be installed in the NE to provide service to subscribers, he said.
Singh, who had a meeting with Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on BSNL's activities in Tripura today, also clarified doubts over mobile towers on radiation affect.
"There is a conception that mobile towers emit radiation which could be harmful for human body but it's not true at all. A separate wing - Term Cell functioning under Telecom Ministry is entrusted with the task to monitor radiation affect by mobile towers," he said.
