Bangladesh's highest economic policy-making body on Tuesday approved the country's 3rd submarine cable installment project worth 6.93 billion taka (820 million U.S. dollars).
The project was approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
After the meeting, Shamsul Alam, senior secretary of Bangladesh's Planning Commission, told reporters that Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) under the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and ICT will implement the project by June 2024.
In line with the project proposal, Bangladesh will be connected with the undersea cable SEA-ME-WE 6 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe).
The SEA-ME-WE-6 submarine cable from Singapore to France will extend to the Mediterranean Sea through the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Red Sea.
The cable will have core landing stations in Singapore, India, Djibouti, Egypt and France.
The Bangladesh branch will stretch to the cable landing station at the country's southeastern Cox's Bazar district through the Bay of Bengal.
With the installation of the submarine cable, Bangladesh is expected to get 6 terabytes per second of bandwidth that will help the country boost internet speed and launch 5G services and earn foreign currency by exporting bandwidth.
Of the total cost of 6.93 billion taka, according to the official, the government will provide 3 billion taka for the project and the rest of the fund coming from the project implementing agency.
Bangladesh was reportedly connected with its first undersea cable, SEA-ME-WE 4, in 2005 and with the second, SEA-ME-WE 5, in 2017. (1 U.S. dollar equals 86 Bangladeshi taka)
Editor: Galia
