Bangladesh is on the verge of setting a new milestone in building a digital Bangladesh. As the fiber optic network now extends to the Union, high speed internet is reaching the villages. This has paved the way for bringing grassroots people under more digital services.
According to the investigation, the work of Info Sarkar-3, which started with the project of setting up a network in 2600 unions, has already been completed about 90 percent. The entire project will be completed by December this year. If this project is implemented, high speed internet facility will reach 100 million people in about 80 percent of the geographical areas of the country.
Fiber at Home and Summit Communications, two private NTTN companies in the country, are implementing the project under the Information and Communication Technology Department. Huawei, a world-renowned Chinese company, is providing state-of-the-art technology and equipment for the project.
Project Director Bikarna Kumar Ghosh told Samakal that the Info Sarkar-3 project will be completed by next December. Through this project, high speed internet facility is reaching to the village level. In the meantime, broadband internet connection has been provided to one thousand police stations at the upazila level through this project. Once the project is completed, it will be maintained by two non-governmental organizations under a public-private partnership. ISPs will have the opportunity to provide internet services at the village level. As a result of this project, digital disparity between urban and rural areas will be eliminated and the benefits of state-of-the-art digital technology will be easily available in rural areas.
Info Sarkar-3 at a Glance: The Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under the Information and Communication Technology Department undertook the Info Sarkar-3 project in 2016 to provide 2,600 broadband internet services at the Union Parishad level under the Information Technology Department. Earlier, the BCC implemented the Info Sarkar-2 project to provide broadband services in government offices at the upazila level. Following this, the Info Sarkar-3 project was taken up to provide services at the union level. Although the project was taken up in 2016, the tender process was completed and the work order was given to the concerned for its implementation on September 26, 2016.
The total cost of the Info Sarkar-3 project has been estimated at Tk 1,999.50 crore. Of this, Tk 1,226 crore is being borrowed from the Chinese government and the government is carrying Tk 72 crore.
Current Image of Project Implementation: According to the project data, broadband network is being set up in 2,700 unions of 448 upazilas of 63 upazilas through fiber optic cable. Of these, Fiber at Home is implementing projects in 1,307 unions in 247 upazilas of 32 districts.
Abbas Farooq, head of public relations and regulatory affairs of the organization, said their organization has already completed work in 1,252 unions. These unions are now fully prepared for broadband internet service. The rest of the work will be completed by December. Through this project at present 100 Gbps data transmission capacity has been enhanced at district level, 10 Gbps at upazila level and minimum one Gbps at union level. The project will also eliminate digital disparities between urban and rural areas. Because high-speed internet access will reach 100 million people in about 80 percent of the geographical area. Then there will be employment of young people through outsourcing. There will be more transparency in government services at the village level.
According to the BCC's project progress report, Summit Communications has completed work in 1,127 unions. Under the terms of the project, two private NTTN companies will operate the entire network after construction and maintain it for a period of 20 years. The project is using state-of-the-art DWDM technology to establish transmission links.
According to project-related sources, a 100 GB capacity DWDM card has been used to build the transmission link in the project. Broadband facilities are now available in the unions where link building and network construction have already been completed. Experimental service work is also going on. The network will be inaugurated for general use only after the completion of the construction work of the entire project and a full test of the network's capabilities. Two private NTTN companies will provide transmission services in this network. And customer level service
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